Poetry collective presents workshop to aid writing


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Kaya Press and The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective hosted the workshop Lit in Color Write-A-Thon in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center Wednesday, attracting writers and enthusiasts of writing. The workshop promoted the Asian-American diaspora of poetry, fiction and nonfiction and aims to hold space for anyone interested in writing, creativity and community.

The workshop is an off-site event of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs — the nation’s largest writing conference and book fair happening at the Los Angeles Convention Center —  and is expected to attract around 12,000 writers from around the world. The five-hour rotating workshop helped  attendees create ideas to counter writer’s block and giving people the tools to create. The line-up included poet and Ph.D. student Douglas Manuel from the (Great) Indian Poetry Collective as well as Minal Hajratwala, Shikha Malaviya, Ellen Kombiyil, Tananarive Due, April Naoko Heck, Sofia Samatar, Paul Hlava, D’Lo, Kristina Wong, Samiya Bashir and Erika Wurth.

“It’s a great way for people to generate ideas for any fiction and writings,” said Anita Chen, president of the student organization branch of the Kaya Press publishing company, Kaya Students for Independent Publishing, and a senior majoring in narrative studies major. “It’s an emerging platform for voices of the Asian-Pacific diaspora to be heard, and also unites people of color.”

“It’s wonderful to have so many writers giving advice, and there’s always something to learn,” said Soniah Kamal, Townsend Prize for Fiction award nominee for An Isolated Incident. “An idea can come from anywhere, and it’s always fun to write from different perspective.”

Neela Banerjee, managing director of Kaya Press and organizer of the workshop, said that it was important to bring in leaders of color.

“It’s a great platform to draw attention to writers and bring workshop leaders of color,” Banerjee said .

The workshop invited poets like Malaviya, a poet and writer who’s been writing for nearly 20 years. One of her most notable works include Geography of Tongues, a poetry collection. She has also given talks for TEDx in Golf Links Parkin Bangalore.

“It’s really special that we rarely get to see many writers in a same day, and it’s always worth it to get out of  comfort zone,” Shikha said.