1. Welcome to Lavanya’s Creative Writing Workshop! View the slide show- Press the F5 button! Write here, write now!

2. What is it? A Creative writing workshop 10 hours : 2 hours per day for 5 days Sunday to Thursday Let a thousand ideas bloom, as they say!

3. Create your own portfolio of stories and poems you write while at the camp, and feel free to add as much more material to it as you like after the workshops are over. Receive inspirational and stimulating material from me to help you develop your writing skills to the fullest. It’s a great way to get together, share ideas, interact with others on a mutually beneficial platform- and not become couch potatoes- over the summer. The workshops will take place at my house: Villa 2, Street 5, Springs 12, Dubai.

4. Why the need to hone your writing skills? School work: Well-framed answers and lucid essays gain better marks. You need an ability to express yourself well for day-to-day communication. Start working towards future aims: Job interviews and university applications need coherent communication skills. Business and work related documents in later life should be written in a style to impress. Start forming a good writing base now. Satisfaction of expression: Write for the sheer fun of it!

5. To whet your appetite, here is a rough (very rough) program of what we hope to achieve each day… Day 1 Descriptive writing: Picking an idea word from the word hat, learning to write short paragraphs on a topic using literary devices.

6. Day 2 Introduction to different types of world poems, rhyme scheme and poetic devices. Write your own poem using a picture as a stimulus- or about something else if you prefer.

7. Day 3 Learning to form a plot for your own story, drawing out a sequence of ideas in picture form

8. Day 4 Writing your short story with guidance, illustrating it if you like

9. Day 5 Cumulative storytelling: I start a story with a sentence, you add a sentence to it, someone else adds another sentence, and a story forms- a group effort! A final story, poem or any-other-sorts-of- creative-writing-you-can-think-of contest!

10. Meet your instructor I- Lavanya Malhotra- am a fifteen year old student of Dubai College. First put pen to paper and wrote a poem when four years old. Received numerous awards for creative writing in different schools including schools in India, the UK and Dubai. Been winning the English language achievement award at school every year for the past six years. My book review (of Life of Pi) won a nation-wide competition organised by Radio 4; I was interviewed live on radio 4 by Mr. Chris Fisher.

11. More about me, my favourite subject…. A columnist for the newspaper The National, my column Teen life appears in the Arts and Life section of The National every Tuesday. I contribute regularly to other leading newspapers like Gulf News and Khaleej Times. Active debater and speaker; took part in the Gulf News debate on Social Etiquette (Gulf News, Friday 25 th June, 2010). Seven ‘Best speaker’ awards and the ‘Competent communicator’ award from Toastmasters International. Vice president of the Gavel Club, a division of Toastmasters International.

12. The saving grace I’m not as scary as all that sounds, though. I am usually to be found wolfing down lasagna- my namesake- or playing my guitar in the middle of the night and driving my parents utterly crazy. :P

13. The journey doesn’t stop here… I’m taking it you’ll keep writing, just for the pleasure of it! Interested? For queries, comments, suggestions or to sign up for the workshops, mail me at: l.malhotra95@gmail.com Or call me at: 050-9197003 04-3638434