Avid Learning presents Writing Memoirs, a day-long workshop that will explore the art of memoir writing with Writer and Journalist Dilip D’Souza, whose works include “Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar”, “Roadrunner: An Indian Quest in America” and “Jukebox Mathemagic: Always One More Number”.

For more details about the workshop, read on below:

If done well, a memoir can shed light on a life led: an athlete, an entrepreneur, an assassin, all kinds of people. It can also chronicle and bring back a time gone by, a world we no longer see around us. And if those seem like lofty goals, they aren’t really. Because each of us lives life on our own terms, totally different from everyone else — and if told well, that story alone becomes fascinating and valuable. The way you learned to speak a particular language, for example, might be quite different from how someone else learned it, and that difference by itself might shape the contours of your respective lives. Food for a memoir, in that very difference.

He will push you to mine your memories, to think deeply about what your experiences have meant to you. He will discuss what might and might not fit in a memoir, and then find ways to tell those stories. He will share lessons learned from his own efforts to write memoirs. He will offer you food for thought in the shape of excerpts from successful (and maybe not-so-successful) memoirs.

In essence, a memoir is a serious, even profound, reflection on a life. But this does not mean it makes for serious, even profound reading: some of the best memoirs are also tinged with lightness and humour. But that reflection is no trivial thing: it needs patience, courage, insight and an open mind. Yet the rewards are immense, both in the reflection and in the writing, for yourself and for those who read what you write.

This is the spirit in which you and Dilip will explore memoir writing in this workshop.

Highlights include:

*    Different kinds of memoirs.

*    How to choose the experiences and stories to fit your memoir.

*    Developing your voice as you write your memoir.

Where: Essar House – Podium, 11 KK Marg, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai – 400034

When: Saturday, 5th October 2019; 10:00AM – 4:00PM

Fee: Rs. 1000/- (including lunch)

About the Instructor

Dilip D’Souza is an award-winning writer and journalist, who writes about themes like development, nationalism, science, poverty, sports, as well as travel and mathematics. His writing is fuelled by travel, for he believes he must know and understand, first-hand, the issues he writes about. He searches for the small stories that hold larger lessons because it’s in telling those stories that his writing is most effective. He has won several awards for his writing, including the Statesman Rural Reporting award, the Outlook/Picador nonfiction prize and the Newsweek/Daily Beast South Asia Commentary Prize. He has written seven books, including "Roadrunner: An Indian Quest in America" and "Jukebox Mathemagic: Always One More Number". You can find him on Twitter at @DeathEndsFun.

About AVID

Avid Learning, a public programming platform and cultural arm of the Essar Group, has conducted over 1100 programs and connected with more than 130,000 individuals since its inception in 2009. Driven by the belief that Learning Never Stops, AVID’s multiple formats like Workshops, Panel Discussions, Gallery Walkthroughs, and Festival Platforms create a dynamic and interactive atmosphere that stimulates intellectual and creative growth across the fields of Culture & Heritage, Literature, Art and Innovation.

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