If you have a story to tell, how do you turn it into a compelling, unforgettable narrative? Join our online Narrative Writing Workshop and unravel the power of your narrative as you write along with a community of dedicated writers.
Together, we’ll read like writers and discuss stories that have influenced generations. Along with contemporary texts, we’ll try to discover the source of their power and, as we break them down to the elements, we’ll work on our own writing, too, in both simplified and complicated ways, and consider the choices we could make, and how, or not at all.
Whether you’re interested in personal stories, oral history, memoir, short fiction or creative nonfiction essays, the Narrative Writing Workshop combines your writing process with a deep dive into the art and craft of narrative. You also get to join a writing community that nourishes as long as you’re writing, even after the workshops are done. So we keep telling our stories!
When? We begin 20 December 2025 until 31 January 2026. We’ll have five group-sessions of three hours each (5 to 8 pm IST). These will be followed by a final one-hour solo session with the instructors, where you can discuss your specific concerns. We’ll have a small cohort of around ten participants to enable interactive discussions as well as meaningful feedback on your writings. Remember even after the workshops are done, our writing journey—along with the community we build—will be ongoing.
Where? Online (Zoom).
Fees. INR 19,000. Payment plans are available on the application form.
How to apply
Deadline. We’ll enroll a small cohort, and close as soon as the workshop is full.
We’re looking for. You need not be a published writer, just interested in a learning sprint of reading and writing. The workshop will suit
beginning- to intermediate-level writers,
writers interested in narrative forms and technique,
journalists interested in longform,
writers seeking feedback or accountability,
artists seeking to explore creative writing in relation to their work,
bookworms!
Questions? We have answered some below. For more, email us at institutingotherwise@gmail.com.
Dates/timings don’t work for me. You can still apply. Tell us your time zone and preferences in the required field.
Readings and Discussions. Elements of writing, story, and narrative. Genres in nonfiction—from news to longform. Narrative structure. Form. Craft. Structures in short fiction, nonfiction essay, longform narrative.
Reading Materials. All readings materials will be provided in soft copies.
What you’ll do
Readings: Engage with texts such as short stories, creative nonfiction and longform essays (will be provided).
Writing: Write to prompts during sessions; work on your own writing.
Reviews: Share your work; provide and receive feedback.
Critique and dialogue: Participate in thoughtful discussion with your peers and instructors.
Guest engagements: Learn from writers and artists who join us.
No busywork: You’ll only do what serves your goals.
Logistics and technology. Zoom, Email, Desktop/laptop screen (larger the better).
Tech requirements. Highspeed internet, laptop/desktop with Zoom, and a quiet space.
Engagement and Writing Studio membership. All workshop sessions are live, interactive, and discussion- and feedback-based. The workshop also offers you membership of our Writing Studio Discord channel for continued writerly engagement.
Visiting Writer. Zara Chowdhary, author of The Lucky Ones: A Memoir.
Will there be assignments? There will be writing prompts; writing sessions; along with discussion, participants will provide and receive feedback. There’ll be no busywork, you’ll only do what serves your writing goals.
Why take this workshop? Explore the art and craft of narrative writing; read and discuss a wide range of stories written by influential authors old and contemporary; write your own narratives and receive feedback; chance to get published at Writing Studio, a publishing space exclusive for our workshop writings; be a member of our Writing Studio Discord channel (exclusive for workshop participants) for a writerly engagement beyond the workshop sessions.
Financial aid. At this stage we offer sliding-scale options and instalment plans. See the application form, and please feel free to contact us.
Certificate. A certificate will be provided on completion.
Any other questions? Email us at institutingotherwise@gmail.com.
Follow us. On Instagram.
FACILITATORS
Nawaz Gul Qanungo is a Kashmiri journalist and writer. He graduated from Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, and earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he received the 2022 Innovation in Teaching Writing Award. As an editor, he has worked with Business Standard, Kashmir Reader, The Polis Project, and Blue Earth Review. His essays have appeared in anthologies by Penguin India (2011), Haymarket US (2013), Himal South Asia (2014), HarperCollins India (2019), and Malupu India (2020) while his journalistic work has appeared, among others, in The Times of India, The Hindu, Dinamalar, The Caravan, Tehelka, Biblio, Dawn, The Friday Times, Scroll, Open Democracy, Socialist Worker, Kashmir Times, Down to Earth, and Fountain Ink.
CO-FACILITATORS
Meenakshi Thirukode is a writer and artist exploring the intersecting histories of politics, resistance and visual culture. Her areas of research focus on the role of micro-politics, culture and collectivity within the realm of a techno-capitalist, transient network of individuals and institutions. Her recent projects include Kitchen Table Talks (2023); Disorganizing Metabolisms in collaboration with Food, Art, Research Network (2022); the Here, There and Everywhere conference at MAC Birmingham (2018); and Out of Turn, Being Together Otherwise in collaboration with Asia Art Archive at Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa (2018). Her chapter ‘Towards a Public of the Otherwise’ has been published in the Routledge Companion Series for Art in the Public Realm (2020). She was a Reading Resident and a contributor to the seminar US: Shaping Time at Stroom Den Haag, Hague (2022). She is the founder of School of Instituting Otherwise.