Author & Filmmaker Samina Mishra imparts creative writing skills to Dikshantites

Zirakpur, January 16, 2015: Samina Mishra a well-known writer of children books conducted Creative writing workshops at Dikshant International School, Zirakpur. A graduate of St.Stephens College, Delhi University & Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, she is a documentary filmmaker, writer and teacher based in New Delhi, with a special interest in media for children. 

Samina has some excellent credentials in the field of children literature & film-making. Her documentary ‘The House on Gulmohar Avenue’, a film that traces the filmmaker’s personal journey to understand what it can mean to be a Muslim in India has received acclaim. ‘Hina in the Old City’, a photographic book for children on the Walled City of Delhi and ‘Home and Away’, a multi-media exhibition on British Asian children in London are some more of her other works. Her book, ‘Come, Walk Through Our Streets’, is about growing up in an area in New Delhi commonly referred to as a Muslim ghetto, drawn from an art and writing workshop with children resident there.

Samina shared some very interesting insights and her rich experience with young writers of Dikshant International School, Zirakpur. Said Samina, “I conducted workshops in two sessions one was for the age group 8-10 years & the other for 11-13 year olds. I focused on collective poetry writing, metaphors in poetry and this was followed by Chinquapin a 5 line poem following fixed rules. For the senior students i laid emphasis on self-expression in poetry and prose. Metaphors, Repetition in poetry were discussed. I also explained nuances about paragraph writing by observation followed by Paragraph writing from Memory. The sessions were very satisfying indeed as students wrote some brilliant creative pieces and participated with pertinent questions thus making the workshops a success.” 

Mitul Dikshit, Director, Dikshant International School said, “The idea behind organising the workshop was to expose students to creative writing skills & one of the most seasoned and brilliant Children Literature Authors of India—Samina Mishra. It is noteworthy that Samina has been awarded the Sea Change Residency by the Gaea Foundation, USA, in recognition of her work across disciplines.”

It is pertinent to mention here that Samina’s popular short stories “The Goat That Got Away”, “Looking Through Glass” and “The House At The Corner” have appeared in anthologies.

Says Vedant, a student of Class 8th , “The session offered a great experience for us. I learnt that there is an opportunity in writing books aimed at Children.”The workshop generated a lot of interest as it presented lucidly how one should approach creative writing.

 According to aditi, a student of Class 4th, “We discovered from Samina that there is a whole new career option available for creative writers.” Her workshop was very impressive and students learnt some very good concepts about the art of creative writing and how one should approach it.

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