Writing workshop –‘The Remembered Life’ led by Vidya Rao
In this workshop, we will continue our work of writing our lives. But this time we will ask and explore deeply the question of memory. We will explore the power of remembering, understanding, and writing our lives. What do we remember? What do we want to remember? What do we not want to remember? What do we forget and why? How do remembering and not remembering influence our growth as human beings?
We will try and understand the issue of ‘memory’—whose memory, how is memory shaped and/or changed and/or lost, and why?
We will explore our individual memory/memories and the collective memory of the social group. We will seek to understand the place of memory in learning,. We will also explore the notion and experience of forgetting. Why do we remember, why do we forget? What do we remember and what do we (wish to) forget? We will also try and understand how both remembering and forgetting can be significant in our growth towards fullness of being.
Who May Join This Workshop?
I would prefer this to be restricted to those who have already done at least one workshop with me. I require this because my workshops can be quite intense and require a lot of honesty, and compassion towards each other on the part of the participants. In case of any applicants who may not have joined an earlier workshop by me, but who for any reason Deer Park feels must join—such an applicant must send the following materials to Deer Park by 15 February 2025
– Information on previous writing experience (if any), and/or workshops previously undertaken
– A sample of their writing (if any)
– A clear statement –of 500 words minimum, and 1000 words maximum– of why they wish to do this workshop
In the afternoons 3:00 – 4:00 pm, the course instructor Vidya Rao is happy to work with individual students by prior appointment
Tentative daily Schedule – 9:00 am to 12.30/1:00 pm with a tea break
About Vidya Rao
Vidya Rao is a singer and a writer. Her writing work is mainly on music and the performing arts.
She brings her experience and her long years of work as a researcher, writer, and also, importantly, as a book editor to this Manuscript Intensive workshop.
She has worked for nearly 40 years as an editor—dealing with text editing, commissioning, and book development—with Orient Blackswan (previously Orient Longman), creating a significant list in the social sciences, culture studies, and women’s studies.
She has written and published extensively—a memoir of life with her guru Vidushi Naina Devi (Harper Collins, 2011); several essays that have been published in academic journals and as chapters in book, and is currently working on a new book on a relatively less-known form of women’s music. Her work is included in reading lists in several university departments, internationally, of music, culture, and women’s studies.
Apart from her work as an editor/publisher, she has worked in research institutes (the Administrative Staff College of India, and the Centre for Women’s Development Studies), and has conducted independent research with grants from the Ford Foundation, the Department of Culture (GOI), Institut d’etudes avancees, France, and the Sangam House-ISRO Residency.
She has been, among other things, a Visiting Professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics (JNU), a Visiting Fellow at the School of Cultural Texts and Resources, (Jadavpur University), a Fellow (Artist-Scholar) at the Institut d’etudes avancees, (Nantes, France), Artist in Residence at the Smith College and the Five Colleges Inc., etc. She has guided several M Phil and PhD students in India and outside India and has also served as an external examiner for their M Phil and PhD dissertations.
Please note- “attendance in all sessions is mandatory.”
For queries, registration & accommodation, please email: info@deerpark.in