Muse Of The Month June 2016: Inspiration From Anita Nair

Posted: June 3, 2016

Each month this year, we host a writing theme – the Muse Of The Month, with a ‘writing cue’ from a contemporary female author of Indian origin. The 5 best entries get published here!

What you need to do for June 2016

Step 1. Read the writing cue (which is either a direct quote from the featured author, or a quote from one of their works, mentioned down below) and get inspired.

Step 2. Write your own story/poem/narrative/essay/piece based on the cue. You could use it as the opening line, the closing sentence, or somewhere in between! You could even choose not to use it anywhere in your story – just write a story using the cue as a prompt. (And the ‘story’ can be fictional – or not – as you wish).

Step 3. Send your work to us. Please email it to [email protected] with ‘Muse of the month – June 2016’ in the subject line, and your story as a word/txt attachment. Do include the name we should use if we publish it, and a brief introduction of yourself (2-3 lines) in the mail.

Please note: Given the number of entries received, we won’t be able to respond to each, but every single entry is being read through very carefully and is much appreciated.

Deadlines

Please send in your stories by Wednesday, 15th June, by 3 p.m. IST. The 5 best stories will be published on Women’s Web between the 20th – 24th June, one on each day.

Rules

The material should be previously unpublished elsewhere. (Copyright stays with you and you’re free to subsequently publish it elsewhere).

Keep it between 250 and 2000 words. (Please keep this in mind; in past editions, we have had to disqualify some good entries purely due to word count issues).

Please avoid typing the story as inline text. Send it as an attachment only.

Prizes

The 5 best entries will each win a Flipkart voucher worth Rs 250. Plus, there will be 10 overall winners at the end of 2016 from among these winners!

Muse of the month (June 2016)

Anita Nair is a poet, an essayist, a playwright and an award winning author with readership in as many as 15 countries. Her novels ‘The Better Man’ and ‘Ladies Coupe’ have been translated in 21 languages.

Nair was born in Pallakad, Kerala and educated in Chennai. She firmly believes that our destiny is in our hands no matter how many odds are against us.

Her first book, Satyr of the Subway (1997), a collection of short stories, won her a fellowship from Virginia Centre for the Creative Arts. Her second book, Ladies Coupe (2001), was the first book by an Indian author to be published by Picador USA. Among her other works are a collection of poems Malabar Mind (2002), a children’s book on myths and legends The Puffin Book Of Myths and Legends, Mistress (2005), Adventures of Nonu, The Skating Squirrel, Living Next Door to Alise, Magical Indian Myths and Idris: Keeper of The Light(2014). She has written many travelogues. Her play Nine Faces of Being is adapted from her novel Mistress.

Her poetry has been included in prestigious poetry anthologies like The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India and British Council Poetry Workshop Anthology.

Anita Nair lives in Bangalore with her husband and a son.