Dear poet/writer, we'd love to know you better.
What are you writing?
In prose, you prefer...
To stay informed about articles related to poetry writing,
would you like to get emails from us?
We don't spam and you can unsubscribe any time.
In prose, you prefer...
To stay informed about articles related to fiction writing,
would you like to get emails from us?
And we're happy to throw in two free courses, too
We don't spam and you can unsubscribe any time.
To stay informed about articles related to prose and poetry writing,
would you like to get emails from us?
And we're happy to throw in two free courses, too
We don't spam and you can unsubscribe any time.
To stay informed about articles related to non-fiction writing,
would you like to get emails from us?
And we're happy to throw in two free courses, too
We don't spam and you can unsubscribe any time.
Books by HWR Alumni
Newtness
How the Eland twisted its horns
Pi-Chart
Butterfish and Gheefish and other Nonsense stories
Contests won
Aalisha Sheth
Aalisha Sheth’s interview was featured in Shoutout LA recently.
It’s an online magazine that spotlights artists and their journeys!
Renu Singh Parmar
Renu Singh Parmar‘s short story, ‘Monkey Business’ being published by Kitaab!
In this short story, Renu Singh Parmar narrates a slice of life incident with a brilliant tongue-in-cheek humour leaving the reader in splits.
Sangeetha Menon
Sangeetha Menon’s thought piece, ‘The Strange State of Women’s Rights in Kerala‘ was published by PinkLungi.
She is an alum of our Blog & Article Writing Course. Her article was a product of this course.
Mohana Talpatra
Mohana Talpatra’s poem, ‘Let There Be Light’, made it to the long list of the Glasshouse Poetry festival.
Mohana was a part of Rochelle Potkar’s Poetry Course and of Creative Writing Course, 2017.
Dr Gayathri Sampath (Creative Writing Course, 2022)
Dr Gayathri Sampath’s story, ‘The Feast’ included in the anthology, Anonymous Was A Woman’, was chosen as a winner of the TMYS Story Award .
Suman Ray (First Draft Club)
Suman’s story, Love in a Raindrop, has been adjudged a winner in the Ruskin Bond x Rupa Publications x Mugafi #WriteForLove contest.
Suman is a Marketing Communications and Content Management professional with more than two decades of experience across leading Indian and multinational organizations. Besides being a corporate writer and editor, Suman has a long association with the publishing world. In one of his corporate roles early in his career, he researched, wrote, and compiled quiz books and reference books which were published by Penguin India. He has also served as the research and content manager for leading Indian television shows such as the Bournvita Quiz Contest, Sawal Dus Crore Ka, Jeeto Chappar Phad Ke, and Koteswaran/Kodeswaran.
His story, Love in a Raindrop will be published in an upcoming Ruskin Bond collection of stories that is due out in 2024. In 2019, his story, The Return, won a short story contest by Notion Press and was published in their short story anthology, Long Story Short.
Suman says being part of HWR has catalyzed his journey towards getting published. It has added much needed discipline to his writing endeavour and provided deep insights into the publishing process. He finds the interactions with authors and industry professionals from leading publishing houses During the HWR First Draft Clubs sessions invaluable as they provide an insider’s view of the publishing world.
Moutushi Ghoshdeysarkar (First Draft Club)
Moutushi’s short story, The Tourist, has won the Promising Writers Award under the Ruskin Bond Literary Awards 2023
Moutushi is a newbie at writing, having self-published a physical and an ebook in the past two years. She loves photography, reading, writing, and travel – not strictly in that order.
Her short story, The Tourist, has won the Promising Writers Award under the Ruskin Bond Literary Awards 2023. A certificate and cash prize are to be awarded at the Dehradun Literary Festival on the 27th of October in the presence of the legendary Mr. Ruskin Bond himself.
HWR First Draft Clubs was an eye-opener; the insights and guidelines provided by Chetan and many other speakers, from publishers to accomplished writers gave her a wide range of ideas and avenues to take her writing spree to the next level.
Ashvani Sachdev (First Draft Club)
Ashvani’s story ‘In The Name Of God’ was declared the Runner Up of the Promising Writers Award under the Ruskin Bond Literary Awards 2023.
Ashvani is a defence veteran, has more than forty years of experience in military and civil aviation and holds four masters’ degrees. Professionally, he has published one book, one monograph and numerous articles in professional journals. He loves writing fiction.
His story ‘In The Name Of God’ was declared the Runner Up of the Promising Writers Award under the Ruskin Bond Literary Awards 2023. The award carries a certificate and a cash award which will be/was presented by Mr Ruskin Bond at the Inaugural Function of the Dehradun Literature Festival 2023.
Ashvani underwent a Creative Writing Course conducted by HWR in October 2020 and, since then, has participated in four HWR First Draft Clubs which, he avers, were an immense help in bringing to his writing a much needed discipline and sense of purpose.
Vishwajeet Deshmukh (Creative Writing Workshop, Oct ’20)
Vishwajeet has won the Tata Trust and 1947 Partition Archive Grant 2021 for his research on Partition.
“My experience with Chetan Mahajan and Himalayan Writing Retreat was absolutely inspiring and knowledgeable. The Boot Camp involved exercises that made me realize my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. The program massively helped me to understand the view of an editor and publisher. By the end of the Camp, I could noticeably view the change and clarity in my ideas and thoughts.”
Subi Taba (Short Story Writing Workshop , Oct ’20)
Her short story “A Night with the Tiger” is one of the winners of the New Asian Writing Short Story Competition 2020.
She has also won the South Asia Literary Mentorship-2020 where she will be working with acclaimed author Aruni Kashyap on her collection of short stories set in Arunachal Pradesh.
“I wrote this story during NaNoWriMo just after attending a short story workshop by HWR in Oct 2020. So lots of thanks to Chetan and Kritika for the wonderful workshop and each of the participants for your constant inspiration!“
Lahari Mahalanabish (Short Story Writing Workshop , Oct ’20)
Her short story Newly Weds was Long-listed for the Short Story Prize by the Grindstone Literary.
“I have been writing for a long time, but it was in the Himalayan Writing Retreat that I was introduced to the technicalities of writing like structural unity and degrees of dialogue. It was also an opportunity to connect with like-minded people who are passionate about writing. Himalayan Writing Retreat is a must for those who take their writing seriously, especially those like me who have not studied literature as a subject in college.“
Janani Janarthanan (Online Bootcamp, July 2020)
Winner of the September 2020 – Muse of the Month, Women’s Web.
“I attended HWR late July this pandemic year and it has been one of the most revelatory creative experiences. There’s something alluring about sharing a virtual space with a small community of writers who are locked in on a mission to get the creative juices flowing. It brings out the writing vigour from its dormant corner which is exactly what the workshop did for me. Chetan’s warmth and the meticulous structure of the workshop helps break down the daunting task of writing a novel/short story into simple bites, all the while maintaining the individual’s writing goals in focus. I wholeheartedly encourage people to experience HWR and take away the renewed sense of direction I did. I would also like to thank the team for giving me an opportunity with the scholarship. “
Matangi Jayaram (Bootcamp, Nov ’19)
1st runner up, eShe Poetry Contest
Mohana Talapatra (Bootcamp, Nov ’17)
Published one chapter in “Write with Chitra” contest by Harper Collins
In April 2020, Harper Collins India hosted a contest called #WritewithChitra – a crowdsourced novel where best-selling author Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee wrote the first chapter taking which as a prompt, participants were supposed to write the subsequent chapter. The winning chapter will be a part of a book that will be published by Harper Collins India. In total there will be 16 chapters, one from Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee and one from another guest writer (unannounced as of now). The rest 14 chapters will be selected from this contest and Mohana’s winning entry will be Chapter 6 of that novel.
Hemanya Vashishtha (Teens Writing Workshop, Jun’ 20 and Poetry Workshop with Jonaki Ray, Jul’20)
Published in Inkspire Magazine and won INR 7000 for an essay contest.
“I’ve come quite some distance from where I was during the retreat- I’ve started blogging on a website, will soon make my own blog, working on it, won a 7000 cash prize for an essay contest, and been published in Inkspire, one of the magazines here. Tell me if you’d like the links to it, that is, the average writing of a thirteen-year-old. The blog posts are absolutely wonderful and I really want to thank you for organizing such a beautiful retreat. It changed me.“
Arijit Nandi (HWR Creative Writing Workshop, Jan’ 22 and Short Story Workshop, Feb’22)
Chosen to presnt his manuscript at Bangalore Literature Festival
“I don't know what the outcome will be. But it's a boost I needed. And thank you Chetan. Without HWR I would never have reached reached this point.“
Antara (Participant in First Draft Club #8)
Manuscript 'The Dancing Lark' selected for a mentorship program by AWW
“I had to submit 10,000 words of my manuscript and Sonali Chanchani of Folio Literary Management, US selected it for a consultation. What is incredible, this is the same manuscript I was editing during FDC #8. Really must thank you for keeping us on track.“
Mohua Chinappa (Creative Writing Course Feb'19)
Her book "Nautanki Saala and Other Stories" announced as best book of the year 2022 by The Daily Guardian
Her book also won PVLF 2023 best debut non-fiction award.
Smita Das Jain
She won the 2023 Bharat Award International for literature for her short story "Purchased Love."
Surela Mukherjee
Surela's short story has been published in an anthology titled - The Flight of Deities. A book on Desecration and Devotion, it is published by the Indic Academy.
"This wouldn't have been possible without your guidance and good wishes. While this story was written two years back it finally saw the light of the day this year."
Leena N.
Leena's story 'Non-Apètite' came in a second runner up in the India Writing Project
"I worked on the story during this FDC and the Short Story workshop by Krittika (absolutely recommended even if, like me, you are working on a novel!)."
Online Publications
Mohit Kataria (Storywallas Alum) – Launched publishing house named Paakhi Re – https://www.instagram.com/
“Baby’s Breath”
by Mohana Talapatra – https://www.delhipoetryslam.
A Promise to the Gods
by Ekta Rathore (Mean Pepper Vine whose Editor is also a HWR Alum, Salini Vineeth) – CWC Participant – https://meanpeppervine.com/a-
Priya Kalpesh Astik (Online Bootcamp, May ’20)
Published an article ‘Leadership Lessons from the Rava Dosa‘ in Economic Times (August 18th, 2020)
Namita Aavriti (Masterclass, Dec ’19)
Published an interview with author Manjula Padmanabhan ‘How taking off for Europe on a risky trip gave Manjula Padmanabhan a book‘ in Scroll (August 16th, 2020)