Deadline: 1 September 2011
Have you dreamed of traveling to exotic places—then writing about your journey, maybe even for publication? Then this workshop is for you. As you bounce along the dirt tracks of Ranthambhor National Park (a Project Tiger Sanctuary) or sway on the back of an elephant through the ancient streets of Jaipur—the Pink City—you’ll be gathering the raw material that will make your writing sing and the perspective that will give your story depth far beyond what is found in the typical travelogue. Perhaps a piece you craft at the workshop will help give a voice to the tiger--a voice that will promote tiger conservation locally and internationally. Interested? Send an email with any questions to indiaworkshop@eecg.org
Immerse yourself in the country that Jawaharlal Nehru called “a land of contrasts”
Partner with conservationists and safari guides as you traverse the Ranthambhor Tiger Sanctuary and learn about tiger conservation Get an insider’s view of local Indian culture and customs not available to most tourists visiting Jaipur, the Pink City, so named after the color of stone used to build its lavish palaces. See Agra and the Taj Mahal, a monument that truly lives up to its reputation. We anticipate a mix of experience in the workshop. But we’ll be contacting participants individually for information on what kind of writing background you have, the kinds of things you like to write, and your individual goals for the workshop so that we can personalize the content.
MEALS and ACCOMMODATIONS
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included in the workshop. Final decisions on hotels won’t be made until mid-2011, but we most likely will be staying at the following hotels or their equivalent:
In Jaipur: The Hotel Park Prime
In Agra: The Man Singh Hotel
In Ranthambhor: The Jhoomer Baori
All of these are mid-range hotels with meeting rooms for the afternoon writing sessions and good public areas for informal get-togethers in the evening. We will keep you posted on final decisions about accommodations.
WORKSHOP FORMAT
As a workshop participant, you will visit historic and cultural areas in and near Jaipur and Agra, gathering material to enrich and ground “place-based” narratives about your experience. You will also interview local teachers, merchants, resort owners, etc., as part of course activities. Other local speakers will visit the workshop to be interviewed and to give overviews of the tourism industry in the area. You’ll have the option of creating your own narratives, or of partnering with local experts in your field of interest, as available. For example, if you are particularly interested in tiger conservation, you will be able to partner with conservationists or safari guides from the Ranthambhor Sanctuary as a first step in telling their story and the story of the tiger. If the cultural aspects of India are more attractive to you, your partner can be someone involved in the tourism trade in Jaipur so that you can gain a more complete understanding of the complicated interplay of culture, history, and the economics of the local tourism trade. Throughout the workshop, you will work individually or with your partner to develop a finished co-authored draft by the end of the workshop that you can then further revise and try to publish, if that is your goal.
Generally, the mornings will be used for touring and immersion in the local environs, the afternoons for workshop sessions, and the evenings for social events with local guides, tourism experts, local residents—and/or for relaxation and reflection.
Instruction will focus on Creative nonfiction techniques such as immersion, interview, and
traditional research:
• strategies for telling a compelling story
• writing techniques such as attention to concrete detail and writing in scenes
• drafting and peer response for providing feedback about whether a piece is “working”
• selecting appropriate media markets and formats and submitting material for publication.
During the workshop, you will immerse yourself in the local culture and wildlife environs, then develop your writing skills through relevant, reality-based instruction in writing (and use of other media, such as blogs) as you create narratives that reflect your experiences. We’ll begin our adventure in the fabled city of Jaipur, getting a taste of Indian hospitality and cuisine, history and culture. There we’ll lay groundwork for our safari to Ranthambhor National Park, a wildlife sanctuary and one of the best places in India to see tigers in the jungle. Imagine: being able to shadow Indian wildlife guides and tourism providers as they share their stories and train you in how to look for tiger signs and to interpret what you see. As you bounce along the dirt tracks of Ranthambhor National Park, marvel at the beauty of the Taj Mahal, or sway on the back of an elephant, you will be gaining the in-depth background so helpful to aspiring writers interested in contributing to conservation, travel, and tourism media. You will also receive advice and instruction in techniques for marketing your writing. Perhaps it will be a piece you craft at the workshop that will help give a voice to the tiger—a voice that will promote tiger conservation locally and internationally.
VENUE
The home base for the workshop will be Jaipur, India. The Taj Mahal and Ranthambhor Project Tiger Sanctuary are located a brief train ride from Jaipur, which has good air connections. Jaipur and Agra will provide a historic and cultural perspective to tourism in India and complement time spent at Ranthambhor learning about wildlife tourism.
LENGTH of TRIP and DATES
The workshop will span 10 days, from December 5 through December 14, 2011, during India’s cooler, drier season. Visiting during the dry season makes it more likely to view tigers as they venture to local watering holes. The length of the trip with international travel will be 14 days.
SIZE of the WORKSHOP and WHO WILL ATTEND
We can accommodate 12 to 15 individuals. The small group size will allow ease of travel and flexibility in our itinerary. It will also allow for considerable pre-trip planning and interchange that will help to make the workshop even more enjoyable and relevant to your interests.
If you are a writer (or want to be one) interested in learning about creative nonfiction as it applies to tourism, conservation, and wildlife writing, this workshop is for you!
During the workshop, you will
• Keep journals/travel logs (these can be digital-media based, e.g., using digital recorders, cameras, cell-phone-based or camerabased video) of your experience. These logs will serve as raw material for your final narratives.
• Use immersion, interview, Internet research where available, and reflection to draft narratives focused on tourism and tiger conservation for print or alternative media.
• Share works-in-progress with each other to obtain feedback on whether the piece is achieving its purpose, and on how it might be improved.
• Create a final “rough-draft” of your narrative, using editing checklists, and incorporating peer feedback as appropriate. Writers interested in commercial possibilities will be provided with
information about researching media outlets and choosing an appropriate format for their selected market(s).
Send an email with any questions to indiaworkshop@eecg.org
More information here.
Have you dreamed of traveling to exotic places—then writing about your journey, maybe even for publication? Then this workshop is for you. As you bounce along the dirt tracks of Ranthambhor National Park (a Project Tiger Sanctuary) or sway on the back of an elephant through the ancient streets of Jaipur—the Pink City—you’ll be gathering the raw material that will make your writing sing and the perspective that will give your story depth far beyond what is found in the typical travelogue. Perhaps a piece you craft at the workshop will help give a voice to the tiger--a voice that will promote tiger conservation locally and internationally. Interested? Send an email with any questions to indiaworkshop@eecg.org
Immerse yourself in the country that Jawaharlal Nehru called “a land of contrasts”
Partner with conservationists and safari guides as you traverse the Ranthambhor Tiger Sanctuary and learn about tiger conservation Get an insider’s view of local Indian culture and customs not available to most tourists visiting Jaipur, the Pink City, so named after the color of stone used to build its lavish palaces. See Agra and the Taj Mahal, a monument that truly lives up to its reputation. We anticipate a mix of experience in the workshop. But we’ll be contacting participants individually for information on what kind of writing background you have, the kinds of things you like to write, and your individual goals for the workshop so that we can personalize the content.
MEALS and ACCOMMODATIONS
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included in the workshop. Final decisions on hotels won’t be made until mid-2011, but we most likely will be staying at the following hotels or their equivalent:
In Jaipur: The Hotel Park Prime
In Agra: The Man Singh Hotel
In Ranthambhor: The Jhoomer Baori
All of these are mid-range hotels with meeting rooms for the afternoon writing sessions and good public areas for informal get-togethers in the evening. We will keep you posted on final decisions about accommodations.
WORKSHOP FORMAT
As a workshop participant, you will visit historic and cultural areas in and near Jaipur and Agra, gathering material to enrich and ground “place-based” narratives about your experience. You will also interview local teachers, merchants, resort owners, etc., as part of course activities. Other local speakers will visit the workshop to be interviewed and to give overviews of the tourism industry in the area. You’ll have the option of creating your own narratives, or of partnering with local experts in your field of interest, as available. For example, if you are particularly interested in tiger conservation, you will be able to partner with conservationists or safari guides from the Ranthambhor Sanctuary as a first step in telling their story and the story of the tiger. If the cultural aspects of India are more attractive to you, your partner can be someone involved in the tourism trade in Jaipur so that you can gain a more complete understanding of the complicated interplay of culture, history, and the economics of the local tourism trade. Throughout the workshop, you will work individually or with your partner to develop a finished co-authored draft by the end of the workshop that you can then further revise and try to publish, if that is your goal.
Generally, the mornings will be used for touring and immersion in the local environs, the afternoons for workshop sessions, and the evenings for social events with local guides, tourism experts, local residents—and/or for relaxation and reflection.
Instruction will focus on Creative nonfiction techniques such as immersion, interview, and
traditional research:
• strategies for telling a compelling story
• writing techniques such as attention to concrete detail and writing in scenes
• drafting and peer response for providing feedback about whether a piece is “working”
• selecting appropriate media markets and formats and submitting material for publication.
During the workshop, you will immerse yourself in the local culture and wildlife environs, then develop your writing skills through relevant, reality-based instruction in writing (and use of other media, such as blogs) as you create narratives that reflect your experiences. We’ll begin our adventure in the fabled city of Jaipur, getting a taste of Indian hospitality and cuisine, history and culture. There we’ll lay groundwork for our safari to Ranthambhor National Park, a wildlife sanctuary and one of the best places in India to see tigers in the jungle. Imagine: being able to shadow Indian wildlife guides and tourism providers as they share their stories and train you in how to look for tiger signs and to interpret what you see. As you bounce along the dirt tracks of Ranthambhor National Park, marvel at the beauty of the Taj Mahal, or sway on the back of an elephant, you will be gaining the in-depth background so helpful to aspiring writers interested in contributing to conservation, travel, and tourism media. You will also receive advice and instruction in techniques for marketing your writing. Perhaps it will be a piece you craft at the workshop that will help give a voice to the tiger—a voice that will promote tiger conservation locally and internationally.
VENUE
The home base for the workshop will be Jaipur, India. The Taj Mahal and Ranthambhor Project Tiger Sanctuary are located a brief train ride from Jaipur, which has good air connections. Jaipur and Agra will provide a historic and cultural perspective to tourism in India and complement time spent at Ranthambhor learning about wildlife tourism.
LENGTH of TRIP and DATES
The workshop will span 10 days, from December 5 through December 14, 2011, during India’s cooler, drier season. Visiting during the dry season makes it more likely to view tigers as they venture to local watering holes. The length of the trip with international travel will be 14 days.
SIZE of the WORKSHOP and WHO WILL ATTEND
We can accommodate 12 to 15 individuals. The small group size will allow ease of travel and flexibility in our itinerary. It will also allow for considerable pre-trip planning and interchange that will help to make the workshop even more enjoyable and relevant to your interests.
If you are a writer (or want to be one) interested in learning about creative nonfiction as it applies to tourism, conservation, and wildlife writing, this workshop is for you!
During the workshop, you will
• Keep journals/travel logs (these can be digital-media based, e.g., using digital recorders, cameras, cell-phone-based or camerabased video) of your experience. These logs will serve as raw material for your final narratives.
• Use immersion, interview, Internet research where available, and reflection to draft narratives focused on tourism and tiger conservation for print or alternative media.
• Share works-in-progress with each other to obtain feedback on whether the piece is achieving its purpose, and on how it might be improved.
• Create a final “rough-draft” of your narrative, using editing checklists, and incorporating peer feedback as appropriate. Writers interested in commercial possibilities will be provided with
information about researching media outlets and choosing an appropriate format for their selected market(s).
Send an email with any questions to indiaworkshop@eecg.org
More information here.
