OLA 2009 and Kidcritter's Dinner

A fun day at OLA 2009 with stimulating conversation, great presentations, plenty of hugs and a great meal to end the day.


From left to right are: Natalie Hyde, Marina Cohen, Marsha Skrypuch, Marisa Zammit, Helene Boudreau, Martha Martin, Karen Bass, Deborah Kerbil and yours truly.


Thanks for the great picture Helene and here's raising a glass to happy memories and an awesome group of writers!

I've been AWOL and I'm sorry...

First of all...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know...I know...it has been almost three months since my last post. But I do have a good reason; the sequel to "The Third Eye" is now finished. At least the seventh draft is. Now let's see what the editor has to say.

In the meantime, check out this link sent by my good friend Martha Martin.

http://readingforest.pbwiki.com/Silver-Birch-Wiki-Page

For those participating in the Silver Birch program, feel free to write to me with any questions you may have. The best ones will be go right here, in the next post!

My e-mail address is:

author@mahtabnarsimhan.com

Read and Dream.

Silver Birch for The Third Eye!!!

The Third Eye has been nominated for the Silver Birch Award 2009!

One of the happiest moments of my life was when I received an e-mail from a member of the Silver Birch Committee on Oct 21st asking me to call. Just the mysterious nature of the e-mail had my heart racing. I called shortly after and Gail told me my book had been nominated. This writer was at a complete loss for words except for "Wow" and "Thank you!"

After almost a year of being in publication, I had thought there would be no more exciting moments for my very first baby. She had been born and now existed in a word crowded with lots of other babies more talented and more brilliant than she. This nomination changed it all. It is an honour just to be on that list.

OLA, a heartfelt thank you!

Here is the link:
http://www.accessola.com/forest2009/SilverBirch/index2.html

Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu...Unforgettable!

The Pedernal and the library at Ghost Ranch.

The first took my breath away and the second provided me with just the right amount of coziness, serenity and an endless supply of mandarin-orange herbal tea so I could write.

An unforgettable experience...

How many Horses?

From the time my sister graduated from school, she knew she was going to be an artist. She followed a steady career path that took her through the Fine Arts and did extremely well.

To my knowledge there was only one occasion when she failed on an assignment; the one I did for her! When she handed back the assignment, her teacher was impelled to remark that it was the worst he had ever seen from her and had given her a mark of 2/10. She was too mortified to let him know that due to lack of time she had allowed me to complete it for her.

And so here we are years later. She still paints pictures; gorgeous ones. I have just discovered the art of doing the same. With words.

So when she recently sent me this picture, it came with a challenge; how many horses?

I'm still counting...

To see some more paintings that she has done without my help, visit;

http://mazarinememon.com/index.php

Updated Timings for the MMM Desilit Stage

For those who might like to attend, here is an updated schedule for Saturday, July 26th, 2007


Saturday, July 26th

12:00-2:45: Live participatory all-ages writing activity
3:00-3:45: That Brown Bastard, Nila Gupta, Laila Haidarali
4:00-4:45: Ahmad Saidullah, Arti Mehta, Mary Anne Mohanraj
5:00-5:45: Janice Goveas, Sheniz Janmohamed, Mahtab Narsimhan
6:00:6:30 Children’s story reading
6:45-715: Wasela Hiyate, Moez Surani

An upcoming event at the MMMWriters Stage

Masala! Mehndi! Masti! DesiLit Writers’ Stage

When:Saturday, July 26, 2008 - 1:00pm

Where: Exhibition PlaceBetter Living Centre (near vendors' market)Toronto, ON

Details: The Masala! Mehndi! Masti! DesiLit Writers’ Stage focuses on the work of writers (fiction, poetry, non-fiction), storytellers and spoken word artists.

The stage will be open on July 26th and July 27th and will have programming for adults and children, including interactive writing activities for all ages, stellar performances and lots of contest giveaways. Check out the Toronto Women's Bookstore and our Writers' and Reader's tables.

Saturday, July 26th

1:00-2:15: Live participatory writing activity
2:30-3:15: That Brown Bastard, Nila Gupta, Laila Haidarali
3:30-4:15: Ahmad Saidullah, Arti Mehta, Mary Anne Mohanraj
4:45-5:30: Janice Goveas, Sheniz Janmohamed, Mahtab Narsimhan
5:45-6:15: Children’s story reading6:30-7:00: Wasela Hiyate, Moez Surani

Sunday, July 27th

12:00-1:00: Dipak Mazumdar, Meena Chopra, Cheryl Antao-Xavier, Rashmee Karnad-Jani, Zohra Zoberi, Priti Dhamane
1:15-1:45: Sarena Parmar, Nitin Deckha
1:50-2:40: Live participatory writing activity
2:45-3:15: Taima Silk –the amazing children’s storyteller
4:15-5:00: Sahar Rizvi, Pratap Reddy, Sharanpal Ruprai

Hope to see you there!