Haiku and Creative writing workshop organised at GGDSD College

The Postgraduate Department of English of Goswami Ganesh Dutta Sanatan Dharma (GGDSD) College, Sector 32, held a six day Creative Writing and Haiku Workshop as an initiative to encourage literary expression and creative skills among students. The workshop was a blend of theory and hands- on practice. It was designed to familiarize the participants with different forms of poetic and reflective writing and invite the talents of eminent academicians, poets, and writers.

College Principal Dr Ajay Sharma was the one who welcomed everyone and appreciated the Department of English for its consistent creative and academic activities.

The Opening sessions were graced by Prof Deepti Gupta, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, and Neena Singh, a well known poet, author and social activist.

Prof Gupta who is a Fulbright Fellow and has 36 years of teaching experience, shared her work with insights from her engagement in teaching, supervision of research, development of curriculum, and university management among others.

A banker, turned poet from Chandigarh, Neena Singh talked about the significance of haiku as a means of expression, referring to her journey as a poet and the founder of an NGO that works for the education of underprivileged children.

Afterwards, the sessions were taken over by Dr. Urvi Sharma, Assistant Professor of English, Amity University, Mohali, a renowned author and scholar, whose books are published by international presses such as Bloomsbury and Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Besides them, the workshop also got a chance to be enriched by the sessions of Harender Kumar, Dr Poorva Trikha, Dr Mandeep Sanehi, and Balpreet Singh. They worked closely with the students, sharing secrets of storytelling, writing the self, poetry, editing, and ways of getting published.

During the vivid and interactive group work, the students were able to experiment with writing in various genres, find their distinctive stylistic voices, and gain an increase of self confidence in their creative abilities.

It was Pooja Sarin, the head of the department, who finally presented the vote of thanks. The workshop was convened by Harender Kumar and Dr Poorva Trikha.