The cookbook as chronicle – of a region, a family, a life, an era – has been and continues to be a rich genre, full of potential for the seasoned as well as half-ripe writer!
Putting together even a slim little collection of family-favourite recipes, or the specialities of a once-agile aunt or parent’s wizardry at the table, the anecdotes surrounding them, is a beautiful way to cherish, even pay homage, to chronicle, a way of life.
If you believe the saying that ‘cooking is love made edible’, and writing about it renders all of it even more memorable, this workshop is for you.
This workshop will be conducted by writer Gouri Dange, who has written extensively on food – and found a way to lace even her fiction with food-stories.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
Three-day (three hours a day), this workshop would guide people who want to write family chronicles, family or community cookbooks, or write personal food-related memoirs, that stir together food, anecdotes, memories.
This workshop is for people who want to go ahead and plan to put together one particular book, perhaps for the family or for an elder’s birthday or anniversary, for future generations, for a reunion group…. It would be of use to writers taking on such projects for a client too.
Popular columnist, novelist, editor and counsellor, Gouri Dange has been working and playing with words for the last 20 years. Her writing workshops draw a range of participants, where the emphasis is on helping people find their writerly voice. She is the author of three novels, four books on parenting, a children’s book, a book on a tyrant dog, and is currently working on two more books. She teaches Creative Writing at FLAME University.
While each participant may have very specific needs to put together such a book, the facilitator would show participants the pre-writing and writing tools needed for such a project. This would involve modules and exercises and timeframes on how to:
Find and develop a theme for your particular cookbook-chronicle.
Go about gathering material, sourcing stories, possibly letters, handwritten notebooks, and other material.
Sequencing the text so that there is a pattern and not just a jumble of stand-alone recipes and stories.
Finding the right tone and level of information, ensuring readability as well as ease of use.
Learning to title and subtitle chapters, visuals, in an interesting, evocative way.
Putting together a first draft and then edit your work further.
Thinking visually to be able to work with a designer/photographer/artist.
Generating an index, glossary, ingredient sources, and other garnishes for the reader.
Creative funding and publishing options for your book project.
Reading list of other similar books and blogs to browse.
By the end of the three days, participants will be able to build and finalize their specific, ready-to-
start cookbook project with workable timelines and deadlines.
5 reviews for Kitchen Tales Workshop: Writing Cookbook Chronicles
4.6
/5
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Quality of Content
92 %
Mentor
92 %
Overall Experience
92 %
Reviewed by 05 customer(s)
Meenakshi S
I now know where to begin - and how to take it forward!
I’ve long had a dream of creating my own cookbook – but it never made it beyond my head! The workshop gave me a lot of insight into how to go about the cookbook process – zoning in on the kind of cookbook I want to create, the importance of structure and narrative, how to identify your audience, how to evaluate what to add and how much context to give (with a recipe). Gouri ma’am shared a lot of her own material and the exercises were very helpful because they helped me look at the cookbook from a practical lens as opposed to looking at it as a form of food writing. And I got to meet and interact with an inspiring group of food lovers from all over, with very unique ideas!
I am giving 4 stars only because I am sure that if there is a Kitchen Tales 2.0/3.0/4.0, Gouri ma’am will be sure to make it even better.
11 October, 2021
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Parishree Dalal
Great class
Hello, I thoroughly enjoyed the class, it was informative and full of new insights, thank you gauri dange and living bridge.
4 August, 2021
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Swathi Vadrevu
Great
Loved it. Was very helpful.
29 July, 2021
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Lalitha
When is the next workshop?
Hi!
I happened to have run into your website today. This workshop is just what I was looking for. It will be great if you can let me know when the next workshop is.
Thank you. So excited!!
LV
1 June, 2021
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Kheyali Vaze
Amazing!!
I’d like to thank Gouri Dange for making this 3 day workshop so fun and engaging. It was well curated with so many writing exercises each day and well moderator too, keeping in mind the time at hand and the number of participants. It never felt raced nor zoomed, each one of our queries and doubts were cleared. I honestly was amazed to see how much I could write and how well my thoughts have been formulated. I love the tips Gouri has given us to put all these thoughts down and make them all work. A must try for those seeking clarity with how to take your cook book forward.
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