https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog daily 0.75 2024-09-09 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2022/4/11/wasafiri-magazine-article-thoughts-on-a-pandemic-book-club-pub-feb-8th-2022 monthly 0.5 2024-07-27 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2022/4/11/the-m-and-ms-my-new-short-story-for-the-cuckoo-cage-british-superhero-anthology monthly 0.5 2022-04-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/43f73117-7b10-4c0d-9dd5-11b22392a543/Screenshot+2022-04-09+at+09.46.19.png Blog - The M and Ms - My New Short Story for The Cuckoo Cage British Superhero Anthology - Make it stand out Virat Parmar, leader of The M and Ms https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/c7b9566e-4da8-41a7-acfd-7cf9413fe075/Screenshot+2022-04-09+at+09.46.54.png Blog - The M and Ms - My New Short Story for The Cuckoo Cage British Superhero Anthology - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2021/5/8/bookings-open-new-fiction-by-women-and-non-binary-bipoc-2021-summer-reading-series monthly 0.5 2021-05-08 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2020/10/31/reading-as-inspiration-fiction-as-a-springboard-a-generative-workshop monthly 0.5 2020-10-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1604141830179-GV04XUX781CXW94W079Z/_85D3712.jpg Blog - Reading as Inspiration: Fiction as a Springboard – a Generative Workshop https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2020/8/27/homeby10-short-story-amp-flash-fiction-workshop-in-aid-of-leicester-charity-quetzel monthly 0.5 2020-08-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1598532790511-13SROTW8DDUDYNSA8W3P/Screenshot+2020-08-27+at+14.52.48.png Blog - #HomeBy10 Short Story & Flash Fiction Workshop - In aid of Leicester Charity Quetzel https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2020/8/10/new-fiction-by-women-and-non-binary-poc-summer-reading-series-book-4 monthly 0.5 2020-08-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1597247713092-I1MKFTU3IAK76Z5GEO2A/Screenshot+2020-08-12+at+17.53.14.png Blog - New Fiction by Women and Non-Binary PoC Summer Reading Series - Book Club News Rowan Hisayo Buchanan: “Repost due to dyslexia: I was both nervous and delighted when I saw that @sharondoduaotoo was on the @thereaderberlin Summer reading list that @divyaghelani commissioned me to illustrate. There is something particularly intimidating about painting someone you’ve had the pleasure of meeting. We were on a @wordfactoryuk panel together. I miss live events! If you go online there are many photos of her laughing beautifully but, I particularly enjoyed the few that had a gentle raised eyebrow. This quote is from a really smart @writersofcolour interview she gave a few years ago about politics, motherhood, Germany and writing. Oh and slide over for a little U-bahn sign for the area lived in by the protagonist of the things i am thinking while smiling politely. Those of you who’ve read the book will understand the stickers on it!” #illustration #watercolor #thingsiamthinkingwhilesmilingpolitely. Follow @rowanhisa on Instagram https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1597247860210-XRYNKVQ592HOB08SLOLM/Screenshot+2020-08-12+at+17.53.23.png Blog - New Fiction by Women and Non-Binary PoC Summer Reading Series - Book Club News https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2020/8/2/new-fiction-by-women-and-non-binary-poc-summer-reading-series-a-love-story monthly 0.5 2020-08-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1596958253161-ZSQYRQU6B37SYXZEHTO4/Screenshot+2020-08-09+at+08.38.08.png Blog - New Fiction by Women and Non-Binary PoC Summer Reading Series - Book Club News! Rowan Hisayo Buchanan: “Some little illustrated excerpts from my work on the @thereaderberlin New Fiction By Women & Non-Binary People of Colour summer reading group. They’re read the People in The Trees for their second week. This quote is from an @guardianbooks interview with her about her second novel A Little Life, though I personally think it applies equally well to either book. She is one of the most divisive authors I know. My feelings about her books are too intense and personal to go into on an Instagram post, but I will leave it that I admire deeply her comportment in the world. (Also for anyone with a soft spot for peering into other people’s homes, google hers. It’s beautiful.) Thank you again @divyaghelani for commissioning this.” #illustration #hanyayanagihara #watercolor #thepeopleinthetrees #alittlelife #bookstagram Follow @RowanHisa on Instagram https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1596972050643-OIZBMMLKE6AGCKGJWCS0/Screenshot+2020-08-09+at+08.41.54.png Blog - New Fiction by Women and Non-Binary PoC Summer Reading Series - Book Club News! Rowan Hisayo Buchanan: “As mentioned before, I’ve been doing some illustrations for @divyaghelani and @thereaderberlin for their New Fiction By Women & Non-Binary People of Colour summer reading group. They’re reading Diana Evans’ Ordinary People. A book I highly recommend if you like books about marriage, homes, love and families. It is smart and political about the truly ordinary parts of life. (And yes for those of you wondering it did come out the same year as Normal People. The two books do have some cross over material—difficulty in love, questions of the role you want to play in life, by Evans’s characters are older and more deeply entrenched in their chosen lives.) The quote is from an essay she wrote called “Racism 2020: The heart of the matter.” It’s up on the @bazaaruk website. I know a lot of people dismiss what a fashion magazine can do. But this is as smart and thoughtful a piece of writing as any you could find in the broadest of broadsheets. Also please scroll for a little rodent—who has scuttled out of the infestation that causes one of the characters in Ordinary People quite a lot of stress. In other Diana Evans news, I believe she has just signed a two book deal with Chatto & Windus (a branch of Penguin) for a new novel and an essay collection so we all have that to look forward to.” #illustration #dianaevans #bookstagram #watercolor Follow @rowanhisa on Instagram https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1596954633134-OQ4F39JK7CBL3SKPZQDD/Screenshot+2020-08-09+at+08.28.58.png Blog - New Fiction by Women and Non-Binary PoC Summer Reading Series - Book Club News! Rowan Hisayo Buchanan: “I’ve been doing some illustrations for @divyaghelani and @thereaderberlin. So here’s my second Freshwater outtake. It’s of Akwaeke Emezi—the author. The illustration is based on publicity photos at the time. But their hair has changed since I believe. In any case, one of the things that is lovely about this book club is that @divyaghelani selects quotes from interviews as well. And so I thought I’d share one that I found particularly beautiful. “I realize that for me I only belong in places I create and that has been, I think, the most important thing I have learned in my brief life so far. I can make worlds. That’s literally my job, to make worlds […] Instead of searching for people to give me a place to belong, I just bent one into existence myself.” —@azemezi #illustration #freshwater #watercolour #authorportrait #bookstagram” - Follow @RowanHisa on Instagram https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1596958372605-9FC41Z5Q47G7UJSCVQHQ/Screenshot+2020-08-09+at+08.38.24.png Blog - New Fiction by Women and Non-Binary PoC Summer Reading Series - Book Club News! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1596956971406-EPO2YK665ZSVPPYVVMC9/Screenshot+2020-08-09+at+08.42.03.png Blog - New Fiction by Women and Non-Binary PoC Summer Reading Series - Book Club News! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1596406076738-C1NR4O9FLE8G6JNZB0BC/freshwater+%281%29.gif Blog - New Fiction by Women and Non-Binary PoC Summer Reading Series - Book Club News! Image by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan. A response to Freshwater, the debut novel by Akwaeke Emezi and the first book in our Reading Series. See @RowanHisa on Instagram for more images in conversation with authors, texts, and readers. https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2020/7/17/heart-skips-on-radio-4 monthly 0.5 2020-07-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1594879099091-2XW2R32158AM7HZA2PWG/Screenshot+2020-07-16+at+07.23.02.png Blog - 'Heart Skips' On Radio 4 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2020/7/12/2020-dream-book-club-news-new-fiction-by-women-and-non-binary-poc-summer-reading-series monthly 0.5 2020-07-13 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2017/7/12/waterstones-piccadilly-writer-in-residency monthly 0.5 2017-10-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1500111201016-KJZZ5E14CMFWVKWUWFG7/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Waterstone's Piccadilly #WOTWLitFest Writers In Residence Claire Adam, Emily Devane, and Divya Ghelani at Waterstones Piccadilly - Writers in Residence 2016 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2017/7/12/i-finished-my-first-book monthly 0.5 2017-10-16 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/2017/7/12/an-imperial-typewriter-a-writers-journey monthly 0.5 2017-10-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1499935671647-HQJFPDT678HMFVZZ8QR8/image-asset.png Blog - An Imperial Typewriter - A Writer's Journey Reading at Indian Summer Festival in Leicester. https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/category/short+stories monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/category/historical+research monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/category/flash+fiction monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/category/apprenticeship monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/category/workshop monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/category/writing monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/category/word+factory monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/ugandan+asian monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Writers monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/PoC monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/word+factory monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/imperial+typewriter monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/exodus monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/b3+media monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/literature monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/short+stories monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Waterstones+Piccadilly monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/writer+in+residence monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/identity monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Book monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/%23bookclub+%23poc+%23thereaderberlin+%23summerreadingseries+%23lovebooks+%23writingcommunity+%23readingcommunity monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/apprentice monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/university+of+leicester monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Non-Binary monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/citizen monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/unions monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Deborah+Rogers+Writers%27+Award monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Sublime+Women monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Marina+Warner monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/black+worker+strike monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Michele+Roberts monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/the+reader+berlin monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Vanessa+Gebbie monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/short+story monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Readers monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/UEA monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/flash+fiction monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Litro+Magazine monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/asian+worker+strike monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/social+change monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/book+club monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/%23WOTWlitfest monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/Shashi+Tharoor monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/blog/tag/novel monthly 0.5 https://www.divyaghelani.com/images-videos daily 0.75 2024-07-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1500318103720-LXJYGEMUS17I71IQT0BP/_MG_5900.jpg Images & Video https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1500318103720-LXJYGEMUS17I71IQT0BP/_MG_5900.jpg Images & Video https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1500113225666-4ZIP3MCCDMMVVWAPOTMM/_MG_5772.jpg Images & Video https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1500113595163-98GCOIPCQJHD0J2W2TGP/_MG_7071.jpg Images & Video https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1500113369287-GAMC3W21JEPRSSU2JMHH/1048080_10151863269473531_738370419_o+copy.jpg Images & Video https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1499849508098-ONGDL1SG1RLD16YJDF6N/Screen+Shot+2017-07-12+at+11.17.54.png Images & Video - An Imperial Typewriter y Divya Ghelani [You can read Divya's response to the Affective Digital Histories' Creative Commissions call - on the Centre for New Writing's website here.] My father's side of the family are Ugandan Asians. They arrived into the city of Leicester along with thousands of other refugees during the exodus of 1972. I myself was born in Jamnagar, Gujarat, in 1981. (Papa had been sent, aged fifteen, from Kampala to the town of Bhanwad, Gujarat, in order to take care of the family business and a sick relative.) Years later, he wished to reunite with his family and that is how I ended up in Loughborough, Leicestershire, aged four. It was April 10th 1985. It had never been my intention to write a Ugandan Asian character. I have always viewed it as the experience of a former generation, another culture. Why tell their stories when I have enough trouble telling my own? What emboldened me to apply for The University of Leicester's Affective Digital Histories Commission was the possibility of local history research. The Centre for New Writing had promised to supply commissioned writers with images, press cuttings, audio and video clips in order to help them to better understand how Leicester's local communities had changed in response to urban decline. For chosen writers, the University would offer up it's archivists, oral historians and academics. In attempting to write about a displaced Ugandan Asian character, I considered I might learn more about my wider family history. It would be an opportunity to research and understand the circumstances of their resettlement in Leicestershire within a political, sociological and historical context. There would be ethical issues to navigate through (what stories to tell and how) but, as a consequence, I might end up knowing myself more. What better reason is there for a writer to embark on a project? The arrival and resettlement of Ugandan Asians into Great Britain has been well documented in oral histories, memoirs, museum exhibitions and regional TV and radio documentaries. The 40th anniversary of their arrival passed two years ago and much has been made of this 'twice migrant' community's prosperity and success in Britain. This narrative risks occluding equally important stories of failure, racism and poverty, of learning to fight for one's rights and facing the consequences. It is these alternative threads that I sought to examine when writing 'An Imperial Typewriter' Alongside personal family histories and living room conversations, I listened to around twenty oral histories and watched numerous programmes and documentaries on the subject. I read the work of Pippa Virdee and Valerie Marrett (whose authoritative works on migration and modern Leicester I will return to again and again). I read newspaper clippings from the University's newly acquired Leicester Mercury archive helped along by archivist Simon Dixon. I walked the exact route my character Vinesh takes from Imperial Typewriter Company to Faire Brothers in the Cultural Quarter with oral historian, Colin Hyde. Colin's formidable knowledge of Leicester's history illuminated the city's streets for me. (The Hidden Stories App that is now available for free download on iTunes follows this exact route.) I knew something of the Imperial Typewriter Company long before I wrote about it. My uncle (himself a Leicester Ugandan Asian refugee) had worked there as an assembly worker back in the 70s. He has since passed away but my father would sometimes recount a story about him. The story goes that when my uncle went for an interview at the Imperial Typewriter Company, his white interviewer asked him to assemble a typewriter under timed conditions. He tried on three attempts and failed but instead of accepting defeat, he asked his interviewer to take the test himself. Not wanting to lose face, the interviewer took up the challenge and failed. He gave my uncle a job on the spot. This story of 'sticking it to the boss' stayed in my mind when I began researching the strike at the Imperial Typewriter Company. Like so many people, I am nostalgic for the world of typewriters. I am too young to have ever owned one but my grandfather, Mohonlal Ghelani, used one near enough every day. Bapuji had been a criminal lawyer back in Kampala. He spent the last years of his life at his vast desk in Loughborough translating the Bhagavada Gita from Sanskrit and Gujarati into English. He worked on a beautiful old typewriter with a Roget's Thesaurus beside him and as a young girl, I remember watching in awe as he wrote. Even before I could read, I wanted to inspect the typewriter's keys; run my fingers along its inky ribbon and shake its handle to make it 'ping'. I wonder what he and my grandmother would make of my story, how each one of them might tell it differently. 'An Imperial Typewriter' is a modern fable about an immigrant worker's journey through Leicester. It also a writer's attempt at reading and understanding her own story a little better. Divya Ghelani holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and an M.Phil in Literary Studies from The University of Hong Kong. She is the recipient of a Writing East Midlands Mentorship, a Literary Consultancy Mentorship and an Arts Council Grant of £6,250. Her novel-in-progress, RUNAWAY, recently came second in the 2014 Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing. 'An Imperial Typewriter' is now being converted into a short film and cross-media project with the help of the 2014 edition of B3 Media's TalentLab, Nottingham University's Mixed Reality Lab and BAFTA. Photograph: 'The Good Companion', by NMK Photography, used under a Creative Commons license. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1500116533876-S6L3UYRCZRZGY07HA1KW/Screen+Shot+2017-07-13+at+10.50.28.png Images & Video https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1500113163866-SR7IMRY73NTTM2U4TBT3/_MG_5808.jpg Images & Video https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1721830476337-HKN60HGDRPW84C5UHO7X/Screenshot+2024-07-03+at+05.00.15.png Images & Video https://www.divyaghelani.com/copywriting-editing-services daily 0.75 2024-09-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/4b876e86-5fa4-45fa-a303-0e0aa16eb60d/divya-e1542315328465.jpg Copywriting & Editing Services - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.divyaghelani.com/about-divya-ghelani daily 1.0 2025-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/681a83e0-dfe9-46ac-9e8a-d4c2d4bf7b48/_85D4074.jpg About Divya Ghelani Photo by Leicester-based artist, Kajal Nisha Patel https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1658045756044-2F9AFCA3D84SGYE9XU66/_85D3685.jpg About Divya Ghelani https://www.divyaghelani.com/writings daily 0.75 2024-09-09 https://www.divyaghelani.com/strike-at-imperial daily 0.75 2024-07-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1592215081711-CLABH71V1DEA37DA0CNI/Screenshot%2B2020-06-15%2Bat%2B11.17.04.jpg Imperial Typewriters Strike Research STRIKE AT IMPERIAL EXHIBITION POSTER https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/42005e02-6e09-4b4f-b01d-db6999134acf/Screenshot+2024-07-24+at+15.53.47.png Imperial Typewriters Strike Research - Make it stand out Typewriter used in Oral History Call Out Poster, which I delivered on foot to organisations in Leicester https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1592214238940-THNRED99AL99JJ1UVRPQ/Screenshot%2B2020-06-15%2Bat%2B11.15.24.jpg Imperial Typewriters Strike Research STRIKE AT IMPERIAL EVENTS POSTER https://www.divyaghelani.com/current-project-woc-reading-series daily 0.75 2024-07-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1592218911712-X9Z69XQC7H1BFNDI83TY/Screenshot%2B2020-06-15%2Bat%2B12.47.08.jpg New Fiction By Women & Non-Binary POC Reading stories by Women & Non-Binary POC with critical care. To read with a consideration of craft, the politics that shaped these texts and now surrounds them, attention to style, language, voice, point of view, and more. An intimate online reading space that is carefully moderated to create an inclusive and joyful environment. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1600766305892-EKANDZDKFJCXPAR4VGB3/Screenshot+2020-09-22+at+11.17.53.png New Fiction By Women & Non-Binary POC Photo by Jan Radtke https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1592219007178-YAA2HUQCN7XW4GW4C9LR/Screenshot%252B2020-06-15%252Bat%252B12.46.40.jpg New Fiction By Women & Non-Binary POC Learning to de-canon, to unravel, to un-do, to reconsider, to make and dismantle … to raise awareness and to read in ways that are full of possibility … https://www.divyaghelani.com/strike-at-imperial-typewriters daily 0.75 2019-12-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1575931211756-TGJ5R87H83VGO3BJY3FG/%C2%A9NLA_Report+Digital_1.jpg Strike at Imperial Typewriters https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1575931218226-WK9QKAXMKGL5RXZ9IJ24/Imperial001+%28Socialist+Worker+Archive%29.jpg Strike at Imperial Typewriters https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5965dcdbb6ac50258c6710fd/1575931133177-48QRJYND5XT9KSZ6W69I/%C2%A9Leicester+Mercury_5.jpg Strike at Imperial Typewriters https://www.divyaghelani.com/people-say-nice-stuff daily 0.75 2024-07-29 https://www.divyaghelani.com/new-page-2 daily 0.75 2025-03-15