About the Workshop
We have all heard of the haiku. The Japanese short poetry forms also bring to us the haibun. A form that weaves prose and poetry – a perfect frame that allows you to balance the tale with the verse and the verse with the tale. Participants will be guided toward thinking visually, lyrically, and distilling concepts into imagery. We will also touch upon free verse poetry.
Key Takeaways
By the end, you will:
1. Translate concept into imagery
2. Write with lyrical awareness
3. Recognise haiku moments — the epiphanies hidden in everyday life
4. Leave with five critiqued haiku and one completed haibun
About the Facilitator
Rochelle Potkar is a prize-winning poet, author, playwright, and screenwriter based in Mumbai. Her books in poetry include Four Degrees of Separation, Paper Asylum – shortlisted for the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020, and Coins in Rivers – shortlisted at The Wise Owl Literary Award 2025 and longlisted for the Sarojini Naidu Poetry Award 2026. Her books in fiction include Bombay Hangovers (also now in Hindi) with her latest novels being The D’Costa Family – a black comedic debut around Goans, greed, and gangsters; and The Fabric Goddesses about three women around the global fashion and garment industry.
Alumna of the prestigious Iowa’s International Writing Program, USA and a Charles Wallace Writer’s fellow, University of Stirling, she was invited four times over as a creative-writing mentor to Iowa’s International Writing Programs – Summer Institute 2019 and Between the Lines 2022, 2023, and 2024. She also teaches poetry online at the Himalayan Writing Retreat. Her writings have been translated into Arabic, Hungarian, French, Spanish, Hindi, Marathi, Macedonian, and German.
She was granted an honorary Doctorate in Literature from Sanskriti University, Mathura by the former President of India Mr. Ram Nath Kovind. Her short scripts Catharsis, Salad, and Ali Guli Maane won accolades in competitions. @rochellepotkar
Details of the workshop
Date: May 9th
Time: 11.00 AM – 1.30 PM
Fees: INR 3000
Venue: NCPA Library, Mumbai