PRESS
RELEASE, MAY 11 2004
INTERNATIONAL
CONTEST PITS WRITERS AGAINST THE CLOCK
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(Bombay, May 11, 2004) -- The Great Mahakali Write-A-Thalon is an
international literary contest that is spreading like wildfire. It is powered
by an honour-based system, and no cash prize or money is being spent. And yet
on Tuesday night it was the 6th fastest information spreading in the weblog
community, including such luminaries of the digiratti as Jason Kottke.
This is why it is special. It started as a mere
weekend binge between four friends. Now, scores of writers from more then seven
countries including India, the United States, Norway, Ireland, and Japan, will each
attempt to write an entire novel, poetic epic, stage or screen play, from
scratch. They have a weekend --58 hours, to be exact. This includes
heavyweights like Tom Bradley in Nagasaki, and Mike Atherton in London.
Set rolling by Bombay columnist, Rohit Gupta, the
Write-A-Thalon is generating massive interest amongst publishers, film
producers and writers as far afield as New York and Bombay. Amazed at the
response his weekend game has generated, he says,"This reminds me of the
Memespread Project. Like a virus! The best part is the quality of writers who
are snowballing us. For a zero-commerce operation, this is somewhat
phenomenal."
Nicole Hughes of Plastic Sugar Press has agreed to
critique and review five of the top peer-reviewed novellas. "The main
reason I was attracted to this project is because it goes so much against
what we are taught about how to write", says Hughes. "Ninety
percent of the manuscripts I review suffer from a very constrictive and
self-conscious quality. I think a lot of writers edit way too much in the
beginning of the process, and don't trust their craft enough to take real
risks. This project is about complete and total submersion in the work, merging
our objective and subjective realities, and creating a true intimacy between
writer and reader."
Jagmohan Bhanver, President of the Writer’s Society
Of India says, “I expect to see some really high power energy unleashed during
the course of these three days.” Other event partners like Frog Books, J
Sughand Productions, Oxford Bookstore, Crimson Feet Magazine and the Industrial
Theatre Company will review the best manuscripts with a view towards
publication.
Writers interested in taking part in THE GREAT
MAHAKALI WRITE-A-THALON(14-16 May 2004) should contact Emmet Cole and/or Rohit
Gupta at their respective e-mail addresses -- [email protected] and
[email protected] --as soon as possible.
Contest Website:
http://www.geocities.com/micereign/
Contest Co-ordindators
Rohit Gupta ([email protected]) www.writers.net/writers/rohitgupta
Emmet Cole ([email protected])www.emmetcole.com