Bengal Creative Hub, in association with EMK Centre, successfully wrapped up the first part of their “Artistic Arsenal” series of events, sponsored by The City Bank Ltd. The workshop was held at EMK Centre on Tuesday, and was conducted by Ditio Syed-Haq -- a prominent writer known for his short stories and his role as creative director at Amar TV.
Artistic Arsenal is a series of events being held by Bengal Creative Hub and EMK Centre, where specialists from various creative fields engage in interactive sessions with attending participants. The first part of the workshop focused on short stories -- composing them in both English and Bangla -- brainstorming sessions, all the while discussing “how short can short stories be?” and the methods of writing them.
The event was welcomed warmly by the youth and professionals working in the creative fields. Discussions during the session helped dispel commonly held beliefs about writing short stories and encouraged those attending to engage in creative writing.
Senior Project Manager of Bengal Creative Hub Ifra Iqbal told Dhaka Tribune Showtime: “We observed enthusiasm from two distinct groups of attendants -- those who were already involved with writing, and those who have never written a single line of a story. The second group was surprised to find out how easily one can begin telling a story. Refreshingly, all the questions from the attendants were quite relevant.”
Ifra went on to say that a total of 40 participants were selected for the workshop, based on their interest in writing short stories and their degree of involvement in the creative fields, such as designing, writing, videography, etc.
Ditio Syed-Haq, son of poet Syed Shamsul Haque, conducted the workshop on short story writing | Courtesy
Ditio Syed-Haq -- son of poet Syed Shamsul Haque -- has made numerous contributions in various local publications, and had this to say about writing short stories: “Writing short stories isn’t just about sitting with a piece of paper. A lot of thoughts go into it. Specific techniques are involved. If one knows what these are, anyone can write short stories as it becomes ‘writeable art.’”
Following the workshop, an online short story writing competition was announced. Submissions can be in both English and Bangla, but under a word limit of 500 words.
Bengal Creative Hub is an online platform where young, creative professionals can connect to each other and create together. It serves as a medium for exchanging knowledge, resources, industry leads, job opportunities, and networking opportunities in order to help our creative industry flourish.
Participants were enthusiastic and all the questions they asked were relevant to the workshop | Courtesy
