HYDERABAD: Words have a beautiful effect on humans. While some break them into pieces, a few hold them together. She found solace and warmth in words. They mesmerised her and made her fall in love with them.At 16, Sravanthi Talluri, a senior programmer at an MNC in Hitech city, weilded her pen to ink her book with her thoughts and later she started writing poems for special occasion and birthdays of beloved ones. In no time, writing became an expression for her. They became inseparable.
To keep her words and writing syndrome motivated, she started a gym for writing and writers.
“I studied at The Mother’s Integral School. My early inspirations for writing, the love for the language were drawn and nurtured there. As I went ahead with life I became a software engineer and up until the age of 21, I hadn’t taken up writing to be anymore than a hobby, a personal vent out space,”she says.
It all started in 2013, when she moved to Bengaluru. Her hobby turned into ambition. “I met many like-minded people at Write Club Benguluru. I enjoyed my time at the city, at the group thoroughly. I loved the idea of a hangout group that could help me improve how I wrote. I wrote regularly, learnt a whole lot and at that point, I was prepared to make writing my identity. A few months later, I had to move back to Hyderabad. I searched for groups that would support guided free-writing like Write Club Bengaluru. As I could not find any, I resolved to start one here, myself. And so in 2015, it began,” she recalls.
When Sravanthi started off, she was concerned about some important factors. “I was concerned about the place because it was hard for me to find a place that would give us a regular open space for meeting every weekend. As I wanted to keep the meetups open and free. After a lot of searching, I finally found our perfect place – Lamakaan. This was back in 2015 and we still do our meetups at Lamakaan, every weekend. Now we have more such open spaces springing across the city. One other place that we do our meetups at, today, is Phoenix Arena. The ambience is apt for our creative heads. I was worried about crowd too. If I would be able to gather and reach out to as many writers in Hyderabad. When the first meet up happened, I had 11 people at the session and at that point, it was a pleasant surprise for me. As the number of meetups grew consistent and higher, I was able to get close to 20-25 people on an average per week,” she jumps in joy.
“When we started off, it was 11 focused writers penning their thoughts on a first experience, at the balcony of Lamakaan, under the bright April Sun. Now when I look back, we have reached out to more than 2,000 writers, online and offline combined. The core idea for Write Club, when it started and even today, is to have a critique group for and by writers to understand, learn and stay motivated towards writing,” she explains elaborately.
Initially, the meetups were self-driven so they did not need funding. But as the prospects of book publishing and expansion came about, they had to have a base in funding. For them to continue with status quo, they eventually came up with a subscription model, wherein each new writer can attend three free/trial meetups and follow that, they would have to be a member to attend meetups further. By means of membership fee (`250 per annum) and book royalties, they survive and maintain their current status quo.
Her Saturdays are dedicated to Write Club. “My schedule is blocked for that day and I make sure I do everything that is required from me,” she smiles.
Sravanthi has also written a few books – Of Blood and Ink in 2016 and Encounters in 2017. “In 2016, 10 of our writers (including me) decided to give our stories a voice, through a short story collection - an anthology called Of Blood and Ink. Our stories were built involving ‘Blood and Ink’ as integral elements of the plot. We looked for traditional publishers everywhere but since we were first time writers, it was really hard to find one within our scope. We finally ended up making it a self-published venture. On April 8 2015, we published our book as an e-book on Amazon Kindle, thanks to Amazon’s KDP program. For the month of April and May, our book was scoring on the Amazon Best-Seller’s List, for New Releases,” she proudly shares.
Her next book, Encounters too is an anthology with a collection of write-ups by 10 writers and poets of her group. “Thanks to Blue Stencil Publishing, we were successfully able to self-publish this in July 2017. The book was launched at the Hyderabad Huddle event conducted in July. It stands as an ode to all those first steps that were hesitantly, yet bravely taken. This is a book that documents all those moments when for, buts, ifs, whats and hows have been silenced. Encounters is about all those fearless moments when we braved logic and prejudice and stood tall in the face of a storm – all because our heart wanted to,” She informs upping the curiosity to read it the book.
They plan to have an anthology published and launched every year, as a tradition, as an attempt to make sure that the voices heard at their write club meetups are always greeted with a purpose. Maybe, in this case, a book. She is currently working on a manuscript for her own book and hopes to finish it in the first half of 2018. They have recently completed 100 sessions. They are now running their 115th session. They have collaborated and work with Nivasini Publishers, The Blue Stencil, InkscapeCo, Hyderabadass Comedy Club, Teach for India Foundation, Twin City Poetry Club and much more. On July 22nd Write Club in collaboration with many other organisations conducted a Huddle for all the art and literature fanatics across the city.