© Rochelle Potkar | Powered by Press kit: Bio note, Author pictures
Bio note –
Fictionist | Poet | Screenwriter
Rochelle Potkar is an alumna of Iowa’s International Writing Program (2015) and a Charles Wallace Writer’s fellow, University of Stirling (2017). She is the author of Four Degrees of Separation (poetry) and Paper Asylum (haibun) – shortlisted for the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020, Bombay Hangovers (short fiction), and her latest poetry collection Coins in Rivers.
Her poetry film Skirt showcased on Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland. Her poems To Daraza won the 2018 Norton Girault Literary Prize UK, and The girl from Lal Bazaar was shortlisted at the Gregory O’ Donoghue International Poetry Prize, 2018. Widely-anthologized, she has read her poetry in India, Bali, Iowa, Macao, Stirling, Glasgow, Hongkong, Ukraine, Hungary, Bangladesh, Dubai, and the Gold Coast, Australia. Her writings have been translated into Arabic, Hungarian, French, Spanish, Hindi, Marathi, and German. She also co-authored The Coordinates of Us/ सर्व अंशांतून आपण – a bilingual cross-translation of English/Marathi poetry. As a poetry book critic, her reviews have appeared in Wasafiri, Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature, Asian Cha, and Chandrabhaga.
Her first screenplay ‘A Brown coat’ was a quarter-finalist at the Atlanta Film Festival Screenwriting Competition 2020.
She is an industry expert on syllabi boards (English Lit.) of two top Mumbai universities. She was invited for four consecutive years as a creative-writing mentor to Iowa’s prestigious International Writing Programs, Summer Institute 2019 and Between the Lines 2022, 2023, 2024. She conducts regular online poetry workshops at the Himalayan Writing Retreat. https://rochellepotkar.com.
Her handles on Instagram and Twitter: @rochellepotkar.
Books –
2) (for creatives/posters)
ROCHELLE POTKAR
Fictionist | Poet | Critic | Curator | Editor | Translator | Screenwriter
Author of Four Degrees of Separation, Paper Asylum, Bombay Hangovers, and Coins in Rivers.
3)
Poetry nominations:
The Norton Girault Literary Prize in poetry UK, 2018, winner for To Daraza.
The Gregory O’ Donoghue International Poetry Prize Ireland, 2018, shortlist for The girl from Lal Bazar.
Asian Cha’s Auditory Cortex, 2018, honorable mention for Place.
The Great Indian Poetry Contest, 2018, first runner up for War Specials.
Hongkong’s Proverse Poetry Prize (single poems) 2018 Anthology space for Amber.
Her poetry film Skirt was showcased on Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland.
Her poetry manuscript The Inglorious Coins of the Counting House was longlisted at the Eyewear Publishing, Beverly Prize Poetry Book Award UK 2019, and shortlisted at the 2nd Gaudy Boy Poetry Book Prize 2019, NY. Later published by Hachette India as Coins in Rivers.
4)
Short story nominations:
Open Road Review, 2016, winner for The leaves of the deodar.
The Best of Asian Short Stories, Kitaab International, 2018, selection for Chit Mahal (The Enclave).
The Best of Asian Speculative Short Stories, Kitaab International, 2018, selection for Eternal Swirl.
The DISQUIET International Literary prize, Lisbon, 2019, notable entry for Parfum.
5)
Screenplay footprints:
A Brown Coat, feature-length screenplay was selected for NFDC Screenwriters Lab 2018 and won a quarter-finalist at the Atlanta Film Festival 2020. [Mentor: Philippa Campbell, Bikas Mishra]
Two of my feature screenplays were mentored by Ashwini Malik sir under the hands-on course at Whistling Woods.
Script Litmus web series writing course 20-21 [Mentor: Dinkar Sharma, Vinod Ranganath]
With my 6th screenplay, I was selected to participate in the Writers INK Screenwriting Lab 2022-23 – an intensive online fellowship with international film-writing faculty. [Mentor: Aviv Rubinstein]
My 9th screenplay was selected for Rewrite 2.0 Screenwriting retreat Jaipur mentored toward a final Story and screenplay. [Mentor: Pubali Chaudhuri]
Alumna of NFDC x Netflix Screenwriting online program, 2022-23.
2 of my series were selected as the top 30 participants for the Book to Box-Office event at the NFDC Film Bazaar 2023, Goa.
My short film script ‘Catharsis‘ was shortlisted recently at the 2023 International Literary Prize by Hammond House, UK.
My short film screenplay ‘Salad’ was on the Selected List of the Mumbai Indie Film Society competition 2024.
Author picture gallery –
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For the following pictures, please credit Thomas Langdon.
For the following pictures, please credit Suhit Kelkar.
