Nonfiction Manuscript Consultation with Kavita Das
Nonfiction Manuscript Consultation with Kavita Das
“I am a poet turned first-time memoirist, and Kavita was the perfect reader for my manuscript. Her attention to narrative structure, flow and focus, and sensory detail helped sharpen my scenes and chapters. For an Asian American coming-of-age narrative set in the turbulent ‘60s, Kavita’s experience and craft recommendations on weaving together social issues with the personal were particularly valuable." - Jeffrey Thomas Leong, student
My manuscript consultation is based on an examination of how a work balances the craft of writing with the substance of conscience, the personal and the political. These guiding principles are ones that I've culled through my fifteen years working for social change and ten years writing about it, including in my recent book Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Change. As the creator of the Writing with Conscience class which I've offered through The Shipman Agency, I'm inspired by helping more writers to be writers of conscience.I offer two types of manuscript consultations:
1) Stand Alone Manuscripts - Essays, Articles, Op Eds, Stories. Sliding scale starting at $150 based on length/word count. This includes substantive summary feedback about what is working well and suggestions for improvement as well as line edits.
2) Book Manuscripts - Draft manuscripts for book length works. Sliding scale starting at $500 depending on the length of work. I will provide summary feedback on how the manuscript hangs together as a cohesive whole, respond to the narrative flow and narrative elements, whether the desired themes are coming through, and whether there is a balance between personal and political themes. This also includes a 20 minute post feedback consultation via phone/zoom to discuss any questions.
Kavita Das is the author of Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues (Beacon Press, October 2022), which grew out of her popular “Writing About Social Issues” nonfiction seminar, offered at the New School. Kavita worked in social change for close to fifteen years, addressing issues ranging from community and housing inequities, to public health disparities, to racial injustice. She is also the author of Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar (Harper Collins India, June 2019), the life story of Grammy-nominated Hindustani singer Lakshmi Shankar.
At the root of both her writing and social change work is Kavita’s desire to provoke thought and engender change by recognizing and revealing the true ways in which culture, race, and gender intersect especially when it comes to societal inequities. Kavita has been a regular contributor to NBC News Asian America, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Rumpus. In addition, her work has been published in WIRED, Poets & Writers, Catapult, LitHub, Tin House, Longreads, Kenyon Review, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Guernica, McSweeney’s, Fast Company, Quartz, Colorlines, Romper, and elsewhere. She was nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Prize. Kavita’s essays on social issues have been included in two creative writing textbooks.
