Online Courses for Bibliophiles and Wordsmiths

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Always wanted to write? Study the classics? Understand culture?  But don’t want to return to college?
We feel you. The subjects in the humanities hold our endless fascination and it sucks that liberal studies, and curated curricula are still a faraway dream in India. Which is why these online courses in literature and writing are the perfect packages for your curious minds. Check them out.

Indian Fiction in English

Curated and supported by the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning, the online course on Indian Fiction in English is one of a kind. It primarily focuses on major literary histories, anthologies and critical discussions in India from the 1960s onwards. A twelve-week program with intense course work including works like “The God of Small Things and “Midnight’s Children,” it is conducted by Dr. Merin Raj who is a professor with IIT Madras’s Humanities and Social Science Department. This course will interest anyone who likes history, literature or even reading in general. The link to register for the course is here.

Post-Graduate Diploma in Folklore and Culture Studies (PGDFCS)

Indira Gandhi National Open University in 2013 introduced one of the most exclusive courses on indigenous cultures in the country through its PG diploma in Folklore and Cultural Studies. Resulting from an inter-disciplinary approach to cultural studies, the program focuses on time, geography, space, and literature of the folklore and culture of the world in general, and of India in particular. Anyone with a keen interest in anthropology and traditional literature should take a look at this course. The course is a year-long and caters to students who have finished their undergraduate degree. Check it out here.

Creative Writing Specialization

Coursera, in collaboration with Wesleyan University, offers an extensive, interactive course on Creative Writing with five different levels including a capstone project. A fourteen-month course with assignments, peer reviews, online training modules, and flexible schedule, it is one of the best in the field. Sit in the comfort of your house and nurture the budding writer in you with this detailed course. The course is designed for anyone from the aspiring short story writer to established novelist. A certificate assuring completion is guaranteed by Coursera upon finishing and will surely be a valuable addition to your resume. The course begins on the 28th of April, join it here! 

Contemporary Literature

Another course by the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning, the Contemporary Literature course conducted by another IIT Madras Social Sciences and Humanities faculty, Dr. Aysha Iqbal Viswamoha. The course aims to study the diversity of contemporary literature. The course outline states that “It examines genres, the 21st-century novel, contemporary innovations, postcolonial literature, postmodern poetics, plays, and theories and techniques of contemporary drama.” It amalgamates the best of both Western and Asian literature to create a broader perspective. This course will interest anyone who enjoys reading contemporary works that are extremely popular today. Find the course here.

Writing for Strategic Communication

The Australian University of La Trobe presents on iTunes, an extensive module on Strategic Communication. The course is about writing strategically as a specialist vocation. But can also be applied in written usage for organizational roles. It includes everything from tweeting to speech-writing and provides an overview of various forms of professional writing including writing for traditional media and writing for the web and social media. It is an informative course for people from all professions. Check it out for free here. 

We also suggest a variety of courses available on Udemy for those who seek short term courses that cater to specific aspects of creative writing.

Each of these courses is easy to access, interactive and fun to take up and most of all guaranteed to give you a productive summer while enhancing your cultural views.


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Akhila Menon

Akhila is a connoisseur of hurriedly written poems and random facts. She is often found in the natural habitat of her bed with an open laptop or earmarked book, headphones in and a scalding mug of hot chocolate.

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