The Young India Fellowship Launches ‘Final Draft: A Journal of YIF Critical Writing’

May 2018: The inaugural issue of Final Draft: A Journal of YIF Critical Writing was launched on April 24, 2018. A labour of love of the YIF Critical Writing Programme, this journal brings together academic papers, opinion editorials, and narrative essays written by Fellows from previous batches of the Young India Fellowship. The diverse range of writings — from gender, politics, education, ethics, caste, to religion and others — is reflective of the multidisciplinary pedagogy of the YIF programme, the rigour of the Critical Writing course, and the richness of thought that Fellows bring to the Fellowship.

The launch was attended by several members of the senior leadership at Ashoka, faculty, administrative staff, current students, and alumni — many of whom shared their experiences of teaching, studying and administering the YIF Critical Writing Programme, and their contributions to making this journal possible. “The title is the most appropriate. This may be the ‘Final Draft’ but like all great writing, this is a ‘draft’, a work in progress”, said Jonathan Gil Harris, Prof. of English, Ashoka University. Dr. Durba Chattaraj, Director, Centre for Writing and Communications, and Aniha Brar, Assistant Dean, Young India Fellowship, shared their experiences of teaching Critical Writing in the past. “The leap from a six weeks course to a ten-month long programme is reflective of the significant role that the Writing programme plays in the Fellowship”, said Aniha Brar.

Along with the Critical Writing preceptor team which includes Anuj Gupta, Anunaya Rajhans, C.S.R Shankar, Dhritiman Bhuyan, Jaan Sharma Pathak, Monisha Dhingra, Rahul Sen, Ratna Menon, Satyendra Singh and Sayan Chaudhuri, some of the student authors also shared their experiences of being in the Critical Writing classroom, and the joys and difficulties of writing the essays that have been published in the journal. Suha Gangopadhyay spoke about the Programme Team’s tangible engagement with the intellectual journey of the Fellows that Final Draft enabled.

While physical copies of the journal are available at the Ashoka University library, soft copies can be downloaded by clicking here. The preceptors look forward to your invaluable feedback as they expand Final Draft in the future into an annual journal that curates the best writings that emerge over each academic year in the YIF Critical Writing Programme.