Reshma Ruia writer

Forthcoming events

An evening of Poetic Prose. A Comma Press Collaboration with Write Out Loud Tickets
Monday 15 Apr 2024 | 7:00pm
Waterside Arts Centre, 1 Waterside Sale M33 7ZF
Reserve a spot at Eventbrite
Comma Press Writers’ evenings are perfect for beginner writers to experiment with new forms and meet new people!
The evening will start with a creative writing workshop and will be followed by a panel discussion about writing craft and cross-genre experimentation, from poetry to fiction. This is the perfect chance for you to ask questions about writing craft or getting published. There will then be a chance to perform your work at an open mic!

Wednesday 17 April 2024
Altrincham Library, 2 Pott St, Altrincham WA14 1AH
Join me at Altrincham Library for an evening of reading and creative writing.
Reserve your spot here.

Past events

Unheim-Lit – Weird Women
Friday 8 March 2024 | 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Levenshulme Old Library, Cromwell Grove, Levenshulme, Manchester M19 3QE
I talked about the weird and uncanny as part of International Women’s Day Celebrations alongside some fabulous writers.

Author Visit to St. George’s School, La Storta, Via Cassia, Rome, Italy
Friday 16 February 2024
Sometimes the past isn’t a foreign country. It was lovely to return to Rome and my old school St George’s as a visiting author and enthuse a new generation of literature lovers. In an age of digital overload and short attention spans, it was gratifying to see there is still a hunger for the written word inside the pages of a book.

Jaipur Literature Festival, 2024
For those of us who live across cultures and languages, separated by thousands of miles from places of our origin, home is always fluid and indefinable and yet returning to India for the Jaipur Literature Festival felt like a definite homecoming. It was a pleasure and a privilege to hear so many great minds and to have the opportunity to talk about my novel, Still Lives with Bee Rowlatt and have it ‘launched’ by none other than Amish Tripathi. Jaipur Literature Festival has an energy and a cerebral fizz that is unique. I was quite blown away by the enthusiastic crowds, the spirit of enquiry and the sheer love for books. In an uncertain world where the center seems to be collapsing, these few days in the pink city felt like a golden reprieve. Here are a few pics from my event:

Creative Writing Workshop
Thursday 2 November 2023
Maggie’s Centre, The Robert Parfett Building The Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, 15 Kinnaird Rd, Manchester M20 4QL
It was a pleasure to be back at Maggie’s to run a creative writing workshop. The theme we chose was Peace. It felt pertinent to what is happening around us today. Set in a peaceful garden, the Centre provides emotional and practical support to those impacted by cancer.

The 2023 Diverse Book Awards Ceremony
Wednesday 25 October 2023
Waterstones, Piccadilly, 203-206 Piccadilly, St. James’s, London W1J 9HD

Sunday 8 October 2023
Gladstone’s Library, Church Lane, Hawarden, Flintshire CH5 3DF
I was at Gladstone’s Library in North Wales, talking about writing in an interactive afternoon session.


Wednesday 4 October 2023
Author talk at The Women’s Institute Urmston, Manchester.


Chorlton Book Festival
Wednesday 20 September 2023
Chorlton Central Church, Barlow Moor Rd, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 8BF
7:00 pm
An evening with author Reshma Ruia.

Thursday August 3 2023
7:00 – 8-30 pm
Crossrail Roof Place Gardens, Canary Wharf, E14 5 AB
I read from the anthology, Tongues & Bellies with The Whole Kahani Collective.

Jaipur Literature Festival, London
Sunday June 11 2023
03:00 – 4:00 pm
This edition of JLF London at the British Library was a milestone, marking ten years of the festival in London, and brought together some of the world’s most renowned and relevant voices to speak on themes like the Urgency of Borrowed Time (Climate Change), Science and Technology, Shakespeare and PG Wodehouse, Food and Film, History and Diversity, Business and Art, among others. https://jlflitfest.org/london/speakers
I talked about my writing with Nikesh Shukla.

Words of Wisdom Book club
Wednesday June 21 2023
3:00 pm online
I read from and discussed Still Lives with the Words of Wisdom Book club which is a part of the global YPO organization.

Grove Bookshop, Ilkley
Thursday May 25 2023
7:00pm
10 The Grove, Ilkley LS29 9EG
I was at the Grove Bookshop in Ilkley reading from Still Lives, answering questions and signing copies.

Verbose Manchester
Monday May 22 2023
7:30 – 10:00pm
The Kings Arms 11 Bloom Street Salford M3 6AN
I was delighted to be back head-lining Verbose Manchester at Kings Arm, Salford. I read excerpts from Still Lives as well as some of my recent poetry.

Portsmouth BookFest 2023
I was in Portsmouth on Tuesday February 28 2023, talking about Fiction and Social Change.

Thursday February 16 2023
A talked about the art of writing and creativity to Grey’s Inn members in central Manchester.

Wednesday January 25 2023
The Whole Kahani online.
We discussed the benefits and challenges of a writing collective. I read an excerpt from my story, Meg Kowalski’s Birthday Cake.

Thursday December 1
I was at the vibrant Mercado Café in Didsbury talking to the Burton Road Book Club about Still Lives.

A warm evening that felt very festive with twinkling lights, wine and a thoughtful discussion about Manchester and how diaspora communities have made this vibrant city their adopted home.

Tuesday December 6
I was at the iconic Groucho Club in London talking to their book club about Still Lives.

Jacks Thomas, the Guest Director of Bologna BookPlus hosted this very special evening at the legendary Groucho Club in bustling Soho. Fuelled by gin and tonics and twiglets and the odd champagne glass, we had a very spirited conversation about the multi layered themes within Still Lives and PK Malik’s determination to grow a mango tree in Manchester. I was struck by how engaged and invested the members were with the story and of course the dramatic ending of the novel led to much speculation and further questions.

Thursday November 24
I was at the Maggie’s Centre in Manchester, talking about creative writing and reading from my work.

2022 DesiBlitz Literature Festival
I was in Birmingham on Wednesday November 16 at the 2022 DesiBlitz Festival where I was talking about creating authentic multicultural characters in my fiction.

Chester Literature Festival
Sunday November 13 | 2:00pm | Garret Theatre, Storyhouse. Hunter Street, Chester, Cheshire CH1 2AR
I was at the Chester Literature Festival talking about Still Lives.

Poetry on the Lake
Friday October 28 – Sunday October 30
Delighted to have taken part in the XXII POETRY ON THE LAKE on the beautiful island of Lake Orta in the company of some wonderful poets.

STILL LIVES – Reshma Ruia in conversation
Tuesday October 25 | 6:30pm | Blackwell’s, Manchester
A celebration of the launch of my new novel, Still Lives.

Talking about Still Lives with the wonderful Manchester Library Trail
Friday September 9 | 8:00pm Online

Our first in-person event for The Whole Kahani on Monday June 13.
Tongues and Bellies In-person Book Launch
Monday June 13 | 6:00 – 8:30 pm
The Nehru Centre | 8 South Audley Street, London W1K 1HF
Free to attend
Programme: Doors open 6 pm, Readings and discussion in the auditorium 6:30-8 pm, Event ends 8:30 pm

University of Cumbria Poetry Residency at Rydal Mount. May 23 – 27 2022
This is a unique paid poetry commission themed around the idea of ‘belonging’ within natural landscapes. I will be staying at William Wordsworth’s family home. I will produce a series of original poems (at least three poems of between 20-50 lines or five to six shorter poems between 10-20 lines) inspired by Cumbrian landscapes and ideas of ‘belonging’ .

Tuesday April 26
Join me on RadioAlty where I’ll be talking about writing and my new Manchester novel Still Lives published by Renard Press. Look forward to your questions.

Words and Wine in the Woods
Saturday April 23 | 7:00-9:00pm | Into the Wild, Bollin Wood, Woodland Lodge, Altrincham, Greater Manchester
Storytelling event hosted by me! Free entry.
If you’ve not been to Into the Wild before – it’s a beautiful small wood on the Hale / Ashley border. Just on the edge of Hale village. Really easy to get to. It really is a magical space.
https://www.intothewildbushcraft.co.uk/

Here are some pics of a truly enchanting evening of words and wine with fellow writers and such an attentive and appreciative audience.

Instagram Live @booksbualbual
Saturday 9 April 11:00am London | 6:00pm Singapore/Malaysia
Online Instagram Live chat with Elaine Chiew of BooksBualBual about writing Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness and my new novel, Still Lives, out in June.

Manchester Writers for Ukraine
Friday 25 March 7:30pm | Kings Arms, Salford
An evening of spoken word raising funds for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. I read along with a host of other Manchester writers.

Thursday 10 March 2022
Thrilled to have headlined Verbose Manchester at Ducie Street Warehouse.

Full House with a great audience and writers. Adam and Amy were the brilliant organisers of this Spoken Word event.

Friday 4 February 2022 8:00 pm. Online.
Talking about Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness with the wonderful Manchester Library Trail.

Online Launch of Tongues and Bellies by The Whole Kahani
Tuesday 14 December 7:30-8:30pm
The Whole Kahani and Lynn Michell of Linen Press had a fabulous evening, discussing their latest anthology, Tongues and Bellies.

Untitled Underrep’d Writers Festival 21 – SI Leeds Literary Prize
Sunday 31 October 5:00-6:00pm
Join us to celebrate the SI Leeds Literary Prize, which reaches its tenth year in 2022.

Postcards from Oxford Road
Hafsah Aneela Bashir, Andrew McMillan & Reshma Ruia.
1-14 November
What does Oxford Road mean to you? For Hafsah Aneela Bashir it’s attending university and growing into her own skin. For Andrew McMillan it’s a geographical portal into the past and memories of love. For Reshma Ruia it’s the rich tapestry of people and buildings from The Whitworth to The Refuge hotel. MLF and the Manchester Poetry Library have co-commissioned these three fantastic poets to create new micro-commissions for the first Corridor of Light Festival. Watch film footage of them performing their poems on location and discussing their work, imagination and Manchester.
You can see the full MLF LIVE and MLF DIGITAL programme here: https://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/events.

See Reshma’s film here:


Reshma Ruia: Postcards from Oxford Road from Manchester Literature Festival on Vimeo.

Manchester Launch of Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness
Wednesday 17 November | Blackwell’s Manchester

Book Launch: Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness
Tuesday 12 October 7:30-8:30pm
The launch of my debut short story collection, Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness.

Words with Wine on the Water
Thursday 7 October 5:30pm – readings from 6:00pm
An evening of wine and words on water.

Short Story September Festival
In this session I talked about the craft of short story writing and the process of putting together my collection, Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness, which will be published by Dahlia Books in October.
Saturday 25 September | 10.30am-6.30 pm

South Asian Heritage Month ‘21
Multiculturalism and the South Asian Writer
Are South Asian writers defined by their heritage?
Tuesday 20 July | 5.00-6.00 pm

Jericho Writers Summer Festival of Writing. June-August ’21
Write a Poem From Scratch
with Reshma Ruia
Tuesday 20 July | 7:00 pm BST / 2:00 pm ET
In this interactive session, Reshma Ruia went beyond the technicalities of structure and syntax and talked about the joy one can find in using everyday language to create a poem and provide tips on writing, editing and performing poetry. The session included writing exercises and links for further reading.

Virtual Writers Weekend
Sunday 27 June 2:15-3:15 pm
Multi-Cultural Storytelling
This one-hour talk focused on writing about various cultures and different genders with empathy and sensitivity. Reshma drew upon her own writing and gave other examples to show how a writer can use his or her imagination and research to build an authentic world that the reader can relate to or discover afresh. It is all too easy to revert to cultural stereotypes and over-simplification and she suggested ways in which one can avoid this and also not fall into the trap of cultural appropriation. The talk was followed by a Q&A.

The Stay At Home! Literary Festival
Saturday 8 May 3:00-4:00 pm
Delighted to be discussing truth and stereotypes in Asian writing with my fellow Whole Kahani writers at the Stay at Home! Literary Festival.

Here is the link to our lively discussion about being BAME and writing beyond and across a label.

WOW Writes Together
Sunday December 20 | 6:00pm
As we bid adieu to what could only be described as a challenging, painful year, we looked ahead to a better, brighter future. We carried with us the hope, the love, the tenderness and also the pain we experienced since the Pandemic brutally altered our landscape. These variables are our wealth, a harvest that we will use to sow again a better tomorrow. We pondered over the meaning of wealth. What does wealth signify to us – is it a monetary or an emotional or experiential term? How do we receive it, how do we distribute it? We had an interactive session where I provided some writing prompts to help us create our own unique form of wealth. I also read from my poetry collection, A Dinner Party in the Home Counties and explored how different poems define wealth.

Mancunian Ways Anthology Launch
Friday October 16 | 8:00pm Zoom

Altrincham Word Fest
Saturday 3 October 10.30-12.30 on Zoom.
Finding the Voice: poetry writing and performance with Reshma Ruia
In this writing workshop helped participants find their creative voice and prepared them for sharing their work with a larger audience. The workshop employed writing prompts on a wide variety of poetic/short story themes.
I discussed techniques used to enhance performance, such as intonation, tone, tempo, and volume.

​South Asian Heritage Month
18 July  – 17 August
Proud to feature in South Asian Heritage Month – celebrating and raising the profile of British South Asian history, arts, culture & heritage.

GetawordinEdgeways
Thursday 11 June | 8:30 – 10:30pm
An online evening of poetry and stories. A webinar for people to sit back and enjoy this most ancient, and current, of arts from the comfort of their living rooms!

SOUTH ASIAN LITERARY FESTIVAL
Online literary festival, founded by Dr Pragya Agarwal, bringing authors of South Asian origin together in a four-day celebration from 28-31 May.
All events are FREE and live via zoom. All timings are in British Standard Time (BST).
Join me on Saturday, 30th May, 3.30 to 4.30 pm when I will be discussing short stories with Jenny Bhatt and Sayantani Dasgupta. The event is free but please register via Eventbrite.

Altrincham Word Fest
Poetry/Short story workshop for Performance, Altrincham Town Hall, 25 Market St, Altrincham WA14 1QT
Sunday 17 May | 2.00pm
This writing workshop will help you to find your creative voice and prepare you for sharing your work with a larger audience. The workshop will employ writing prompts on a wide variety of poetic/short story themes. I will discuss techniques used to enhance performance, such as intonation, tone, tempo, and volume.

Verve Poetry Festival
Birmingham Hippodrome, Patrick Studio, Hurst St, Birmingham B5 4TB
Thursday 20 February | 7.30 – 10.30 pm
Opening Verve 2020 was a Spoken Word Night to remember – a night of nights – a Spoken Word SUPER night.
Four of the best nights around the country were each asked to bring a poet of their choosing. Word Wise from Derby, hosted by Jamie Thrasivolou, brought Matthew Clegg. Verbose from Manchester, repped by Zoe Turner, featured Reshma Ruia. Milk from Bristol with host Maleika Kegode brought Birdspeed. Edinburgh’s Loud Poets and their host Kevin McLean presented Katie Ailes. The night was hosted by Verve’s Sean Colletti.

It was an honour to represent Manchester and Verbose at this acclaimed poetry festival and read from A Dinner Party in the Home Counties and see my book in such distinguished company.

The Book Launch for A Dinner Party in the Home Counties
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton St, London WC2H 9BX | Monday 9 December | 7.00 – 9.00 pm
I was joined by guest poets Mimi Khalvati, Todd Swift, Rishi Dastidar and Yogesh Patel.

Verbose: Fire and Water
Freds Ale House, 843 Stockport Road, Manchester, M19 3PW | Monday 25 November | 7.30 – 10.00 pm
I read from my latest collection A Dinner Party in the Home Counties.

Lit Up Festival: Macc Stories
United Reformed Church, Park Road, Macclesfield SK11 7NA | Saturday 23 November 2019 | 6.00 – 8.00 pm
Six writers came to Macclesfield one day in Autumn, each in search of inspiration… Reading a commissioned story at a live literature project. I produced a new short story based on something related to Macclesfield and read it live at the festival.
‘Why six Manchester writers will be telling weird and wonderful tales in Macclesfield’ – Visit Manchester

National Creative Writing Industry Day 2019: Friday 1 November
Geoffrey Manton Building, MMU, Manchester
Panel participant ‘Writing in the Face of Doubt’.

The Talleyrand, 1030 Stockport Road, Levenshulme M19 3WX
Friday 18 October | 7.00 pm
Poetry reading in Levenshulme in aid of Safe Passage who are currently helping refugees find sanctuary.

Durham Book Festival: Sunday 13 October 2019 2.30 – 3.30pm
I read from and discussed our latest anthology, May We Borrow Your Country with other members of The Whole Kahani Collective, Kavita A. Jindal and Nadia Barb.
Durham Town Hall (Burlison Gallery), Market Place, Durham DH1 3NJ

This Glorious Noise
Tuesday 13 August 2019 | 6:30 – 8:00 pm
The Nehru Centre | 8 South Audley Street, London W1K 1HF
Readings from: Yogesh Patel, Debjani Chatterjee, Ravi Shankar, Jessica Mookherjee, Reshma Ruia and Kavita A. Jindal.
I received my Word Masala Award for the debut collection to be published by Skylark in October.

At the Manchester launch of Arachne Press’ latest collection ‘Story Cities: A City Guide for the Imagination‘ we had readings from several of the contributors including: Sarah-Clare Conlon, Cath Holland, Dave Murray, Cherry Potts and Reshma Ruia. Story Cities is a collection of new flash fiction in multiple genres about the things you see, experience and feel in the city. This is not your usual city to one particular city, but rather to all cities, to any city…

Date and Time: Thursday 27 June 2019 | 7.00-8.30pm
Location: Blackwell’s Bookshop, University Green, 146 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9RN

I was at the birthplace of the Suffragette movement, the Pankhurst Centre, Manchester, on Thursday 7 March 2019 for an evening filled with readings and debate as we launched the 100 Voices, a collection by 100 female identifying authors from all over the UK.
The inspiring collection features a hundred women’s stories which were crowd-sourced and broadcast on the acclaimed 100 Voices podcast last year.

From 7 March, a book of the stories will be available for readers to support through the publisher Unbound.

Poetry Open Mic. Wednesday 6 March. Altrincham Word Fest 2019.

‘I write poetry to capture what it means to be human-flawed, imperfect, constantly seeking, never quite finding, never quite arriving.’

Altrincham Word Fest 2019

Verbose Manchester spoken word night at Fred’s Ale House on the theme of ‘Labels’, Monday 25 February 2019, 7.30-10.30pm.

Radio Interview with Susan Leigh on Trafford Sound, Tuesday 5 February 2019, 2-4pm.

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