CALORIE: In Your Words

About: 

How do you capture humanity's relationship with food? 

Food writing as a literary genre is a diverse and storied medium. Through recipes, memoirs, travelogues, journalistic pieces, fiction, and rhyme food writing explores the way that food shapes society. 

As part of our current exhibition season CALORIE, we are inviting young writers aged 18 to 30, to respond to a series of writing prompts drawn from the many ways in which food influences and is influenced by human society. You are encouraged to submit a short piece— essays or poetry—that engages with the prompts and explores the aspect of food that they represent. 

Shortlisted writers will be mentored by culinary anthropologist and writer Kurush Dalal to showcase their final piece at a public reading in June.

Timeline:

Call goes live: 24 April 2026

Call Closes: 24 May 2026

Writing workshop and Mentorship session: 20 June 2026

Public reading and Showcase: 27 June 2026

 Participation Guidelines:

1. The deadline for submissions is 11:30 PM IST on 24 May 2026
2. You must be between 18 and 30 years of age to participate.
3. You must be willing to travel to Bengaluru for the public showcase. Please note that we can only cover domestic travel for selected participants from within India.
4. You can submit a maximum of three responses per person.
5. Your submission must be in English.
6. Please include the title of your work in your submission.
7. Your submission can either be an Essay or in the form of Poetry.
8. For Essay Submissions, Word count: 800 to 4,000 words. Choose a length that suits your story—short personal reflections, longer explorations and pieces of fiction are all welcome.
9. For Poetry Submissions, Length: 10 to 60 lines. This can be one longer poem or up to three shorter poems (total not exceeding 60 lines). Style: All forms are welcome—free verse, spoken word, narrative poetry, haiku, or experimental forms.
10. Entries must be submitted in .doc or .pdf file formats. The file should be named as follows: YourName_Title_IYW2026
11. Text within the submission should be formatted in Calibri, size 12.
12. You retain all the rights to your work. By submitting your work, you will give Science Gallery Bengaluru the permission to use and publish your submission during CALORIE, and your submission will be archived on the Science Gallery Bengaluru website.
13. Your submission should not have won or placed in other competitions, or have been published in an official capacity in other magazines, exhibitions, etc.