Scholar-in-Residence Presentation with Malar Ganapathiappan
Aug 30, 2025
Online event
Join us for SCBWI San Francisco/South’s Scholar-in-Residence Online Presentation Malar Ganapathiappan!
About the Presentation
Becoming the Mirror: Writing Disability Toward Healing, Visibility, and Wholeness
As storytellers, we are creating mirrors for young readers to recognize themselves in the stories we tell. This allows them to feel seen, understood, and accepted. Historically, the mirror has been warped—through limited narratives perpetuating invisibility, and through distorted representations of disability shaped by an outside gaze that skews perceptions. This creates unique challenges for authors with limited models for their identity to bring their own lived experiences onto the page.
In this presentation, Malar will share stories and speak to the process-oriented questions that those writing about the uncommon experience may grapple with, including:
- Managing pressures that come with being among the first in an identity making the story palatable
- Creating safety for one’s own process and the character to emerge
- Finding language for the lived experience that goes beyond limited and oppressive language options
- Navigating the fear of visibility, relational trauma, and chronic shame when it has not historically been safe to be seen
- Pioneering one’s own path, creating scaffolding in an experiential process
Writers will gain inspiration for meeting the unknown—so they may find the courage to shine a curious and compassionate light deep into their hearts. Guided by visceral sensations, they’ll uncover language for the unspoken and tell stories that are ready to be told. Ultimately, this creates a ripple effect of healing, allowing young readers to know themselves and live more fully as who they are.
When: August 30, 2-3:30 PM
Where: Zoom link to be emailed to all registrants
About Malar
About Malar
Malar Ganapathiappan helps people heal through writing by connecting with their inner wisdom and expressing their truth. She is a writing mentor, body-centered life coach, and group facilitator. With a trauma-informed, somatic, and intuitive approach, she draws from her Bachelor’s degree in psychology and energy-healing background as a Reiki practitioner to support transformation. Bringing in lived experience with neurodivergence and a rare, complex medical condition, Malar writes fiction, personal essays, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is currently working on a middle grade novel centering an underrepresented disabled character. Known for her deep listening, she is passionate about the transformative power of creativity. Malar lives in the Bay Area, loves cats, and delights in the natural world.
About SCBWI San Francisco South's Scholar-in-Residence Program
For more information on SCBWI San Francisco/South’s Scholar in Residence Program:
https://www.scbwi.org/regions/sfsouth/sf-south-programs/scholar-in-residence
SCBWI Policies for Events
Before you register, please read the SCBWI policies on Anti-Harassment and the policy prohibiting recording and distribution of conference materials: https://www.scbwi.org/faq/global/scbwi-policies