C Y Gopinath

I bring a range of creative skills and professionalism to my work that makes it possible to offer them a wide range of support across interlinked areas of communication from strategy design to execution, including writing, editing, proofreading, graphic design and layout, and film-making — and publishing across multiple media, traditional and digital. My core skills include —

1. Writing As a journalist, I won an Indian national award for best journalism under 32 years age for my work in first person journalism. Subsequently, I have both written as a journalist and mentored promising writers. Working in highly technical institutions such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and PATH USA, I have developed skills in presenting technical topics and science in clear, simplified English, using metaphors and visual analogies to illustrate complex concepts.
2. Author I am a published author of both fiction and non-fiction. My first novel, The Book of Answers, published by HarperCollins in 2011, was shortlisted for the prestigious 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize for Best Fiction, competing with over 10,000 entires from 83 countries. I am currently working on three books, two works of fiction and the other non-fiction.
3. Corporate communications I have worked with a range of international and national corporations in crafting advertising and communication campaigns, including Unilever, Cello, Castrol, Yardley of London cosmetics and Orient Cement. I authored the corporate history of Unilever, and designed and published their corporate newsletter magazine for close to 20 years.
4. Copy editing and proofreading I am a meticulous and exacting surgeon of words, and give equal attention to content, logic, structure, grammar and flow. I have proofread and copy edited my own books and also for other writers and authors.
5. Film making I have been scripting, directing and editing my own video films since 1998. In 1998, I scripted and directed Nothing Serious an 8-episode political satire show for Indian TV. I have filmed over over five documentaries of social change and community development in Kenya, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam, working with local film units. The film were shot in the local languages and overdubbed in English.
6. Graphic design I have been offering graphic design and layout services since 1982. Today, the work include publishing online, in traditional print media and also for YouTube and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
7. Advertising As Creative Director of India's largest international advertising agency, I managed a team of over 20 artists, illustrators and writers, and produced several game-changing advertising campaigns.

I have more than native proficiency in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign and Acrobat, as well as mastery of MS Word, and Apple Pages.