Announcing our November/December 2022 classes! Join Rohan Chhetri in a translation craft class, Noah Arhm Choi in a poetry craft class, and Margaret Rhee in a multi-genre craft class!
We’re excited to continue meeting with you throughout the fall months. More info about our winter classes are below, and you can browse the lineup of present and past classes here!
Craft Class:
Saturday, 2:00 PM–5:00 PM ET
November 5th
Open to all writers of color
In this class we’ll look at translations as radical “afterlives” of texts to see what can be “found” in the act of translating. Moving beyond the question of fidelity, the binary of “faithful” and “free” translations and the myth of the "invariant", we'll look at translations as an opportunity to write through the source text into creating exciting & radical new works in the target language. Following the Hermeneutic mode of understanding a translation as an "interpretation" of the source text, we'll look at how the cadence and peculiarities of the source language and culture inflects, infiltrates and contaminates the target language, English in our case. We'll finally consider the interpretive factors—the various negotiations a translator makes to facilitate and contain this violent meeting of the two languages and cultures into their translation.
The Scent of the Last Thing You Saw
Craft Class:
Saturday, 2:00–5:00 PM ET
November 12th
Open to all writers of color
Sometimes the scent of the last person you loved or left or lusted after comes up unbidden when you touch a shirt they left behind or bite into a casual scone on a Tuesday. Sometimes finding a way to describe an important person or event in your life can be just as elusive as trying to describe a smell beyond cinnamon, burnt, hunger. In this generative workshop and craft class, we will explore how creating unlikely families of sensory details can make tangible the ineffable or even make a destination out of a crossroad. We will dive into poems by Paul Tran, Nikky Finney, and Franny Choi, and explore the ways that the synesthetic image can create a net for that elusive poem you’ve been trying to write.
Food, Love, and Literature: Asian American Longings
Craft Class:
Saturday, 2:00–5:00 PM ET
December 3rd
Food is evocative, ephemeral and expressive. Food is sensual, flavorful, and a story. Food is familial, political, and powerful. Asian American writers have long utilized food to address pressing issues in literature and in particular the politics and complexities of love. In this craft class, writers will explore food and love in literary arts with an emphasis on Asian American literature and culture. As tastings, we will read excerpts from authors--novelists, poets, memoirists, and chefs- and drawing from suggested readings by Monique Truong, Li-Young Lee, Kyle Lucia Wu, Michelle Zauner, Mark Padoonpatt, and Eric Kim. Drawing from a multi-genre platter of literary and visual art sources, workshop participants will explore the intersection of food and Asian American identity and experience through close reading, discussion, and developing their own food writing. In doing so, we will explore foodways and recipes as poetry and prose, and experience when the line of poetry can be consumed and sensual.
All classes will take place on Zoom and the class times listed are in Eastern Time. There are scholarships available for each class and deadlines are listed on the individual course pages.
View our full selection of online classes on our Online Classes Page. We will announce new classes for 2023 soon.
See you online!