Upcoming Kundiman Events:
Power and Objectivity in nonfiction writing with Nay Saysourinho
FEBRUARY 9th—March 30TH, 2022
WEDNESDAYS, 7:00 PM–9:30 PM ET
“There must be a sense of wanting to bring people along with you, to see what you see, the way you see it. That’s what exhilarating about writing. We don’t write alone. We write with people by our side, always.”
––Nay Saysourinho, The Letter Pages, “In conversation with Nay Saysourinho”
Truth, objectivity, transparency, authenticity—these concepts are often read as indisputable, but interpretation is never neutral. In this workshop, writers will apply practical insights from various disciplines to sharpen their authorial voice and analyze the attribution of power in nonfiction—whose voices are given more weight, how and why? Each class will have a discussion/craft portion and a generative writing portion. Students who have submitted pieces beforehand will have the opportunity to workshop it twice, while the last week will be reserved for questions on how to submit to publications. All genres of nonfiction are welcomed, from the critical to the experimental.
eligibility:
This workshop is open to all writers of color, and students must be able to attend all 8 sessions of the workshop. The non-refundable tuition fee is $495. This workshop will be held over zoom. There is one scholarship spot available and the application is open through Wednesday, January 19th.
Registration for this class is now closed.
FACULTY:
Nay Saysourinho is a writer, literary critic, and visual artist. She has received fellowships and scholarships from One Story, Kundiman, The Writers Grotto, The Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, Tin House, MacDowell, Rona Jaffe and Yale. Her writing has been published in The Funambulist Magazine, Asian American Writers Workshop, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares Blog, Khôra, and elsewhere. Influenced by the Québec folklore of her upbringing, the oral history of her Lao diaspora and the philosophy of Deleuze, her multidisciplinary work explores ways by which narratives are gathered, transmitted, and deciphered. In June 2021, she joined an art research circle through the Nordic Summer University.