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Past Workshops
Summer 2010 Writing Workshops
The Workshop prides itself on being a safe, nurturing space for writers of all levels and ethnicities to develop artistically and professionally. Novelists Min Jin Lee, Ed Lin, and Monique Truong first began to find their ways as writers via our writing workshops and literary enrichment programs. Our writing workshops are affordable and intimate, a space where one builds friendships that often last longer than the duration of the class. Former Poet Laureate of Queens, Ishle Yi Park has said, "The Workshop nurtured and raised me. A home away from home, a nest, a gathering place, a refuge, a resource. Word."
Saturdays July 10-August 14, Noon-2pm (6 sessions)
Lust for Write: Fiction Workshop with Ed Lin
 You've been writing away at a novel or collection of short stories for months, maybe years, but you wonder if you're hitting all the required markers for character, plot, point of view, description, dialogue, setting, pacing, voice and theme (whew!).
Throw out all those preconceived notions, including the dumbest dictum of all: Write every day.
You are the strongest force that drives a story. Your compelling desire to describe people and their problems overrules anything else, and your own way of doing it is the only right way. Ed Lin supports the idea that writing is akin to playing a musical instrument that no one else has ever seen or heard before and that the authors are generally right, even if they arenÕt sure of what they are doing.
Reserve your spot here.
Ed Lin is the author of the novels Snakes Can't Run (2010), This Is a Bust (2007) and Waylaid (2002).
@ The Workshop
110-112 West 27th Street, Sixth Floor
Between 6th and 7th Avenues
$40 non-mem deposit/ $36 mem deposit
$200 non-mem/$175 mem
Spring 2010 Writing Workshops
The Workshop prides itself on being a safe, nurturing
space for writers of all levels and ethnicities to develop
artistically and professionally. Novelists Min Jin Lee, Ed
Lin, and Monique Truong first began to find their ways as
writers via our writing workshops and literary enrichment
programs. Our writing workshops are affordable and
intimate, a space where one builds friendships that often
last longer than the duration of the class. Former Poet
Laureate of Queens, Ishle Yi Park has said, "The
Workshop nurtured and raised me. A home away from home, a
nest, a gathering place, a refuge, a resource. Word."
Thursday,Feb
11, Tuesdays, February
16 - March 2, 2010,
7 - 8:30pm (4 sessions)
Making
Friends With Your Writing
- Poetry and Fiction
Workshop with Ken Chen
 Was one your New Year's resolutions to write more? No one sets out to be a bad writer, but sometimes it can be hard to give the things we value our full attention. This course with Ken Chen, the Executive Director of The Asian American Writers' Workshop, focuses
on how to maintain better
writing habits and how
to make friends with
your writing. The class
will focus on how to
create successes in
your writing practice,
manage your writing
time, and balance it
against your other obligations.
We'll discuss building
momentum, remaining
committed to your writing
(and stopping a stop-start
pattern), and conquering
perfectionism and writer's
block-through low commitment
exercises in and out
of class.
Ken
Chen is Executive
Director of
The Asian
American Writers'
Workshop.
His debut
poetry collection,
Juvenilia,
was selected
by Pulitzer
Prize winner
Louise Gluck
as the 2009
recipient
of the Yale
Series of
Younger Poets
Award, the
oldest annual
literary award
in the United
States. Ken
wrote much
of the manuscript
while a student
at Yale Law
School and
working as
a full-time
attorney.
His work has
been accepted
or recognized
by Best American
Essays 2006,
Best American
Essays 2007,
The Boston
Review of
Books, The
Yale Anthology
of American
Poetry, Fence,
and Jubilat.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32 Street
Suite 10A
btw Broadway and Fifth Avenue
$160 General / $140 Members
$40 General Deposit / $36.00 Members
Saturday,
February 20, 2010, 1-4PM
Quick Love - A One-Day Workshop on the HeartÕs Poetry with Purvi Shah
ÒÉDoes it extinguish Ñ this grief
for the buds that never were,
even as others are ready to bloom?
Some are always left behind Ñ
with matters of the heart,
we can assume sorrow...Ó
(from ÒSongs of Spring,Ó
Terrain Tracks, Purvi Shah)
Exhilaration.
Angst. Joy. Despair. Part tornado,
part inertia. Getting a handle
on love can be as difficult as
generating a good love poem.
Not
that these formidable barriers
have stopped us from loving or
any poet from trying to express
the jumble of emotions, the ineffable
we call love. If you ever wanted
to write a good love poem, hereÕs
your chance. This special one-day
love poetry workshop in honor
of ValentineÕs Day Ð and the days
that come after Ð is for poets
and non-poets alike, those who
disdain love, and those who relish
in it. Through a series of group
exercises and individual rapid
writing, our goals in this workshop
will be to discuss what makes
a good or bad love poem and get
to writing so that each of us
comes away with a polished draft
of a poem evoking whatever kind
of love or unlove we presently
harbor. Workshop participants
will be able to share writing
with attendees, produce a poem,
and have fodder to continue writing
for weeks to come!
Purvi Shah is the author of Terrain Tracks (New Rivers Press 2006), which won a Many Voices Project prize. Her debut poetry collection, recognized across Asian American and womenÕs communities, explores migration as potential and loss. She is preoccupied with the many facets of love, including its temporality and mathematics, concepts she explores in her current poetry project, Love Time(s).
@ The Workshop
16 West 32 Street
Suite 10A
btw Broadway and Fifth Avenue
$40 General/ $36.00 Members
Tuesdays, April 27-May 4, 2010, 7-8:30 PM (6 Sessions)
The Girl YouÕll Never Forget--Fiction Workshop with Meera Nair
 Good fiction teems with characters you can believe in. They are complicated, emotional, often flawedÑin fact as hopelessly human as the rest of us! We get to know them by watching them walk and talk, love and think; make choices and play out their deepest desires on the page.
They mostly do this in scene---that super important building block of fiction.
In this six-week workshop we will use fun exercises to give birth to memorable characters (male, female and in-between) and get to know them intimately---their wants and fears, joys and hopes; their histories, their futures and how they actually live day to day.
We will then set them in motion by placing them in scenes where something happens. We will use exercises to invent scenes that are turning points, push the story forward, and reveal character. We will learn how to balance action with thought, how to increase tension, how to surprise the reader.
Through class readings, exercises and shared work, you will (hopefully!) leave the class with a sharper sense of narrative craft and enough material for a bang-up piece of fiction.
Suitable for all levels.
@ The Workshop
110-112 West 27th Street, Sixth Floor
Between 6th and 7th Avenues
Learn to write chills-down-your-spine fiction at the bargain price of two shots of Patron per class!
$250 General / $225 Members
$40 General Deposit / $36 Members
First six to register get $25 off their registration fees!
Sunday, May 16, 2010, 1-4 PM
From Student to Screenwriter
Screenwriting Workshop with Watchmen writer Alex Tse
The path of a screenwriter isn't always a straight one. Putting stuff to the page is the only beginning of a long process. So how do you get your screenplay noticed? In a one day workshop, Alex Tse, the screenwriter behind Watchmen, hands out tips on how to get your script into the right hands and on screen. Register here.
 Alex Tse was born and raised in San Francisco, CA, left the nest and attended Emerson College in Boston, MA, where, in addition to playing NCAA Basketball, he discovered, or rather, admitted, his passion for film. After graduating in 1998, Tse made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles, bouncing around from temp jobs to gigs producing and promoting low budget music videos before an executive at Disney gave him a break and set him up with a literary manager.
Besides Watchmen, Tse has several other projects with Warner Bros. including another collaboration with Watchmen director Zack Snyder adapting Ray BradburyÕs The Illustrated Man and an adaptation of the Anime Ninja Scroll, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. Tse was also the Writer and Co-Executive Producer of the Spike Lee directed Sucker Free City, an original movie for Showtime for which he won a PEN Award. Currently, Tse is writing two projects for Paramount Pictures: The Winter of Frankie Machine for director Michael Mann, starring Robert De Niro, and Battling Boy with Plan B.
@The Workshop
110-112 West 27th Street, Sixth Floor
Between 6th and 7th Avenues
$40 General /$36 Members
Fall 2009 Writing Workshops
The
Workshop prides itself on being
a safe, nurturing space for writers
of all levels and ethnicities
to develop artistically and professionally.
Novelists Min Jin Lee, Ed Lin,
and Monique Truong first began
to find their ways as writers
via our writing workshops and
literary enrichment programs.
Our writing workshops are affordable
and intimate, a space where one
builds friendships that often
last longer than the duration
of the class. Former Poet Laureate
of Queens, Ishle Yi Park has said, "The
Workshop nurtured and raised me.
A home away from home, a nest,
a gathering place, a refuge, a
resource. Word."
How
to Sign up for a Creative Writing
Workshop
(1)
If you're interested in signing
up for a writing workshop, you
can do so either at the website
for that specific workshop (see
below) or by calling us at (212)
494.0061. We want you to be able
to try out a class to see if you
like it, so your credit card will
be charged a non-refundable deposit
for the first class only. (For
one-day sessions, you will pay
the full price of the session.)
Unless otherwise noted, workshops
are at The Asian American Writers'
Workshop, 16 W. 32nd Street, 10th
fl.
(2)
Assuming you like the class, we'll
then charge you for the remainder
of the fee for the course.
-
If you paid via telephone, your
credit card will be charged the
remainder of the fee for the course,
unless you bring an alternative
form of payment (cash or check)
on the first day of class.
-
If you paid online, please bring
your preferred form of payment
to the first class (credit card,
cash, or check).
In
either case, receipts will be
given to you at the second session.
Should you decide to drop the
class, please notify us via telephone
by 7pm on the business day following
the first class. There are no
refunds for classes missed voluntarily.
We hope you enjoy the class!
Sunday,
October 25, 2-5pm (1 Session)
Poetry
Master Class with Myung Mi Kim
Come
hear Myung
Mi Kim,
Director of The Poetics Program
at the University at Buffalo and
leading voice in contemporary
poetics, reflect on her extensive
body of work. This intimate conversation
will allow you to speak to Myung
about her work, ask any questions
you have about craft and practice
and get feedback from Myung on
your own writing. Author of the
highly praised Under
Flag, The
Bounty, DURA,
and Commons,
Myung's latest collection Penury was
released in June of 2009. Commenting
on Penury,
poet Erin Moure has said, "Myung
Mi Kim's poetry cuts through all
the necrotized word-dressing on
the body of English. She unearths
possible tools, tools that are
not fragments or remainders but "hand
tools" that
can quarry thoughts, memories,
griefs, patiences across borders,
deaths, and into new lands, where
pronunciation is not obvious,
and where 'native speakers recognize
native speakers,' blindsiding
others."
Myung
Mi Kim is
the author of Penury (Omnidawn
Publishing). Her other books
and chapbooks include River
Antes (Atticus/Finch), Commons (University
of California Press), DURA (Sun & Moon), The
Bounty (Chax
Press), and Under
Flag,
winner of the Multicultural
Publisher's Exchange Award (Kelsey
Street Press). Kim's poems have
appeared in such journals as Conjunctions, Sulfur, Hambone,
and positions:
east asia cultures critique.
Her work has been anthologized
in Moving
Borders: Three Decades of Innovative
Writing by Women, Premonitions:
Kaya Anthology of New Asian
North American Poetry, American
Poets in the 21st Century: The
New Poetics,
and other collections. She is
Professor of English and Director
of the Poetics Program at the
State University of New York
at Buffalo.
@
The Workshop
16
West 32 Street
Suite
10A
btw
Broadway and Fifth Avenue
$45
General Deposit / $40 Members
Mondays,
November
9
-
December
21,
7-9pm
(8
Sessions)
The
Comedy
of
Life,
Death, & Art:
A
Workshop
to
Develop
Comedic & Creative
Work
Life
doesn't
try
to
be
funny;
it
just
is.
Life
is
tragedy
with
embedded
comedy,
and
vice
versa.
The
purpose
of
this
interdisciplinary
(but
mostly
writing/performing)
workshop
is
to
develop
creative
work
with
an
emphasis
on
discovering
and
emphasizing
the
comedic
elements;
to
identify
and
explore
comedic
concepts/principles;
to
integrate
comedy
into
writing
and
performing;
and
to
develop
skills
in
terms
of
both
writing
and
publicly
presenting
your
work.
The
workshop
will
introduce
participants
to
a
variety
of
comedic
work,
including
creative
nonfiction
essays,
film,
music,
standup
comedy,
sketch
comedy,
and
other
genres.
Participants
will
develop
a
new
piece
in
their
chosen
genre
over
the
8-weeks,
and
much
of
the
workshop
time
will
be
devoted
towards
workshopping
individual
pieces
while
also
introducing
and
exploring
relevant
concepts.
The
emphasis
is
not
on
forcing
a
particular
style
on
anyone,
nor
on
trying
to
be
funny,
but
on
encouraging
workshop
participants
to
find/develop
her/his
own
voice,
and
on
revealing
existing
comedy
in
a
natural
way.
The
workshop
will
culminate
in
a
public
presentation
of
work
presented
by
the
Asian
American
Writers
Workshop.
This
workshop
is
geared
towards
writers
and/or
performers,
but
artists
in
other
fields
(film,
music,visual)
and
non-artist-identifying
individuals
are
completely
welcome.
 Samantha
Chanse is
a
writer & performer,
teacher,
and
arts
organizer
who
has
been
based
in
San
Francisco
since
2001.
Her
work
has
been
presented
with
the
NY
International
Fringe
Festival,
Kearny
Street
Workshop,
The
Marsh,
Asian
American
Theater
Company,
Footloose/Shotwell
Studios,
Bindlestiff,
and
others.
She
was
the
recipient
of
a
SFAC
Individual
Artist
Commission,
resulting
in
the
2008
SF/NY
productions
of
her
first
solo
play,
Lydia's
Funeral
Video.
In
2009,
she
started
performing
a
new
solo
show,
Back
to
the
Graveyard,
for
which
she
received
an
Artist
In
Motion
residency
from
Footloose/Shotwell
Studios.
As
a
standup
comic,
she's
performed
in
and
around
the
Bay
Area
at
venues
like
the
purple
onion,
punchline
comedy
club
(SF),
locus
arts,
herbst
theater,
the
laugh
factory
(NY
and
LA),
cobb's,
and
other
lovely
comedy
sites,
including
a
number
of
dimly-lit
bars
and
brightly-lit
cafes.
She
co-founded
multidisciplinary
artist
salon
series
Laundry
Party,
served
as
KSW's
artistic
director,
and
recently
embarked
on
a
bicoastal
lifestyle
to
pursue
a
MFA
in
playwriting
at
her
native
NYC's
Columbia
University.
She
has
been
teaching
writing
and
performing
workshops
for
over
five
years,
primarily
through
Kearny
Street
Workshop,
Performing
Arts
Workshop,
and
Bindlestiff
Studio. www.samanthachanse.com.
@
The
Workshop
16
West
32
Street
Suite
10A
btw
Broadway
and
Fifth
Avenue
$290
General
/
$265
Members
; $39.25
General
Deposit/
$36.00
Members
Tuesdays,
November
10-December
15,
7-9pm
Get
your
novel
started
with
a
novelist
and
book
editor!
Novel-Writing
Workshop
with
Wendy
Lee
Got
a
great
idea
for
a
novel,
but
can't
sit
down
and
write
the
first
page?
If
you're
committed
to
finishing
a
novel
and
getting
it
published,
this
class
is
for
you.
We'll
discuss
the
craft
of
writing--including
elements
such
as
voice,
character,
plot,
structure,
and
pacing--and
also
address
business
questions
that'll
arise
after
you're
done,
such
as:
How
do
I
write
a
query
letter
to
an
agent?
What
are
the
myths
about
the
publishing
industry?
Can
I
send
an
unsolicited
manuscript
to
a
major
publishing
house?
Taught
by
an
instructor
who
is
both
a
novelist
and
a
book
editor,
this
one-of-a-kind
class
is
a
unique
opportunity
to
get
you
closer
to
your
goal
of
seeing
your
novel
in
print,
no
matter
what
stage
of
the
process
you're
at.
Wendy
Lee is
a
graduate
of
New
York
University's
Creative
Writing
Program.
Her
first
novel, Happy
Family,
was
named
one
of
the
top
ten
first
novels
of
2008
by
Booklist.
She
was
awarded
a
MacDowell
Colony
fellowship
in
the
fall
of
2008
and
is
currently
working
on
her
second
novel.
She
is
also
an
assistant
editor
at
HarperCollins
Publishers.
Visit
her
website
at WendyLeeBooks.com
$225
General
/
$200
Members $40.50
General
Deposit
/
$36.00
Members
@
The
Workshop
16
West
32
Street
Suite
10A
btw
Broadway
and
Fifth
Avenue
Fall
2008
Writing
Workshops
To register for any of our workshops, please call 212.494.0061. Workshops are filled on a first-called, first-served basis unless otherwise noted. Payment methods
accepted: Amex, Discover, Mastercard and Visa.
All of our writing workshops are open to writers of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels. (Unless otherwise noted, e.g. youth programming is only open to high school aged students.)
From Pitch to Clip: Magazine Writing with Rain Noe
Writing for a mass-market magazine requires a special blend of storytelling and journalism. N. Rain Noe, Executive Editor of Theme Magazine, will walk you through the process
in a five-week long course covering structure, flow, storytelling, research and subject interviews. You will learn to write capsules, profiles, front-of-the-book pieces, and finally,
a feature-length article. Once you have all of these skills, what's next? Theme Magazine has agreed to invite certain members of the class to write capsules, front-of-the-book clips
and/or profiles for them!
N. Rain Noe has fourteen years of magazine writing experience and has spoken at colleges around the country. He currently serves as Executive Editor for Theme Magazine and
is part of the daily writing staff of Core77.com. Visit his blog, www.hipstomp.com.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
$175 General / $150 Members
The Net and the Tree: Nature Writing with Aimee Nezhukumatathil
This course will focus on nature writing through experimental and narrative poetry, as well as several fruitful methods for keeping a nature journal. The emphasis will not be on
critiquing poems, but on understanding the conceptual and aesthetic issues involved in re-casting our lives within natureÕs embrace. Through a keen sense of observation and the ardent
pulse to translate nature's language, you'll see how writing comes alive in that space between "the net and the tree."
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of At the Drive-In Volcano and Miracle Fruit. She is associate professor of English at SUNY-Fredonia where she was awarded a
Chancellor's Medal of Excellence.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
$75 General / $60 Members
Workshop postponed! Check back for more details.
Going Public: Nonfiction Writing with Sandeep Jauhar
An intensive workshop focused on the craft of non-fiction writing. How do you lift your story from the private pages of your journal and come public? This workshop will focus on
how to make such a transition easier through creative exercises, thoughtful critique, and group feedback in a supportive environment.
Sandeep Jauhar is the author of Intern: A Doctor's Initiation. He is the director of the Heart Failure Program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and writes regularly for
The New York Times and The New England Journal of Medicine.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
$75 General / $60 Members
Fictionally Speaking: Fiction and Nonfiction Writing with Thaddeus Rutkowski
A workshop for writers new to fiction or creative nonfiction, as well as those who want to take their work to the next level. The class will focus on basic elements such as setting,
character, and storyline. Substantial class time will be given to supportive, constructive discussion of students' work. Traditional as well as experimental prose writers welcome.
Thaddeus Rutkowski is the author of Tetched: A Novel in Fractals and Roughhouse: A Novel in Snapshots. He has taught creative writing at the Writer's Voice of the
West Side YMCA in New York, Pace University, the Hudson Valley Writers Center and The Asian American Writers' Workshop.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
$175 General / $150 Members
Summer 2008 Writing Workshops
Summer Fiction Workshop with Ed Lin
A writing workshop for people who want to learn how to tell the truth by lying well.
It's easy to bat around issues about character, plot, point of view, description, dialogue, setting, pacing, voice and theme (whew!) in terms of writing. But Ed Lin promises to spend
as little time as possible talking about those concepts. The author of Waylaid (Kaya, 2002) and This Is a Bust (Kaya, 2007) supports the idea that writing is akin to
playing a musical instrument that no one else has ever seen or heard before and that the authors are generally right, even if they aren't sure of what they are doing. Lin believes
the best thing that can come out of a class is a group of colleagues who can continue reading each others' work outside the class environment. If you don't love and respect writing
or are focused only on getting published, Lin doesn't want you in his goddamned class.
Ed Lin is the author of the novel Waylaid (Kaya Press, 2002) and This Is A Bust (Kaya, 2007).
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
Cost is $175/$150 for members
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Two Truths and a Lie: Writing Creative Non-Fiction with Bushra Rehman
A workshop on writing drawn from real life, but employing the techniques of poetry and fiction.
Writing from life can be a tricky business. There are people to protect, faulty memories of events, and the pitfalls of self-censorship and self-aggrandizement. This is where
creative non-fiction comes in. It's a form of writing that is drawn from real life, but employs techniques of poetry and fiction. Creative nonfiction recognizes that our lives are
too rich not to write about, but that our imaginations are too strong to ignore. In this class, we will write by drawing on memory, family myth, and the truth and lies of our lives.
We will cover literary techniques such as character, dialogue, setting and story arc to name a few.
Bushra Rehman is author of the collection of poetry, Marianna's Beauty Salon (Vagabond Press, 2001), and co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's
Feminism (Seal Press, 2002). She performs her work around the country and is currently working on an on-the-road adventure novel. Bushra's work has been featured on BBC Radio 4,
KPFA, WBAI and in the New York Times, NY Newsday, Color Lines, Curve, and SAMAR. To read excerpts visit bushrarehman.com
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
Cost is $175/$150 for members
Summer Poetry Workshop with Lisa Chen
A four-week workshop for poets, budding and experienced alike.
This workshop interrogates and locates poetry in the crevices from which it can erupt, hand-cranked from subtitles, cut-ups, Breton's language events, instruction manuals, pillow
books, eavesdropping, Kawabata's Palm of the Hand stories, etc. We will do mental calisthenics, reinvent meaning and language, contradict ourselves, and sprints in the parking lot of
the unforeseen and sublime.
Lisa Chen is the author of Mouth (Kaya Press, 2007). Her work has been published in Hanging Loose, ZZYZVA, Prairie Schooner, and Threepenny Review.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
Cost is $175/$150 for members
Winter / Spring 2008 Writing Workshops (past events)
Daddy Project monologues with Dawn Akemi Saito
A monologue workshop where scripts will be reviewed for presentation in the fall. More details TBA shortly.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
Spring Poetry Workshop with Aimee Nezhukumatahil
PROSE POETRY: TENDING THE GARDEN --In this workshop, we will explore ways to bring the outside world into a miniature "garden" form that the reader (and writer) can savor again and again. To what extent can such writing play a role in bringing about a more balanced sense of shared humanity? Whether you have traveled to Antarctica or have never stepped foot outside of New York City, this class will help you realize a landscape's potential for crafting poetry that leaps and sizzles off the page. Instead of traditional travel narratives or journaling, we will investigate examples and exercises from the little-used Japanese form, the haibun, and a variety of other formats.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the poetry collections At the Drive-In Volcano (Tupelo Press, 2007) and Miracle Fruit (Tupelo Press, 2003), winner of the ForeWord Magazine Poetry Book of the Year and the Global Filipino Literary Award. Recent poems appear in Tin House, Shenandoah, and Prairie Schooner. She is associate professor of English at SUNY-Fredonia where she was awarded the Chancellor's Award and the Hagan Scholar Prize.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
$75 General, $60 for Members
Spring Youth Writing Workshop: UnFairy Tales: The Myths in Myths
In your version of Cinderella, is Cinderella more Jenny from the Block
than forlorn maiden servant? Or how about the Frog Prince, is he really
just your gamer best friend who can't seem to hit off with any of the
girls he meets? In UnFairy Tales: The Myths in Myths you will write down
such alternatives to traditional notions of fairy tales and myths and
explore why there is a need for revision.
Narratives about heroes and role models influence how we view the world.
Fairy tales and cultural mythologies from Cinderella to Tiger Girl and
Chinese Dragon to figures from Greek mythologies and the Old Testament all
shape how we come into our identities and understand ourselves in relation
to others. In turn, we unwittingly look for and expect similar behaviors
and attitudes, sometimes reinforcing narrow and often stereotypical roles
- Damsel in Distress, Prince Charming.
UnFairy Tales will meet for six sessions from March to April. Our goal is to explore together how these stories have scripted
the role of gender and shaped sexuality and ethnicity in contemporary life
and to think critically about these issues in our personal and educational
lives, through readings, discussions, and field trips. We will generate
creative work as a result of this exploration, culminating in a final live
performance/reading.
UnFairy Tales is open to male and female youth grades 9-12, of all racial backgrounds. All participants are expected to commit to a six-session program and complete all assignments. Upon successful completion of the program, a $50 stipend will be awarded. Space will fill up quickly, so applicants are advised to return their complete applications as soon as possible; early applicants will be given first consideration. This youth program is FREE.
UnFairy Tales takes place at The Asian American Writers' Workshop on West
32nd Street in Manhattan, between 5th Avenue and Broadway, one block from
the Empire State Building. Founded in 1991, The Asian American Writers
Workshop is the country's largest literary arts nonprofit dedicated to the
creation, development, publication, and dissemination of Asian American
literature.
The project is directed by Nina Sharma.
Nina Sharma is a writer living in New York City. She is in the Liberal
Studies, American Studies Graduate Program at Columbia University, where
she is specializing in diaspora and immigrant studies.
This youth program is funded by The Asian Women Giving Circle, The Ong Family Foundation and the Union Square Awards.
Please mail, fax, or e-mail application by Tuesday, March 1, 2008. Applications must be received by this date.
Mail to:
UnFairy Tales
The Asian American Writer’s Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, Suite 10A
New York, NY 10001-3808
Fax to: 212.494.0062
E-mail to: to desk@aaww.org (Please include UnFairy Tales in the subject line)
 Download an application (MS Word format)
Young Adult writing with Marina Budhos
This is an intensive 2-part workshop for writing young adult fiction. Participants will do in-class exercises, generate ideas, and workshop written pieces. We'll talk about the differences and overlaps with writing fiction for adults and discuss some of the exciting young adult literature that is being published today.
Marina Budhos is an author of award-winning fiction and nonfiction. She has published the novels, Ask Me No Questions (Simon & Schuster, 2006), The Professor of Light (Putnam, 1999), House of Waiting (Global City Press, 1995) and a nonfiction book, Remix: Conversations with Immigrant Teenagers (Henry Holt, 1999). Her short stories, articles, essays, and book reviews have appeared in publications such as The Kenyon Review, The Nation, Ms., Travel & Leisure, Time Out, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. She has received an emma (Exceptional Merit Media Award), a Rona Jaffe Award for Women Writers, and a Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts. Ms. Budhos has been a Fulbright Scholar to India, given talks throughout the country and abroad, and is currently on the faculty of the English Department at William Paterson University. She is married to editor and author Marc Aronson.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
$100 General, $75 for Members.
Summer / Fall 2007 Writing Workshops
Summer Youth Writing Workshop: Txt Me: Identity and Community
Do you have a blog? A MySpace page? What do you write on it? What don't you write on it? The Asian American Writers' Workshop is offering a new creative writing project that focuses
on what's most important to you. Over the course of two weeks, you will explore issues of community and identity through new forms of communication such as YouTube, text messages,
podcasts, and blogs. You will work together to each produce and present a final digital multimedia project.
Txt me will meet for eight classes in July. We will create and discuss our writing and explore different forms and elements of prose and poetry through digital multimedia.
Txt me will culminate in an event featuring live readings and performances, which will be recorded and broadcast via podcast through the Workshop's website. Txt me will
feature guest speakers and excursions, including a trip to the New York Times.
Txt me is FREE workshop open to youth, grades 9-12, from all racial backgrounds: Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Caucasian. All participants are expected
to commit to the duration of the workshop and complete all assignments. Space will fill up quickly, so applicants are advised to return their complete applications as soon as possible;
early applicants will be given first consideration.
Txt me takes place at The Asian American Writers' Workshop on West 32nd Street in Manhattan, between 5th Avenue and Broadway, one block from the Empire State Building. Founded
in 1991, The Asian American Writers’ Workshop is the country's largest literary arts nonprofit dedicated to the creation, development, publication, and dissemination of Asian American
literature.
The sessions will take place on:
Wednesday - Friday, July 11 - 13, 1 pm - 5 pm each day
Monday - Friday, July 16 - 20, 1 pm - 5 pm each day
Closing Event, Thursday, July 19 at 7 pm
The project is co-directed by Nicholas Chung, Mrigaa Sethi and Kaori Suzuki.
Project Co-director, Nicholas Chung is an English concentrator at Brown University. He is an editor at Opium magazine, a coordinator for the Brown Language Arts Program, and has
taught various workshops on creative writing and art.
Project Co-director, Mrigaa Sethi is a native of New Delhi and a resident of Bangkok. She is the contest editor at Washington Square Review, and also teaches public school
students and New York University undergraduates creative writing.
Project Co-director, Kaori Suzuki is a graduate of Evergreen State College, and was born in Saitama, Japan. She has coordinated
various writing and media arts projects as a student, exploring identity, community, and language. She teaches ESL with the CIELO Project
and pursues work in linguistics and mixed media art.
Please mail, fax, or e-mail application by Thursday June 28th, 2007. Applications must be received by this date.
Mail to:
Txt me
The Asian American Writer’s Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, Suite 10A
New York, NY 10001-3808
Fax to: 212.494.0062
E-mail to: to desk@aaww.org (Please include Txt me in the subject line)
Download an application (MS Word format)
The Short Story with Rattawut Lapcharoensap
 This is a six-week workshop focused on the craft of the short story. Participants should expect to submit work on a regular basis as well as
provide generous, constructive feedback for their peers' submissions.
Additional readings and discussions may cover traditional and
non-traditional story structures, the perils of epiphany, de-familiarization
and the exotic, the pleasures of exposition, and the art of revision, among
others. For beginning, serious writers with some experience with the short
story form.
Rattawut Lapcharoensap was born in Chicago and raised in Bangkok. His work has been published in Granta, Zoetrope, Best New American Voices, and Best
American Non-Required Reading, among others. Sightseeing, a collection of
short stories, was published by Grove Press in 2005. It was selected for the
National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" program, won the Asian American
Literary Award and was also shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.
He was recently named on Granta's "Best of Young American Novelists" list.
Limited to 12. $250 general, $225 for members.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
Approaches to Asian American Literary Anthologies with Luis Francia
A free workshop for teachers of high school seniors and first-year college students. Complimentary copies of Workshop anthologies with teachers' guides. Call 212.494.0061 to register.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
FREE
Winter / Spring 2007 Writing Workshops
Poetry workshop with Tan Lin
 This is a course designed to introduce students to writing poetry and the prose poem. Emphasis on experimental and rule-bound forms of composition, aleatoric
writing, "uninspired" forms/boredom, and prison-escape modes of writing. This course will be run as a weekly workshop and includes a short reading list as well.
Tan Lin is the author of two books of poetry, Lotion Bullwhip Giraffe (Sun & Moon Press), and BlipSoak01 (Atelos). His poetry, fiction, and critical
writing have appeared in numerous journals including Conjunctions, The Boston Review, Cabinet, Hambone, the New York Times Book Review, New American
Writing, Tripwire, The Voice Literary Supplement, the World, Art in America, Purple, and Blackbook. He has taught at the University of Virginia,
Cal Arts, and Centre College, and currently teaches creative writing at New Jersey City University.
Limited to 12, $250 general, $225 for members
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
Screenwriting with Clifford Son
In this course, writers will learn how to develop a full-length feature screenplay. Students will learn the fundamentals of story structure, character development,
problems and solutions of screenwriting, the elements of drama and the business of screenwriting. Class time will include writing exercises, discussion of student
work and viewing film examples. This class is open to writers of all different levels.
Clifford Son, a native of New York City, attended the film program at the School of Visual Arts. His film "Giant Metal Insects" has been featured in many
international film festivals and was the recipient of the Kodak Screenwriting Award. The screenplay to his first feature film "Helium" attracted the attention of
Hollywood where he was represented by the Broder Kurland Uffner and Webb agency. His work in included television writing for Disney and ABC and projects developed
by Dreamworks and 20th Century Fox. He also created and wrote the comic book series "9 Volt" published by Image Studios, is a contributing writer to Flaunt magazine
and was a founding member of the Firecracker music series in Los Angeles. He resides in New York City where he works on his next feature "Melody Lee" which is slated
for production in 2007.
Limited to 12, $250 general, $225 for members
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
Fall 2006 Writing Workshops (past events)
Memoir Workshop with Amitava Kumar
This workshop on memoir will focus on voice and on craft. In the first part of the workshop we will clarify how in the case of each writer the normal, everyday voice differs from the writing voice. During the discussion on craft, our main goal will be to recognize, beneath description, what our writing is really about. We will use our own writing samples as well as excerpts from well-known memoirs to better define the precise relationship between who is speaking and what is being said.
Limited to 12, $150 general, $125 for members
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
 Amitava Kumar is the author of Husband of a Fanatic (The New Press), Bombay-London-New York (Routledge), and Passport Photos (Univ of California Press). His work has also appeared in The Nation, Harper's, Kenyon Review, New Statesman, Transition, American Prospect, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Toronto Review, and The Times of India, among others. He is a professor of English at Vassar College.
Intensive Playwriting Course with David Henry Hwang
An intensive daylong course designed to help playwrights access their unconscious and stimulate dialogue, character development and
theatrical moments for the stage. Catered to all writers interested in theatre and performance. Session will feature professional advice about writing
for the theatre, working in/for the stage, landing an agent and a first production.
Limited to 12, $200 general, $175 for members
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
 David Henry Hwang is the Tony and Obie Award-winning playwright of M. Butterfly, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and
FOB. He cowrote Disney's international musical hit Aida and his extensive repertoire further includes three opera librettis (in collaboration
with Philip Glass) and several feature films. Hwang also serves on the Council of the Dramatists Guild.
Short Story Workshop with Susan Choi
An intensive workshop focused on the craft of the short story. Discussion will focus on jump-starting your writing, troubleshooting and revising, creative exercises, thoughtful critique, and group feedback in a supportive environment. For beginning, serious writers.
Limited to 12, $150 general, $125 for members
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
 Susan Choi received an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University. She won the Asian American Literary Award for fiction and was a finalist for the Discover Great New Writers Award for The Foreign Student. Her second novel, American Woman, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has also appeared in Kori: The Beacon Anthology of Korean-American Fiction; Bold Words: A Century of Asian American Writing; Writing Away Here: A Korean-American Anthology; and Hard Choices: An Iowa Review Reader.
Speed Dating Round 2: Short Story Clinic
Cosponsored with 
Short fiction has been wildly popular at times in American literature and a chosen first form
for emerging writers. In Speed Dating Round 2, short story writers are paired up one-on-one with editors. Personal feedback, professional advice and criticism make this a valuable opportunity for writers to have a look into the publishing market for the short story.
To participate:
1) Send your short story (25-page limit, double-spaced) to desk@aaww.org. Include your name, contact information, and a short bio. Write "Speed Dating" on the subject line.
Deadline to submit is Tuesday, October 17th.
2) If your story is chosen, the Workshop will forward it to the appropriate editor who will read your work in advance and be prepared to offer personal feedback. Payment is due upon acceptance.
3) Come on time to your assigned half-hour meeting and ask whatever you want. If you are unable to attend the event in person, but would like to participate, we will be accepting phone appointments also.
Featuring editors:
Stacey Barney (Kensington Books)
Lexy Bloom (Random House/Vintage/Anchor)
Kendra Harpster (Penguin/Viking)
Christopher Jackson (Random House/Spiegel and Grau)
Radhika Jones (The Paris Review)
Megan Lynch (Penguin/Riverhead)
Anne McPeak (The Hudson Review)
Jennifer Pooley (HarperCollins/William Morrow)
John Parsley (St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books)
Whitney Pastorek (Pindeldyboz)
Anjali Singh (Houghton Mifflin)
Declan Spring (New Directions)
$65 general, $50 members. Accepted on a rolling basis until filled. The Workshop will do the pairing. Open to individuals from all different levels of writing, ethnic backgrounds and literary interests.
@ The Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor
(btwn Broadway & 5th Avenue)
Stacey Barney, an editor at Dafina/Kensington Books, has held posts in both adult and children's book publishing, beginning her career at Lee & Low Books, a
multicultural children's book publisher. She then worked at Farrar, Straus and Giroux with such talented new writers as Chris Abani and Lisa Dierbeck. At
Amistad/HarperCollins, she published LA Times Bestselling author Tamara T. Gregory's Passport Diaries as well as acclaimed author Ronin Ro's latest,
Raising Hell: The Reign, Ruin, and Redemption of Run-D.M.C. and the bestselling This Voice In My Heart by Gilbert Tuhabonye. At Dafina/Kensington,
Stacey is looking for Christian fiction, young adult, pop culture, and narrative nonfiction that speaks to the themes of education, race, class, gender and
immigration -- the outsider's voice. She is also very interested in family stories, memoirs, women's fiction, and international fiction. She will launch a young
adult line for the Dafina list in the fall.
Lexy Bloom is an associate editor at Vintage/Anchor, part of the Knopf publishing group at Random House, where she works on both paperback reprints and
original titles. She has worked with numerous authors in paperback, including Edwidge Danticat, James Salter, Mary Gaitskill, John Banville, Helen Oyeyemi, Thisbe
Nissen, Richard McCann, and Tova Mirvis. She also works with Natsuo Kirino, Joshua Henkin, Danit Brown, Tod Wodicka, and Mia Kirshner, among others, whose original works are forthcoming from Knopf, Pantheon and Vintage/Anchor in 2007. Before coming to Vintage/Anchor, she was US Books Editor for Granta Books.
Kendra Harpster began her literary career at Doubleday in 1999 where she worked with writers such as Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead and Aimee Bender,
published fiction by Shari Goldhagen (Family and Other Accidents), and Rod Liddle (Too Beautiful for You), and non-fiction by David Rakoff (Don't
Get Too Comfortable), and the Lance Armstrong Foundation (Live Strong). Now an editor at Viking, her list includes both literary and commercial fiction.
Her upcoming titles for Viking/Penguin include Tana French's In the Woods, Danielle Ganek's Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, Susan Vreeland's
Luncheon of the Boating Party and Kim Edwards' short story collection, The Secrets of a Fire King.
Christopher Jackson is Executive Editor at Spiegel & Grau, a new division of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group at Random House, Inc.
He has worked with numerous bestselling and award-winning authors, from Victor Lavalle and Edwidge Danticat to David Corn and Jack Weatherford. His
authors at Spiegel & Grau include Warren St. John, Matt Taibbi, Ta-Nehesi Coates, and Adam Mansbach.
Radhika Jones is the managing editor of The Paris Review, and her interview with Peter Carey appeared in the magazine's summer issue. She is a
frequent contributor to Bookforum and the author of introductions to Barnes & Noble Classics editions of Great Expectations, David Copperfield, and
A Room with a View.
Megan Lynch is an editor at Riverhead Books, where she acquires and edits literary fiction and narrative nonfiction. Her authors include New Yorker
short story writer Cristina Henr’quez, blogger and pundit Ana Marie Cox, and memoirist and humorist Wendy McClure. Prior to joining Riverhead, she worked at Little,
Brown and Company and Nan A. Talese/Doubleday.
Anne McPeak is the associate editor of The Hudson Review. She received a B.A. in literature from Bard College, with a concentration in writing.
Previous to joining the magazine, she was an assistant at the Irene Skolnick Literary Agency. Her fiction and book reviews have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail.
John Parsley is an Editor at Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, where he acquires and edits literary and commercial fiction and narrative nonfiction.
He is also the founding editor of LOST Magazine, a monthly online magazine that features fiction and nonfiction and has
published writers including Tom Bissell, Wayne Curtis, Marilyn Johnson, Peter Orner, Mary Roach, Floyd Skloot, and Robert Sullivan.
Whitney Pastorek is a writer, musician, and international star of stage and screen. She is the executive editor of the Queens-based lit mag Pindeldyboz,
and a correspondent for Entertainment Weekly. A full list of everything can be found at Whittlz.com. She has worked with writers such as Thisbe Nissen, Mike Topp, Corey Mesler, Jim Ruland, Norman Lock, John Verbos, Claire Zulkey,
Carrie Hoffman, Lee Klein, Jason DeBoer, Matthew Derby, Mike Magnuson, Amanda Eyre Ward, Pia Ehrhardt, Jessica Anthony, Jami Attenberg, and Benjamin Percy.
Jennifer Pooley is an editor at William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, where she began her career in 1998. She loves discovering strong new
voices in literary and commercial fiction and has acquired such debut novels as K. L. Cook's The Girl From Charnelle, Catherine Hanrahan's Lost Girls and
Love Hotels, and Willy Vlautin's The Motel Life. Her nonfiction acquisition interests are eclectic and include serious narrative nonfiction, humor,
history, science, and memoir that deliver an unforgettable armchair experience, such as Marjorie Hart's Summer At Tiffany (forthcoming) and Alison and
Melissa Houtte's Alligators, Old Mink and New Money, and the occasional whimsical gift title with a pop culture slant, such as Amy Allen's This Little
Piggy Went to Prada: Nursery Rhymes for the Blahnik Brigade (forthcoming) and David C. Barnette's The Offical Guide to Christmas in the South: Or, If You
Can't Fry It, Spraypaint It Gold. She publishes the work of such authors as John Barlow, Christoper Bram, Maud Casey, Emily Franklin, Lolita Files, Lisa Jewell,
Ami McKay, and Leslie Pietrzyk, among others.
Anjali Singh began her career in publishing in 1996, when she landed a job as a scout of American and Canadian books for foreign publishers. Before
joining Houghton Mifflin in 2006, she worked as an editor at Vintage and Pantheon Books, where she sought out American and international writers of literary fiction,
travel, memoir, and narrative journalism. Her authors included Nuha al-Radi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Diana Abu-Jaber, Nadeem Aslam and Valerie Martin. While there,
she also carved out a niche publishing graphic novels, among them Marjane Satrapi's memoirs of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, Persepolis
and Persepolis 2 (which she also translated from the French), David B.'s Epileptic, Joann Sfar's The Rabbi's Cat and Jessica Abel's La
Perdida.
Declan Spring is senior editor at New Directions and has been working there since 1991. He is also the contracts and foreign rights director. Declan has
worked on many books of poetry and foreign fiction by Can Xue, Inger Christensen, Julio Cortazar, H.D., Thalia Field, Gu Cheng, Forrest Gander, Gustaw Herling, Laszlo
Krasznahorkai, Peter Handke, Federico Garcia Lorca, Gregory Rabassa, Leonid Tsypkin, and Paul West. New Directions, founded in 1936 by James Laughlin, is the last
remaining self-sustaining independent literary publisher in America.
Youth Workshop: 51%: A Female Journalists Initiative
The Asian American Writers' Workshop is offering a new writing project for high school-age female journalists. We will learn about reporting and
interviewing technique and touch on specialized areas of journalism - for example, ethnic media, opinion writing, feature writing, blogging, and radio - depending on
students' interests. We'll also study how to pitch stories to publications and editors.
We will meet for six classes in October, November, and December. We will hone our writing through exercises, peer critique, presentations, field trips, and
guest speakers. Each student will complete a major project, a profile, by the final session.
51% is open to aspiring female journalists, grades 9 - 12, from all ethnicities and backgrounds. All youth who participate in 51% will receive an artist stipend
of $100, based on commitment, attendance and participation.
51% takes place at The Asian American Writers' Workshop on West 32nd Street in Manhattan, between 5th Avenue and Broadway, one block from the Empire State
Building. Founded in 1991, The Asian American Writers' Workshop is the country's largest literary arts nonprofit dedicated to the creation, development,
publication and dissemination of Asian American literature.
The sessions will take place on the following Saturdays from 1pm - 5pm (except for the first session, October 28th, when the class will be from 2pm - 6pm):
October 28th, November 4th, November 11th, December 2nd, December 9th and December 16th
The project is directed by V.V. (Sugi) Ganeshananthan. Sugi Ganeshananthan is a fiction writer and journalist living in New York. She is a student in the
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism's MA program, specializing in reporting on Arts & Culture, and has written and reported for The Atlantic Monthly,
The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, BeliefNet, and The American Prospect, among others. In 2005, she received
an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and in 2005-2006, she was the writer-in-residence at Phillips Exeter Academy. Her novel is forthcoming from
Random House.
This program is funded by a grant from Asian Women Giving Circle, a donor-advised fund of Asian American/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, and The Union
Square Awards of the Tides Foundation.
Please mail, fax or e-mail application by Monday October 16, 2006. Applications must be received by this date.
Download an application (MS Word format)
Mail to:
51%
The Asian American Writers' Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, Suite 10A
New York, NY 10001-3808
Fax to: 212.494.0062
E-mail to: desk@aaww.org (Please include "51%" in the subject line.)
Spring & Summer 2006 Writing Workshops
Memoir Workshop: Writing with the Body with Leslie Li
"Writing isn't some notion, some abstraction that you can just think yourself through. You must think with your whole body, not just your mind." -Ann Beattie
Thinking of penning your memoir for publication/personal reasons? Looking for new ways to tap into your creativity? In this nontraditional weekend workshop,
Leslie Li, novelist, memoirist, and writing/movement teacher, will guide you through a process for exploring thoughts and feelings, playing with words and chance,
and invoking memory and imagination. Participants will work with texts, memory exercises and jump-start a new writing project while incorporating yoga. Open to
unpublished beginning writers with an open mind.
$150 general, $125 members. Please call 212.494.0061 to register. Limited to 12.
@ the Workshop
16 West 32nd, 10th Floor
New York City
Leslie Li is the author of Daughter of Heaven: A Memoir with Earthly Recipes and Bittersweet: A Novel. She is coauthor of Enter the
Dragon, a book of children's musical plays based on Chinese folktales and has written personal essays, feature articles and op-ed pieces for various
publications, including The New York Times, Saveur, Gourmet, and Travel & Leisure.
Fiction/Nonfiction: A Group Workshop for Prose Writers with Alexander Chee
An intensive day long workshop devoted to refining your work-in-progress. Discussions will focus on redrafting, jump-starting and troubleshooting,
discussion about elements of prose, group critiques and personal advice from instructor. An engaging, supportive environment for serious published or unpublished
writers who want critical feedback and suggestions on their fiction.
Participants must submit over email up to 20 pages of chapters/short stories/prose excerpts by Wednesday June 14th. The instructor and fellow participants will
receive copies of your work in advance for thoughtful criticism. Your email submission will be acknowledged. Class filled on rolling basis.
$125 general, $100 members. Please call 212.494.0061 to register. Limited to 12 students.
@ the Workshop
16 West 32nd, 10th Floor
New York City
Alexander Chee's first novel, Edinburgh (Picador), won the Asian American Literary Award, the Michener and the Lambda. He is a recent the
recipient of a Whiting Writers Award and a fellowship from the NEA in fiction. His essays and stories are anthologized in The M Word, TakeOut,
Loss Within Loss, and Boys Like Us, among others, and he has taught writing at Wesleyan University, the New School and Goddard College. He begins
as Amherst College's Visiting Writer in the fall of this year. His new novel, The Queen of the Night, is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin in 2007.
Where I'm Calling From: A Youth Writing and Performance Project
The Asian American Writers' Workshop is offering a new writing project for youth that focuses on capturing personal experiences in the form of
creative non-fiction, stories based on real life, essays and journals. We will write of our own personal histories and stories as well as our thoughts on
the world as it is. We want to hear what you struggle with, what you have accomplished, and what you deal with as youth. "Where I'm Calling From" is a way
for you to pinpoint your location in life and the geography of your situation.
We will meet for ten classes in late June and early July. We will create and discuss our writing and explore different forms and elements of creative
non-fiction. A closing event will feature live readings and performances, which will be recorded and broadcast through the Workshop's website.
WICF is open to youth, grades 9 - 12, from all racial backgrounds in New York City and surrounding areas. All youth who participate in WICF will
receive an artist stipend of $200, based on commitment, attendance and participation.
WICF takes place at The Asian American Writers' Workshop on West 32nd Street in Manhattan, between 5th Avenue and Broadway, one block from the Empire
State Building. Founded in 1991, The Asian American Writers' Workshop is the country's largest literary arts nonprofit dedicated to the creation,
development, publication and dissemination of Asian American literature.
The sessions will take place on:
Monday - Friday, June 26 - 30, 1 pm - 5 pm each day
Wednesday - Friday, July 5 - 7, 1 pm - 5 pm each day
Monday - Tuesday, July 10 - 11, 1 pm - 5 pm each day
Closing Event, Wednesday, July 12 at 7 pm
The project is co-directed by Edward Garcia and Bushra Rehman.
Project Co-director, Edward Garcia is a Latino spoken word poet and performer from New York City, who has
taught nationally for many different organizations.
Project Co-director, Bushra Rehman is a poet, performer and writer of creative non-fiction. She is co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of
Color on Today's Feminism. She performs and teaches nationally.
To apply, please mail, fax or e-mail application no later than Monday June 5, 2006. All applications must be received by this date. Applications
accepted and admitted on a rolling basis. We will notify all applicants by mid-June.
Download the WICF application (2 pages, MS Word format.)
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