Ideas & Realities: Creative Writing in Asia Today

Asia Pacific Writers & Translators 9th International Summit

Ideas & Realities: Creative Writing in Asia Today

Program

25-27 November 2016, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

 

 

Hosted by

The Sun Yat-sen University Center for English-language Creative Writing

School of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University

Organized by

Asia Pacific Writers & Translators Inc.

Supported by

Australia Council for the Arts, Griffith University, Australian National University, RMIT and the British Council.

 

Off-campus events in red are additional to the conference, at participants’ own expense.

 

Thursday 24th November: Pre-Conference book launches and open mic from 5:00 PM

 

VENUE: Kui Yuan Café Gallery Xuguyuan Lu, Yuexiu District.  This art café in an historic district serves inexpensive light meals and alcohol. Program includes launch by Nick Jose of Chris Raja’s book, The Burning Elephant (Giramondo) and Andal: The autobiography of a goddess, translated by Priya Sarukkai Chabria and Ravi Shankar (Zubaan Books). There will be an opportunity for people to read from their work.  First come first served on the night. Let Sanaz or Jane know if you are interested to read when there.

 

DAY 1: Friday 25th November

8:15- 8:45  Registration                                                 School of Foreign Languages (SFL), SYSU

Collect your program and conference badge. Be seated by 8:45 AM please.

 

8:45- 9:10  Opening and Welcome from the co-hosts and VIPS.                           Room 101, SFL.

 

 

9:15 - 9:45 Opening Keynote by Nicholas Jose.                                                                  Room 101

“Creating Our Audience”.

 

Nicholas Jose’s participation is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts.  

Writing is a conversation that often begins with the writer's own community, including editors, publishers, reviewers, critics and other writers. For Asian and Pacific writers this can be complicated, with borders of language and culture to be crossed, and barriers to the way work becomes available. We need to expand the conversational community. We are our own best advocates and provocateurs. We can create our own audience.

 

9:45 - 10:00 Tea/Coffee Break

WORKSHOP: 10:00 - 12:15

Travel Writing in the 21st Century with Robin Hemley.                                          Room 301               

How do you write about place in a way that makes the place new? How do you write about a place that’s been written about many times before, Venice, for instance, or Paris? In the 21st century, who is the travel writer’s audience and what are the ethical responsibilities of the travel writer? After all, writing about the most unspoiled beach in the world will surely spoil it. Travel literature is not necessarily for the leisure class but for those who wish to have a better perspective on their own sense of the world and place.

 

DAY 1: 10:00 - 11:15

 

Panel 1: Little Fish, Big Ponds: Hooking an International Publisher

Room 210

 

Panel 2: Creative Writing in the Academy

Room 305

 

Panel 3: Tales from Downunder

Room 312

 

It’s every writer’s dream to get published and reach an international status. This panel brings together a group from the publishing industry to talk about the processes and challenges.

 

Neeta Gupta, Jo Lusby, Alexandra Büchler, David Lopez-del Amo, and Rachel Edwards talk with Nury Vittachi.

 

 

In many academic institutions there is a parallel life between academia and creative writing where the two don’t seem to meet. Does the academy value creative writing enough?  What is the place of creative writing in academia today?

 

Lucy Neave, Dai Fan, Ralph Semino Galan and Tim Tomlinson. Moderated by Jose Dalisay.

 

 

 

Australia is home to people from different cultures and backgrounds.  So, what is the Australian story?  Who gets to narrate it? In this panel diverse Australian narrators and writers tell their stories.

 

Omar Musa, Melissa Lucashenko, Julie Koh, Benjamin Law and Linda Jaivin moderated by Julie Beveridge.

 

DAY1: 11:20 – 12:30

Panel 4: Creating the Asian Male in literature

Room 210

 

Panel 5: On Literary Translation

Room 305

 

Panel 6: Poetic License

Room 312

Today, sex,  gender and racial identities are continuously porous.  In the midst of this, how are Asian males being portrayed in literature? And do these portrayals reflect reality?

 

Benjamin Law, Kawika Guillermo, Jose Dalisa, Osamah Sami, Nury Vittachi have a playful time dissecting Asian masculinity. Moderated by Sally Breen.

 

Literary translators are often themselves poets and writers who play an essential part in bridging the chasm between cultures, ideologies and beliefs. We discuss the evolution of literature through translation.

 

 Sholeh Wolpé, Hope Sabanpan-Yu, Fang Xia and Randy M Bustamante, with participating moderator Mridula Chakraborty.

 

 

Many have dabbled in writing verses that we claim to be poetry.  Yet, there is a big divide between declaring oneself a poet and one who writes poetry as a hobby.  In this panel poets discuss poetry, writing, and what it means to be a poet.

 

 Adam Aitken, Collier Nogues, and Michael Brennan, with participating moderator Joshua Ip.

 

 

LUNCH 12:30 – 1:15

1:15- 1:45 Keynote: Qaisra Shahraz                                    Main lecture theatre, Room 101, SFL

 

'Writing and Muslim women; battling with ideas and realities over time.' 

Qaisra Sharaz shares her writing life as a woman with multiple identities living in the west in the age of ISIS and battling anti-Muslim hatred; from fuming at the literary deletion of over 300 English women writers out of history before Jane Austen; to constantly challenging and debunking western stereotypes about Muslim women in the media; to fighting for their rights; including their rights to dress how they want – the Burkini fiasco; to promoting peace and building intercultural bridges in schools through literature; and how fed up she is in wasting her energies in constantly having to defend her faith, when she should be just writing her latest novel. Qaisra’s participation has been supported by British Council.

 

WORKSHOP: 1:50 – 4:30

‘Achieving Publication through Radical Revision’                                            Room 301                              

 

Ravi Shankar leads this workshop that will focus on trying to repurpose that piece of writing we have languishing at the back of a drawer by imagining new possibilities.

 

DAY 1: 1:50 – 3:00

Panel 7: Writing in a Foreign Place

Room 210

 

Panel 8:  Writing for Young Adults

Room 305

 

Panel 9: Language Crossings

Room 312

Writing in and about a foreign place has a certain allure and mystery. Not only readers gain access to new worlds through these writings, but the foreign writer often provides a fresh perspective. And sometimes they just don’t get it.  In this panel writers discuss their practices of writing in and about places in which they are the foreigner.

Piia Mustamaki, Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Patrick Allington and Tracey Ann Morton, with participating moderator David Perry.

 

 

Young adult narratives take on a different shape and bring to life different realities according to where they are being told.  In this diverse session, panelists discuss young adult literature from China, to Indonesia, Singapore and Macau.

 

Eliza Handayani, Jane Houng,  You Chengcheng, Sunita lad Bhamray with participating moderator Chris Raja.

 

 

 

 

There are words in certain languages that are not translatable.  Writers often make a decision to drop words from one language into another to convey meaning.  But where is the line?   How are those decisions made? And what does language crossing do to change/challenge and bringing in new meaning to a text?

 

Osamah Sami, Page Richards,  with participating moderator Nick Jose.

 

 

3:00 – 3:15 Tea/coffee Break

3:15- 3:45 Feature Session: From Word to World - Conference of the Birds.    Room 101.

Sholeh Wolpé reads and performs her interpretation and translation of mystic Sufi Persian epic, The Conference of the Birds. Introduced by Sanaz Fotouhi.

 

DAY 1: 3:50 – 5:00

Panel 10: Writing about Place Room 210

 

Panel 11: Women Writing Asia

Room 305

 

 

Places are important in how we define ourselves.  The representation of places and how we relate to them in literature plays an integral part in how we project our identities and allegiances.  Join writers and academics as they examine the importance of place in literature.

Melissa Lucashenko, Jame DiBiasio, Ora-Ong Chakron and Christopher Clark. Participating moderator Tracey Ann Morton

 

How do women writers across Asia define themselves and the region in which they live?  In this very diverse panel women discuss how women are shaping their own identity and  images of Asia.

 

Qaisra Shahraz, Ingrid Woodrow, Maribel Kawsek and Farheen Chaudhry. Moderated by Neeta Gupta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5:05 - 5:45 PM Book Launches                                                                                                Room 210

 

Tim Tomlinson and Julie Koh and Qaisra Shahraz launch their books.

 

 

6:30 PM – Conference Welcome Dinner            Zijingyuan Hotel dining room, on campus.                                   

 

Hosted by Sun Yat-sen University. The venue is directly behind the School of Foreign Languages.

 

 

8:05 - 8:30  PM Book Launches                                                                          Room 210

 

Joshua Ip, Alexandra Gregori, Grace Chia & David Perry launch their books..

 

8:30 – late -  Readings                                                                                           Room 210

Readers include Jame DiBiasio, Romi Grossberg, Susanna Ho, Suzanne Kamata, Tracey Ann Morton,  Rúnar Helgi Vignisson, Mishi Saran, Sally Breen.

 

 

DAY 2:  Saturday 26th November

 

9:00 - 9:30 Keynote by Linda Jaivin              Main lecture theatre, Room 101, SFL

‘The Accidental Translator’.  Forty years after her professor at Brown University persuaded her (dragged her, kicking and screaming - ‘I’m no good at languages!’) to take her first course in Chinese, Linda Jaivin is still a little amazed that she can write ‘literary translator’ on her CV.  She describes an accidental journey to translation that encompasses being taken under the wing of China’s most famous translator-team in the early 1980s and a chance meeting on a Hong Kong subway train...’

 

WORKSHOP:  9:35 - 12:00

Translation as Play: A Literary Translation Work                                 Room 301

 

Workshop leaders Kyoko Yoshida and James Shea, with Kate Griffin, will focus on traditional and unconventional translation practices. This workshop explores the creative possibilities in the overlap between translation and writing. Designed for translators as well as writers looking for generative methods.

 

 

 

 

DAY 2: 9:35 - 10:45

 

Panel 12: Literary Connections Across Continents 

Room 210

 

Panel 13: Claiming Asia: intersections of East and  West 

Room 305

 

Panel 14: On Indonesian Literatures – Looking Towards APWT 2017

Room 210

How does one connect to an international literary network? This global panel will talk about the importance of international connections and their experiences. Alexandra Buchler, Julie Beveridge Hélder Beja, Eliza Vitri Handayani and Dai Fan. Moderated by David Lopez-del Amo.

 

In the 21st century, how do writers from the West immerse themselves in Asia as something more than just an exotic backdrop.  Is such immersion even possible?   Panellists discuss in light of their own imaginative practice. Patrick Allington,  Lucy Neave and Sally Breen.  Moderated by Mridula Chakraborty.

 

 

Indonesia is APWT’s 2017 host.  Come and familiarize yourself with then. Thanks to translations and global recognition, Indonesian literature is becoming popular globally.  Join Indonesian writers and academics to discuss the status of Indonesian literature. Muhammad Zuhdi, & Eliza Handayani with moderator Sonia Piscayanti.

10:45 – 11:00 Tea Break

DAY 2: 11:00– 12:00

Panel 15: Indie Publications in Asia-Pacific Room 210

 

Panel 16: Reflections on the Practice of Writing Room 305

 

Panel 17: Writing and New Media Room 312

In the recent years, alternative and small press anthologies and journals in English have become popular across Asia.  Join some of those involved in the creation of these publications as they talk about the perils and jubilations of these publications.

Tammy Ho Lai-Ming, Rachel Edwards, Hélder Beja and Suzanne Kamata. Moderator TBA.

 

 

What does it mean to be a writer in our region?   Join writers as they reflect on the writing process and what it means to be a writer.

 

 

 

Julienne van Loon, Joe Milan, Osamah Sami and Marshall Moore. Moderated by Kate Rogers.

 

 

 

 

New Media and technologies have reframed and reshaped how we define writing and who is considered a writer. This panel examines how various platforms are shifting and challenging the writing process.

 

Dora Wong, Runar Helgi Vignisson and Kevin Maher. Participating moderator Omar Musa.

 

 

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

1:00 - 1:30 Robin Hemley on Travel Writing in the 21st Century                              Room 101

Robin will speak about observing the world as a writer/traveler, keeping oneself purposefully off balance in order to better understand the complexities of the world.

 

1:35 – 2:50  APWT’s Annual General Meeting,                                  Room 101, SFL PLEASE JOIN us for the election of APWT’s new Management Committee and Advisory board, and to find out about research partnerships and future events.

 

2:50 – 3:00 Tea Break

WORKSHOP:  3:00 – 5:00

Person To Poem To Prose: Drafting New Work In Multiple Genres                  Room 301                                                     

Tim Tomlinson takes you between Poetry, Fiction and Creative Non-fiction. ‘Kwame Dawes has said that his poems sometimes begin as marginalia; he responds to the work of other poets in the margins of their pages, then shapes the marginalia into poems. The first half of this session springs from that premise.

 

DAY 2: 3:00 – 4:00

Panel 18:

Page to Screen                                  

 

Panel 19:  Teaching Creative Writing in Asia

Room 305

 

Panel 20:  Poetry Immersion

Room 312

 

Benjamin Law and Osamah Sami talk to Nury Vittachi about the process of page to screen.

 

 

Teaching creative writing in English as a second language in Asia has its challenges.  But it also leads to amazing findings about cultural differences and reactions to the creative process.  Creative writer teachers from across Asia discuss and reflect on this process.

Dai Fan, Suzanne Kamata. Participating moderator Adam Narnst.

 

How are poets inspired? Poets examine immersion in different environments and how that affects their writing process.

 

Tammy Ho Lai-Ming,  Adam Aitken, Nhã Thuyên  & Grace Chia with participating moderator James Shea.

 

 

4:05 – 5:00 Feature Session: Finding the Author’s voice in China: New Genres, Experimentation & Foreign Influences                                      Main lecture theatre, Room 101

Chinese literature has been having a hard time finding audiences abroad. Social realism & magic realism are giving way to new topics & genres in the work of younger authors.

Speaking and reading in this session will be Ma Lilin (pen name  Ma Ke), Lin Weipan, He Xuequn and Wen Wenjin, and David Lopz-del-Amo Moderator: Chen Peng.

 

5:05 – 5:45  Open Mic                                                                                         Room 210

 

Readers include: Joe Milan, Alexandra Gregori, Nha Thuyen, Sunita lad Bhamray, Kawika Guillermo, & Sonia Piscayanti.

 

 

6:00 Closing Dinner (off-campus) - Kesmido Yunnan Restaurant

 

Gather at 6:00 PM to catch taxis to the restaurant.

 

 

Spoken Word: Open Mic - After dinner - Midnight

Join the local ‘Spoken Word’ writers at Loft 345, an arts warehouse.  Held at Loft 345.  

 

Readers include: Adam Narnst, Ravi Shankar, Emeri Burke, Sally Breen, Kevin Maher, Omar Musa, Ariana Lombardi, Tim Tomlinson and Grace Chia

 

 

 

DAY 3: Sunday 27th November

WORKSHOP: 10:00 – 12:30

‘Coming to Your Senses’ led by Shelley Kenigsberg                                         Room 301

 

 

Experience your senses in new and interesting ways (all pleasurable) and have the chance to awaken new vocabulary, devise a new lexicon to use in your writing.

 

 

HONG KONG:

6: 00 PM onwards Readings & Music in HONG KONG

 

Readings, music, and brief discussion at The Orange Peel where HK’s writers meet, in the Ho Lee Commercial Building, 38-44 D'Aguilar St, Central, Hong Kong.  For more information on this event check out: http://apwriters.org/hong-kong-event-orange-peel/

 

 

DAY 4: Monday 28th November: MACAU

6: 00 PM onwards Readings in Macau

 

Join us at the Macau Portuguese Bookshop for readings.   For more information and directions check out: http://apwriters.org/macau-readings-tapas-for-the-soul/