Prose-writing Workshop: Human Geography with Jennifer Wong, Wasafiri Writer-in-Residence

24th February 2021, 7pm GMT (2 hours)

What does a map mean to you? How do we map memorable places, our connections with others, our cultural experiences, and our ways of understanding the world? How do we weave our story imaginatively, inspired by the social, historical and political changes happening around us? And how have globalisation, migration, and technology affected our way experiencing place?

In this workshop, writers will look at a wide range of examples by contemporary writers on how a place –  with its people, history and culture –  is evoked or represented. Through varied writing prompts, group discussions and detailed feedback, participants will find out more about their own unique storytelling voices, as they develop a new story(ies), life writing or poem(s) that navigate the history and experience of a place. Alongside, they will read and discuss texts including Romesh Gunesekera’s Suncatcher, Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn, Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other, Rachel Cusk’s Transit, and Zadie Smith’s Grand Union Canal.

Price: £20 full; £15 concessions; £10 subsidised.

Concessions: Tickets at a discounted rate are available for attendees who are disabled, on Universal Credit or earning below a living wage, over 65, or full time students

Subsidised places: We offer a limited number of subsidised workshop/course places – first-come, first-served – at the rates quoted above. To apply for a subsidised place please email a 200-word explanation of your need for a subsidised workshop/course place to wasafiri@qmul.ac.uk

Meet the Tutor: Jennifer Wong was born and grew up in Hong Kong. Jennifer is the author of several collections including Goldfish (Chameleon Press) and a pamphlet, Diary of a Miu Miu Salesgirl (Bitter Melon Poetry 2019). Her latest collection, 回家 Letters Home (Nine Arches Press 2020)—which explores the complexities of history, migration and translation—has been named the PBS Wild Card Choice by Poetry Book Society.  She studied in Oxford and has earned a creative writing PhD from Oxford Brookes University where she teaches as associate lecturer. Her poems have appeared in World Literature Today, Oxford Poetry, The Rialto, Magma Poetry and others. She also teaches at Poetry School. Her reviews and translations have appeared in a number of magazines including Poetry Review, Poetry London, PN Review and Asian Review of Books.