Nadia Abduljabbar stresses the need to address the similarities between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, considering "different religions as different windows toward Heaven." Nihad Sirees addresses the concept of Jihad in Islam, and the...
Elena Bossi's discussion of "Writing as Philosophy and Craft" focuses on pseudonymity in fiction, titling her talk "The Names of the Other." Chris Chryssopoulos recalls philosophies of Jorge Luis Borges, Immanuel Kant, Ludwig Wittgenstein, but...
Kavery Nambisan describes the migrant writer's thought-space, not losing rootedness whether traveling in the real or in the imagination. Saša Stanišić's talk is titled, "How You See Us: on Three Myths about Migrant Writing," and covers the myth...
Simone Inguanez chooses to stand in her poetry, a place that can neither be created nor destroyed. James Na divides his presentation into three topics: the hibernation of Phillippine-Chinese literature, the Phillippine-Chinese literature under the...
Aziz Nazmi Shakir-Tash suggests general meanings of the terms "migration," "diaspora," and "exile," relating stories of his own experiences--as well as those of Bulgarian Turks--to these meanings. Verena Tay's talk is titled, "You Are What You Eat:...
Rogelio Saunders, a Cuban, reads from his essay “The Second Realization.” The title derives from his classification of two moments of globalization in human history – the more recent phenomena of international relations and when Columbus...
Kyoko Yoshida tackles the topic of fantasy and reality through identifying "disorientalism" in four parts, taking his audience on a journey that beings with a story by Edgar Allen Poe and ends with Coleridge pursuing the real, rebuilt, Xanadu....
Agnes Lam, using few words as is her preference, writes poetry because it is something she likes to do. Hu Xudong's talk, "From the Margin of a Painting to Plural Inner Selves," describes the myriad transitions he has gone through growing from a...
Maryam Ala Amjadi is a poet and translator from Iran. For her, the act of translating is in itself a form of self-exile, because the writer is forced to distance themselves from their mother tongue and in so doing, they become spectators both of...
Beyond describing the necessary qualities in translating poetry--"honesty, musical ears, investigating for the right things behind things"--Nadia Abduljabbar's talk goes into the difficulties of translating cultural experiences and expectations...
Farhad A.K. Sulliman Khoyratty of Mauritius begins the panel by stating that satire is an “instrument guaranteeing the health of society.” He also discusses the nature of satire, particularly the insider/outsider element and the subversive...
Milosz Biedrzycki's talk, titled "Jan Kochanowski: Across the Languages, Beyond the Boundaries," discusses the 16th-century poet, who wrote in Polish and Latin, and his centuries-long impact on Polish poetry. Andrea Hirata's talk, "Translating...
Madeleine Thien's talk is titled, "The Shattered Mirror: On the Migrant in Literature and Politics," and says that "my writing allows me to reflect a self that is often in-between places, that is restless and that is not satisfied." Gutierrez...
South African author Maxine Case discusses Miriam Tlali and Bessie Head, two former South African women IWP participants. She then gives a brief history of apartheid and closes by stating that she is grateful for the efforts of authors such Tlali...
Meena Kandasamy of India discusses the problems she has faced with her official first name, Ilavenil. She discusses the political and religious origins of her name and that after wishing for a long time that she had a different surname, concludes...
Alice Pung's talk, titled "A White Dude That Sparkles: Awkward Desire in the Coming of Age Novel," and delves into the embarrassing details of new sexual terrain, especially as described in Young Adult literature. Miloš Djurdjević's talk is...
Dung Kai Cheung titled his talk "Towards Writing as a Folk Art" and tries to redefine the strata where different types of writers sit, from the established masters seen traditionally at the "top" to the learners and readers seen traditionally at...
Niq Mhlongo's talk is titled "Still Searching for the Gleam: The Unreal Realities of Joburg City in a Post-Apartheid South African Novel," referring to Johannesburg's lure into fantasies of comfort, convenience, pleasure, and fortune, and discusses...
Brian Falkner elaborates on how writing validates his existence. John Nkemngong Nkengasong titles his talk "The Naked Muse: Echoes from a Writer’s Soul" and conjures the influences that become the ingredients of his creative energy. Laila...