S125. The Politics of Empathy: Writing Through Borrowed Eyes

Room M100 F&G, Mezzanine Level
Saturday, April 11, 2015
9:00 am to 10:15 am

 

When writers create characters nothing like themselves, it can inspire empathy. But authors often wrestle with their right to borrow another identity or feel confined to writing only about their own race, gender, or community. Asian Americans rarely get away with white protagonists; straight male authors shy away from gay characters. This diverse panel will consider what's at stake when you cross the identity line, whether white writers are guilty of appropriation, and other touchy topics.


Participants

Moderator:

T. Geronimo Johnson, author of PEN/Faulkner finalist Hold it Til it Hurts, and Welcome to Braggsville, a comedy about a lynching at a Civil War reenactment, directs the SCWP at UC Berkeley, where he is a Lyman Fellow and designs creative writing pedagogy curricula. He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Matthew Salesses is the author of a novel, I'm Not Saying, I'm Just Saying, and most recently, an essay collection, Different Racisms. He has written for The New York Times, NPR, Salon, and many others. He is currently a PhD candidate in creative writing and literature at the University of Houston.

Prageeta Sharma is the author of four poetry collections: Bliss to Fill, The Opening Question, Infamous Landscapes, and the recent Undergloom. She was a recipient of the 2010 Howard Foundation Award. She is a professor of English at the University of Montana.

Aimee Phan is the author of two books of fiction: We Should Never Meet and The Reeducation of Cherry Truong. She has received fellowships from the NEA, the MacDowell Arts Colony, and Hedgebrook. She currently chairs the MFA writing program at California College of the Arts.

Jennifer Jean

#AWP24

February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center