Five international writers read pieces of their works and shared their experience at UIC on 9 November. They were Bidisha (UK), Alecia McKenzie (Jamaica), Mariko Nagai (Japan), Oumar Farouk Sesay (Sierra Leone) and Badai (Taiwan).
The theme of the International Writers’ Workshop was “Words and Other Interventions”. Prof Mei-hwa Sung, Dean of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences (DHSS), explained the theme during her welcome speech, “Literature is not only about playing with words, but it is relevant to our individual life.”
Prof Mei-hwa Sung (3rd l), UIC President Prof Ng Ching-Fai (6th l), Programme Director of
CELL Dr Charles Lowe (1st r) and the visiters
Bidisha is a novelist, a non-fiction writer and a broadcaster from Britain. During the workshop, she invited the audience to look at how wars bring an end to a peaceful life and cause disasters to humans and nature.
Bidisha
Jamaican Writer and artist Alecia McKenzie shared a story that criticizes people’s coldness and selfishness when they gossip at an actress’s funeral.
Alecia McKenzie
Poet, novelist and translator Mariko Nagai described racial discrimination against Japanese-Americans during World War II and people’s suffering in Hiroshima, a city that was largely destroyed by an atomic bomb.
Mariko Nagai
Oumar Farouk Sesay, a Sierra Leonean poet and playwright, spoke about a sense of loneliness and concern for the natural environment.
Oumar Farouk Sesay
Badai is a Taiwanese novelist and tribal historian from Puyuma tribe. He nostalgically recalled his childhood in an indigenous tribe in the countryside in his essay.
Badai
The International Writer’s Workshop was sponsored by DHSS’s Contemporary English Language and Literature Programme.
Reporter: Zeng Kaishan (CELL, Year 1)
Photographer: Vivi Xie
Editor: Deen He
(from MPRO, with special thanks to the ELC)
