Writing at Centrum

Cupcakes and Ideal Writing Days: An Interview with Bich Minh Nguyen

2010-03-15T09:13:32-07:00

Over this past weekend, novelist Cristina García, Centrum's artistic director for writing, sat down over coffee and email with fiction and nonfiction writer Bich Minh Nguyen (pictured), who will be leading a creative nonfiction writing class at the 2010 Port Townsend Writers' Conference.

Cristina García: Could you tell us a bit about the role of food in your acculturation to the U.S.?

Bich Minh Nguyen: When my family came to the U.S. from Vietnam I was eight months old. Growing up in the suburban Midwest, I longed for very American foods—packaged cupcakes, candies, potato chips. Meanwhile, my grandmother was cooking wonderful Vietnamese foods that I didn’t appreciate at all. Like many immigrants, I felt like I had a dual identity—the one at home and the one outside the home. When I look back, I can see how this duality can be represented by food, commercials, restaurants, and aspects of Vietnamese and American food culture. My obsession with American food was a way for me to try to fit in. Of course, today when I look back I’m amazed and chagrined that I ever preferred Pringles to my grandmother’s egg rolls

CG: What are the biggest adjustments for you in writing fiction vs. non-fiction?

BMN: The best thing about nonfiction is that it has to be true. No worrying about straining credulity—it’s all memory, perspective, contemplation. The worst thing about writing nonfiction is that it has to be true. Lots of worrying about the subjectivity of memory, the boundaries of what should and shouldn’t be told. So it can be very freeing to go from writing nonfiction to writing fiction—suddenly, you’re released from the truth and can make anything up. But that presents a whole new set of problems: do these fictional details, characters, events ring true? So then it’s freeing to go from writing fiction to writing nonfiction. All of which is to say: it’s great to maintain a relationship with both genres, allowing the process of one to help that of the other.

CG: What's an ideal writing day for you?

BMN: For me, an ideal writing day would involve getting up early (voluntarily!) and having the feeling of total freedom—no other appointments, commitments, obligations; no emails or phone calls to answer. Just the whole lovely day stretching ahead, with the promise of a good dinner at the end of it.

CG: If you could leave your students with one overriding idea about writing, what would that be?

BMN: That it’s important to locate, then follow, their subjects. To discover what they need, and not just want, to write about. To pursue rather than avoid. I know that’s more than one overriding idea, but they’re all connected!

Registration for this workshop, as well as all available Conference workshops, is available here.

Santificum

2010-03-10T13:10:39-08:00

In the summer of 2008, poet and novelist Chris Abani read to a standing-room only house from a new work in progress.

Many of the poems that he read have just been released in a new book, "Santificum", by Copper Canyon Press.

"In this book-length sequence of linked poems, Abani bravely travels the charged intersections of atrocity and love, politics and religion, and loss and renewal," notes the Press. "With language of devastating beauty and complexity, he investigates conflicted personal history and political tragedy, and how the human body fares against both."

Although Chris Abani's fiction workshop at the 2010 Port Townsend Writers' Conference is completely sold out, with a waiting list started, there are still ways to enjoy his work. Abani will be giving a free craft lecture at 4 pm on Monday, July 19, and will present a reading on Saturday, July 24, at 7:30 pm.

Registration for all available Conference workshops is available here, as well as by calling Centrum at 360.385.3102, x131.

For Conference prose options, morning workshop faculty members include nonfiction writer Bich Minh Nguyen (leading a master class) and fiction writer Peter Orner.

The Second Coming of Peter Orner

2010-03-08T09:58:55-08:00

In 2009, Peter Orner came to the Port Townsend Writers' Conference for the first time, to lead a packed-house workshop in fiction writing.

The sight of new, emerging, and established fiction writers descending the staircase from his classroom, eyes open, and minds alive, became a common daily sight.

The inspiration and guidance of master writers with ardent students of writing is the steady heart at the center of the Conference, and 2010 will mark Orner's eagerly anticipated return.

Peter Orner is the author of two books: the widely praised collection of short fiction "Esther Stories" and the novel "The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo." He has received many honors for his fiction, including the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Goldberg Prize from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, Guggenheim and Lannan fellowships, and the Bard Fiction Prize, as well as inclusion in the "2001 Best American Short Stories" anthology for his short story "The Raft."

"The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo" takes as its epigraph a quotation from Hosea Kutako: "We cannot speak with one voice, as we are scattered." The episodic novel, with its short chapters serving as glimpses into the world of a boys' school in Goas, Namibia, centers around the longing the teachers felt for their fellow teacher Mavala Shikongo. When she returns with a baby son, the teachers try not to fall in love with her, failing miserably--especially the American volunteer, Larry Kaplanski.

"I worked my ass off to try and get Namibia right because I love it," Orner said in an interview with Patrick Holian. "I lived in Namibia in the early nineties and I went back a number of times to do research for the book, and on those trips I did a number of interviews, immersed myself in the culture and stories, and collected literally hundreds and hundreds of pages of anecdotes about the place because I became so fascinated with it. Namibians have read the book and have said, God, you’ve captured this place, but I wasn’t really ready to do it until I was sure that I could make that leap...you have to make that leap, you leave the research behind and let these characters act and interact. You make that blind leap and trust yourself."

Orner's most recent project is the anthology "Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives", with a forward by Luis Alberto Urrea. Twenty-four stories are documented in the anthology. The storytellers hold many different jobs, have different reasons for leaving home and different expectations about U.S. life.

In addition to his workshop at the 2010 Port Townsend Writers' Conference (July 18-25), Peter Orner will give a reading of new work the evening of Monday, July 19, at 7:30 pm, and a craft lecture on Saturday, July 24, at 4 pm. Both events take place at the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater and are free and open to the public.

Registration for Peter Orner's fiction-writing workshop is available here, as well as by calling Centrum at 360.385.3102, x131.

Creative Nonfiction: 2010 Offerings

2010-03-03T13:17:39-08:00

With the February 4-7 workshop in creative nonfiction behind us, there are three ways to access a 2010 Centrum workshop in creative nonfiction. If you are a writer of creative nonfiction, or a writer thinking about beginning to write nonfiction, we have added a June creative nonfiction writing workshop featuring Brenda Miller, the author of Season of the Body and Blessing of the Animals.

This workshop is designed for beginning, emerging, and established writers of creative nonfiction, and is a three-session techniques workshop focusing on generating new work.

For writers looking for a lengthier, week-long experience, during the July 18-25 Port Townsend Writers' Conference, writers Denise Chávez and Bich Minh Nguyen will be leading nonfiction workshops. In addition, such nonfiction writers as Wendy Call will be leading Conference afternoon workshops. Registration for all Centrum writing workshops is available here, as well as by calling us at 360.385.3102, x131.

Another Monday, Another Update: Registration Options at the 2010 PTWC

2010-03-01T09:23:04-08:00

The following classes are now closed, with waiting lists started: the workshops of Chris Abani, Dana Levin, Ana Menéndez, and Martín Espada.

Newly added poet Erin Belieu continues to see almost unprecedented demand, and is filling rapidly. Learn more about her poetry workshop here!

The nonfiction workshop of Denise Chávez now has four spaces open. Other morning workshop faculty members include nonfiction writer Bich Minh Nguyen (leading a master class) and fiction writer Peter Orner, a Conference favorite. And the Residency-Only option (for those looking for a retreat to create, revise, or finish creative work) continues to set all kinds of enrollment records. Registration for all Conference workshops is available here, as well as by calling Centrum at 360.385.3102, x131.

Finally, for those writers looking not for a full week experience but a weekend intensive in creative nonfiction, we have a June 4-5 creative nonfiction workshop for nascent, emerging, and established writers. This class is a reprise of our sold-out February 4-7 workshop and is over half-full.

Poetry Options at the 2010 PTWC

2010-02-26T11:06:14-08:00

One space only has opened up in the Dana Levin poetry workshop. Martín Espada's workshop remains full, with a waiting list started. And Erin Belieu's workshop is now over half full, despite only being available for a couple of days. In other words, great poetry spots at the 2010 PTWC are still available, but are going fast.

Speaking of poetry, the March, 2010 issue of Poetry magazine has just hit the shelves, featuring a great new interview with Centrum poet Ilya Kaminsky (pictured). Kaminsky, who taught at the PTWC in 2005 and 2006, and who taught a special autumn poetry workshop in October, 2008, is the co-editor of the new book "The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry," available from HarperCollins. Here is a link, but they still only have the February issue up, as of this posting.

Limited space (one to two slots) is available in the fiction workshop of Ana Menéndez and the nonfiction workshop of Denise Chávez. Registration for all workshops is available here, as well as by calling Centrum at 360.385.3102, x131.

For prose options, other morning workshop faculty members include nonfiction writer Bich Minh Nguyen (leading a master class) and fiction writer Peter Orner.

The Updated News!

2010-02-25T10:23:44-08:00

Registration for the 2010 Port Townsend Writers' Conference update: the workshops of Chris Abani (pictured), Martín Espada, and Dana Levin are all sold out and very limited space (one to two slots) are available in the fiction workshop of Ana Menéndez and the nonfiction workshop of Denise Chávez. Registration for all workshops is available here, as well as by calling Centrum at 360.385.3102, x131.

For prose options, other morning workshop faculty members include nonfiction writer Bich Minh Nguyen (leading a master class) and fiction writer Peter Orner, a Conference favorite. And the Residency-Only option (for those looking for a retreat to create, revise, or finish creative work) continues to set all kinds of enrollment records.

Registration for newly added Copper Canyon Press poet Erin Belieu has only been open for a few days, and is already nearly half-full. Learn more about her poetry workshop here!

For some, the PTWC is an intense immersion in craft. For others, it's about getting the time and space to write, while soaking in the readings and craft lectures, morning freewrites, and afternoon workshops.

None of this, however, would be possible without the generous support of The Inland Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, the University of Washington, the University of Idaho, Central Washington University, the Crab Creek Review, Willow Springs, Copper Canyon Press, Amazon.com, Port Book and News, the Rainier Writers' Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University, Peninsula College, and the Richard Hugo House. We are so grateful to all of these organizations.

Registration for all Conference options, including the Residency-Only option, is available here, as well as by calling Centrum at 360.385.3102, x131.