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Writing Across Cultures: Taking an Imaginative Leap of Empathy

Genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Novel

Online

Open to all levels

1 Session

Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 26, 2022
Day of Week: Sunday
Time: 10:00am - 1:00pm PT
Capacity: 20 seats
1 seat left!
Member Price: $135.00
General Price: $150.00

Can I write about that? The question of cultural appropriation is a complicated one, and so too its answers. In this discussion class, we’ll examine strategies for researching and portraying lives unlike our own, that reflect social and historical context and the fullness of a character’s humanity. We'll work on writing exercises and discuss texts by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Toni Morrison, Elaine Castillo, among others, along with Hua’s own interviews with authors who write responsibly and respectfully across race, age, gender, class, and other elements of identity.

Vanessa Hua

Vanessa Hua

Vanessa Hua is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and the author of a short story collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities, and the novel, A River of Stars, which O, The Oprah Magazine calls "a marvel" and The Economist says is "delightful." For two decades, she has been writing, in journalism and in fiction, about Asia and the Asian diaspora. She has received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, the San Francisco Foundation’s James D. Phelan Award, and a Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing, as well as honors from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. She works and teaches at the San Francisco Writers' Grotto.

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Class sessions may be recorded if a session falls on a holiday, or if a student has access needs. Class recordings are not guaranteed.

We do not tolerate racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, transphobic or any other oppressive behaviors, regardless of who commits them. Please check out our full community guidelines by clicking here. If an instance of community guidelines are violated and not resolved within the classroom, students may let us know by filling out the student incident report.

Classes may be cancelled if less than 5 students are enrolled within 10 days before the class start date. If for any reason Hugo House needs to cancel a class, students can choose between a full credit or full refund.

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