A dear, Jewish friend of mine once spent a long half hour trying to explain the notion of “nachas”, a Yiddish term for the pride and happiness you feel when you observe the achievements of another. While typically used to describe the joy of parents and grandparents at the feats of children and grandchildren, I loved the idea of pure joy for another, the ability to celebrate someone else’s achievements almost as if they were your own, without ever taking credit, merely relishing their success. So it is a Peril-version of nachas to see the WrICE (Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange) program from RMIT University going from strength to strength since its beginnings in 2014. Each year, we’ve been able to feature elements of the program, interview writers, share the odd selfie (see Michele Lee and Fan Dai’s offerings above!) and generally cheer on from the sidelines of this residency, Read More »
Last year, Peril‘s Lian Low stole an hour or so of highly acclaimed writers Suchen Christine Lim (Singapore) and Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz (the Philippines) Melbourne Writers Festival time to chat about their recent residency and public event experiences in Hoi An and Hanoi, Vietnam and Strathvea and Castlemaine, Victoria. Both writers were participants in RMIT’s WrICE: the Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange Program which is a program of reciprocal cultural exchange and cultural immersion between Australia and Asia focused on writers and writing led by Directors Associate Professors David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short, and Clare Renner. Suchen’s long list of awards and honours include the inaugural Singapore Literature Prize for her third novel Fistful of Colours in 1992 and the South East Asia S.E.A.Write Award in 2012. In 2015, her novel The River’s Song was featured in a prestigious American book review magazine Kirkus Reviews as one of “The Best Read More »
Xu Xi is a Hong Kong based English language writer. She is the regional editor of Routledge’s Encyclopedia of Post-colonial Literature (second edition, 2005) and the editor or co-editor of the following anthologies of Hong Kong writing in English: Fifty-Fifty: New Hong Kong Writing (2008), City Stage: Hong Kong Playwriting in English (2005), and City Voices: Hong Kong Writing in English Prose & Poetry from 1945 to the present. Her work has also been anthologized internationally. Hong Kong magazines such as Muse run her writings from time to time and her fiction and essays have appeared recently in various literary journals such as the Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, The Four Quarters Magazine, Ninth Letter , Silk Road Review , Toad Suck Review, Writing & Pedagogy,Arts & Letters, Wasifiri, and Asia Literary Review. Here she connects with Peril Politics Editor R D Wood as part of a WrICE initiative. Could you speak Read More »
Nyein Way is a contemporary (conceptual/post conceptual) poet, writer, performance artist, and educator. He has published four poetry books, including: Words and Tree(2004); Gaganana (2010); Anamataga (2011); and Pattalar: Xylophone (2013). As a part of the WrICE program, he connects with Peril Politics Editor, RD Wood.
Bao Chan Nguyen is a member of the Vietnam Writers Association. She trained as a cinema scenarist at the Hanoi Cinema and Theatre University, Bachelor of Arts, 1991, and currently works for Vietnam Television as an editor in the areas of Arts and Culture. Here, she connects with Peril Founding Editor and Board Member, Hoa Pham, in the lead up to her visit to Australia as a part of the WrICE exchange.
Jhoanna Lynn B Cruz is an award-winning writer who teaches literature and creative writing at the University of the Philippines Mindanao. Her first book, Women Loving: Stories and a Play (2010), is the first sole-author anthology of lesbian-themed stories in the Philippines. Here, she shares thoughts with Peril Editor in Chief, Eleanor Jackson, in the lead up to her visit to Australia as a part of the WrICE exchange.
We’ve long been interested in the WrICE (Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange) program, whether it’s been in conversation with Maxine Beneba Clarke, or sharing video selfies from participants in Vietnam – so we’re delighted to share this call for applications for the 2016 program. Applications are open for a 2016 WrICE Early Career Writer Fellowship, an initiative of the nonfictionLab at RMIT University and thanks to generous support from the Copyright Agency. Applicants should be in the early stages of their career, with one published book or equivalent writing success. The Fellowship is valued at $9000, inclusive of all residency costs and a fee for participation. The Fellow will join a face-to-face community of writers through participation in a collaborative immersion residency with other emerging and established writers. The collaborative residency will take place in Guangzhou and Yangshou, China in April 2016 and will be followed by activity later in Read More »
An immersive writing residency is an incredible way to gain knowledge about a country, oneself and fellow writers, the benefits of the exchange can travel far beyond the residency period. WrICE brings together five high-profile Australian and Asian writers for an Asia-based collaborative residency, followed by an event at the Melbourne Writers Festival. Last year, the residency was held in Penang, Malaysia and Singapore. The inaugural WrICE fellows were Australians – novelist Melissa Lucashenko, poet and writer Maxine Beneba Clarke; Singaporean poet Alvin Pang, Singapore-based writer Robin Hemley, Malaysian writers Bernice Chauly and Eddin Khoo, and Phillippines based Laurel Fantauzzo; RMIT creative writing students and graduates – Amarlie Foster, Harriet McKnight and Jennifer Down. This year the writers participating in WrICE Vietnam were Suchen Christine Lim (Singapore), BaoChan Nguyen (Vietnam), Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz (the Philippines), Nyein Way (Myanmar), Cate Kennedy(Australia), Omar Musa(Australia), Xu Xi (Hong Kong) and RMIT creative writing students Read More »
Our third digital postcard is a photo essay from Xu Xi, an author of nine books of fiction & essays; most recently Access: Thirteen stories (Signal 8 Press, 2011), Habit of a foreign sky (Haven Books, 2010) and Evanescent isles (Hong Kong University Press, 2008). She is currently writer-in residence at City University of Hong Kong and directs their international, low-residency Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. Here are her notes from January 31st, 2015 Pictures at the exhibition of life – from my run the other morning in Hoi An, Vietnam, where I’m currently immersed with these fabulous Australian and Asian writers at WrICE (Writers Immersion Cultural Exchange). A great place to write (and eat).
Last year, Peril was invited to host a conversation with Foreign Soil award winning author and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke in WrICE: Postcard from Singapore as part of the inaugural Digital Writers Festival. Instead of a solitary conversation in her hotel room, Maxine gathered together the other writers in the residency and Peril‘s Editor-at-Large Lian Low facilitated conversations with an array of celebrated literary figures – Singaporean poet Alvin Pang; Malaysian writers and poets Eddin Khoo and Bernice Chauly; Philippines based writer Laurel Fantauzzo; and Australian writer Melissa Lucashenko in Books Actually an independent Singaporean bookshop and publisher. The WrICE (Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange) program supports cultural immersion in the Asia-Pacific for established and emerging Australian writers, and enabled a cross-pollination of ideas and connection with Asian-based writers at different career stages. It is led by Directors – Associate Professors David Carlin, Francesca Rendle-Short and Clare Renner. The inaugural program was held over ten days in Penang, Read More »
Our second digital postcard is a short audio recording from Hoi An, where WrICE(the Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange Program) residency writers Cate Kennedy, Suchen Christine Lim and Jhoanna Cruz are conversing with WriCE Co-Director Francesca Rendle-Short. Francesca has titled the recording – “Nothing is wasted with writing: promise”. Says Francesca in her notes, “The mp3 was recorded as we were waiting to go out for an evening after one of our daily workshops, on the steps of our hotel Long Life Hotel. We were all still buzzing from listening to people’s work that afternoon and talking about it.” (*Techgeek note: The audio file is in .m4a format, if you’re having problems listening, see here for more info ) All of the writers bios can be found online at the WrICE website – http://wrice.com.au/about/people-2/ SUCHEN CHRISTINE LIM’S latest novel The River’s Song was launched in Singapore & London this year. The Singapore author has Read More »
Suchen Christine Lim on her recent writing residency immersion with the Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange (WrICE) program. This writing residency is like no other. In most writing residencies, the writer works alone. In the WrICE residency, 12 writers from different parts of S E Asia and Australia spend 10 days together to write and to listen to one another’s work-in-progress, to laugh and cry over, oh, so many things to do with writing and creating, loving and hating or simply just getting on with it and write. The soul of this programme is in the attentive listening of a writer’s work-in-progress by fellow writers from diverse cultures, people you have not met before, and whose writing you have not read before and whose books you would probably give a pass in a bookshop. For the writers reading their new and raw work for the first time to a group Read More »
The Australian arts industry is increasingly aware of the importance of diversity and inclusion. This is a positive and timely shift. The powers that be (funders, policy makers, mainstream producers and companies) are deeply conscious of the changing nature of both arts production and consumption. New media, markets and demographics are all having an impact on the way we make art and inscribe culture in our society. Despite these changes, there are many organisations in the Australian arts sector comfortable with (or perhaps only currently capable of) what I think of as the “Benneton Basics” approach to race, ethnicity and culture. Like the complex United Colours of Benneton campaigns of yore, many organisations strive for a kind of diverse involvement that is focused primarily on the “optics of participation”, assuming that if there is enough variety in the individuals featured in marketing collateral or event documentation, then this will demonstrate Read More »
After an initial and very successful flirt with Indian literary audiences, in February this year – through the Melbourne edition of the Jaipur Literary Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) partnered with the Asian-Australian Democracy Caucus (AADC) to present Asia What?, a full day of free programming focussed on ideas, perspectives and writing connected to Asian-Australian experiences. Set over four panel and performance sessions – at ACMI’s Cube theatre- on the final Friday of the festival, Asia What? welcomed a truly diverse set of audiences to listen, engage, and interact with each other and panellists across themes spanning connections with Indigenous Australians, intracultural and intersectional explorations of the ‘Asian body’, as well as the triumphs and challenges of current Asian-Australian literary trends. The first session of the day was hosted by published writer and community arts worker, Eugenia Flynn, the author of the blog Black Thoughts Live Here . Entitled Indigenous Read More »
This FREE EVENT, with no bookings required, asks the questions, what are the ‘authentic’ stories of Asians and ‘Asian-ness’? How are Asian narratives crafted, and as settlers, what are their relationships with Indigenous peoples? Explore these provacations through a day of free discussion, performances, workshops and reflections featuring Bruce Pascoe, Eugenia Flynn, Melanie Cheng, Ra Chapman, Sangeetha Thanapal, Steven Winduo, Shinen Wong and more. Presented in partnership with the Asian Australian Democracy Caucus – AADC. Friday, September 1st 2017 @ ACMI Cube (at Federation Square) 10am to 4pm Indigenous Connections: What is the relationship to indigeneity within the diverse identities of Asian and Pacific communities? As settlers, what role do Asian Australians play in the ongoing colonial project? Eugenia Flynn, Bruce Pascoe and Steven Winduo investigate and perform readings of their work. http://mwf.com.au/session/asia-what-indigenous-connections-2/ Genealogies of the Body What makes bodies ‘Asian’? How do the histories that we carry and the Read More »
When I was handed a copy of the new WrICE anthology, I immediately took to judging the cover under fluorescent light. I open books as I do gifts – in full anticipation that the wrapping tells me something about what’s inside. This one has blue flecks that look like islands, not mapped to match actual ground and water, countries or states, but something else altogether. I held the book at arms’ length, squinting, and thought the islands looked like womb matter; worlds of experience floating in common humanity. This shaped my expectation from the anthology. The short stories, poetry, and essays did not disappoint. The Near and the Far: New Stories from the Asia-Pacific Region (2016) tries to represent as many unique voices from the region as possible without stepping into the territory of the East-West binary. I suspect the ghost of Orientalism past hovers around planning rooms where anthologies of this nature are conceived. But Read More »
Surviving to the end of a writers festival is no mean feat. Days and days of panel sessions, readings, performances, trips to the bookstore, trips to the coffee cart and the general wash of ideas, ideologies and personalities can leave even the most hardy extroverts exhausted. But we know you’ve got stamina for stories. We know you have muscle for metaphor. Let’s flex our way through this last day of Melbourne Writers Festival with WrICE, first up: Book Launch: The Near and Far, 3pm Beer Deluxe, MWF The Near and The Far collects new and previously unpublished works from established and emerging writers across Australia and the Asia-Pacific, including Maxine Beneba Clarke, Cate Kennedy, Xu Xi and Omar Musa. Join editors David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short at the launch of this exciting anthology. Queer Literary Salon (featuring Larry Queer Literary Salon (featuring Larry Ypil and Francesca Rendle-Short), 5:30pm Bella Union, Read More »
THREE! That’s three WrICE Selfies from our intrepid adventurers who are currently in town for the Melbourne Writers Festival. Today, we’re featuring Lawrence Labambra Ypil, poet and essayist from Cebu, Philippines; Peter Clynes, current student of creative writing and Mandarin at RMIT; and Maggie Tiojakin, Indonesian writer, journalist and translator. Each writer has a unique story to tell in their work, but their experiences of WrICE share an enthusiasm for practice, a gratitude and care in the space afforded by the program, and are a great teaser for today’s event: Asia Pacific Narratives, 5.30pm ACMI the Cube What does it mean to live in the Asia Pacific in a literary context? Join Briohny Doyle, Cath Ferla, Lawrence Lacambra Ypil and Rajith Savanadasa as they discuss how connections between Asia and Australia – including proximity, travel and migration – have influenced their narratives and voices in writing.
At around about this time each year, Australia’s literary and arts festivals explode in a pre-football grand finals, pre-summer drinking weather extravaganza. No human can attend possibly attempt to attend them all without being reduced to a sobbing mess of unresolved panel discussions, excessive book purchasing and, especially if you’re a writer, a swathe of insecurities that you are never going to be as good as [insert object of current intellectual crush]. Which is why we are focusing our attention on just two of the (very excellent suite of) literary festivals on offer this month: The Queensland Poetry Festival – one of Australia’s longest running and most-acclaimed dedicated poetry festivals (full disclosure I am on the Board), this year working to the theme, Lost Language Found, and featuring one of the strongest line ups of Indigenous and First Nations writers and performers I have seen at any mainstream Australian festival. The Read More »
A bilingual celebration of Chinese and Chinese-Australian writing from the mountains to the sea. Featuring Lei Tao (Xi’an), Xu Xi (New York and Hong Kong), Alice Pung, Ouyang Yu, Belinda Jiang, Wang Ruobing and more. The lead-up to the festival will also provide professional development for writers and translators through two events with the Marco Polo Project, an introduction to Reading and Writing Across Languages and an All-You-Can Translate workshop on Saturday 27th August 2016. As a part of the festival, Peril writers, Allison Chan and Xia Cui will be providing lead up coverage, live blogging and reflections from the festival in both English and Chinese, which is one of the first of its kind in terms of bilingual programming. Full program 9.00 am – Registrations and morning tea 10.00 am – Welcome and official opening 10.30 am – Lei Tao keynote (in Chinese with English translation) 11.00 am – Tao Lei Read More »
As we near the end of this mammoth edition, it’s exciting to be able to talk about the future. You may already know about our partnerships with groups like the Asian Australian Democracy Caucus, our affiliation with initiatives like WrICE, or our support and engagement with various festivals and events. But you might not be aware of our desire to share space/pass the mic/open up doors to colleagues and friends in the visual arts sphere. Did you know? These are things we are interested in! And so, we’re delighted today to introduce both PHOTODUST (check this earlier post) and Level, a feminist artist run initiative based in Brisbane. In part, we share these conversations today to showcase the diverse ways of working that are part and parcel of what we do here at Peril, and to recognise the energy and engagement that these partners offer us in terms of thinking, Read More »
