Writing Workshops Series with David Mura at Kogawa House: Please join us every Thursday in May. Register for one workshop or for the full series of four workshops at Eventbrite.
May 4, Identity and the Writing Process
The writing process and how writing interfaces with politics, activism, and social justice
Date and time: Thursday, May 4, 7 – 8:30pm PDT
Location: Historic Joy Kogawa House 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Admission: by donation
This workshop is the first in a series of four workshops to be presented on Thursday evenings throughout the month of May by writer-in-residence David Mura. In this first workshop on identity and the writing process, we will first go over the basics of the writing process and how to get the writer to write more and how to get rid of writers’ block.
Next we will examine the issues of identity—racial, ethnic, national, gender, orientation, etc.—and how writers approach these issues and what we can learn from the writings of other communities. We will also examine questions about the writing process and how writing interfaces with politics, activism, and social justice.
May 11, Poetry with David Mura
Techniques and approaches to writing poetry
Date and time: Thursday, May 11, 7 – 8:30pm PDT
Location: Historic Joy Kogawa House 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Admission: by donation
This workshop is the second in a series of four workshops to be presented on Thursday evenings throughout the month of May by writer-in-residence David Mura.
In this workshop, we will examine some of the basic techniques and approaches to writing poetry. This will include a brief discussion of formal poetry vs. free verse, more experimental and hybrid forms, voice, revision, the process of putting a poetry book together.
These workshops with master creative writer David Mura will combine lecture with discussion on four writing genres.
May 18, Fiction with David Mura
Western structures and techniques of narrative in fiction
Date and time: Thursday, May 18, 7 – 8:30pm PDT
Location: Historic Joy Kogawa House 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Admission: by donation
This workshop is the third in a series of four workshops to be presented on Thursday evenings throughout the month of May by writer-in-residence David Mura.
In this workshop, we will examine some of the basic Western structures and techniques of narrative in fiction—a protagonist with goals and irreconcilable conflicts, the three act structure and Campbell’s mythic structures in The Hero of a Thousand Faces, etc., We will also examine the four questions of the narrator: Who is the narrator? Whom is the narrator telling the tale to? When is the narrator telling the tale? Why is the narrator telling the tale?
These workshops with master creative writer David Mura will combine lecture with discussion on four writing genres.
May 25, Memoir and Nonfiction with David Mura
Techniques and principles of the contemporary memoir
Date and time: Thursday, May 25, 7 – 8:30pm PDT
Location: Historic Joy Kogawa House 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver
Admission: by donation
This workshop is the final in a series of four workshops to be presented on Thursday evenings throughout the month of May by writer-in-residence David Mura.
In this workshop, we will cover some of the basic techniques and principles of the contemporary memoir—the question of identity and how that leads to the presentation of two protagonists, the narrator in the past and the present narrator; the discovery of one’s own story and how to structure a memoir as a narrative or story in a manner similar to fictional narratives; the four questions of the narrator—Who is the narrator? Whom is the narrator telling the story to? When is the narrator telling the story? Why is the narrator telling the story? Other topics will include: the reliability of the narrator in memoir, the role of the narrator in memoir, hybrid forms of memoir (and essay).
About David Mura
David Mura is an Asian American poet, novelist, playwright, critic, and performance artist whose writings explores the themes of race, identity, and history.
The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives was published in January 2023.
In 2018, Mura published a book on creative writing, A Stranger’s Journey: Race, Identity and Narrative Craft in Writing, in which he argues for a more inclusive and expansive definition of craft.
Mura has published two memoirs, Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, which won the Josephine Miles Book Award from the Oakland PEN and was listed in the New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and Where the Body Meets Memory: An Odyssey of Race, Sexuality, and Identity (1995).
His most recent book of poetry is The Last Incantation (2014); his other poetry books include After We Lost Our Way, which won the National Poetry Contest, The Colors of Desire (winner of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award), and Angels for the Burning. His novel is Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire.
This residency is presented in partnership with Asian Canadian Writers Workshop with funding from the Province of British Columbia through BC Arts Council Literary Programs.
Thank you Kogawa House for inviting this writing and teaching pioneer of American Sansei literature and poetry to give four workshops this month of May– much appreciated!