Writing the Erotic: Queer Asian Perspectives
A three-part writing workshop with CE Gatchalian
Fall 2025 | Online via Zoom + Hybrid Public Reading at Kogawa House
About the Program
“Writing the Erotic: Queer Asian Perspectives” is a three-part workshop series culminating in a public reading/presentation in early December 2025. Facilitated by acclaimed writer and theatre artist CE Gatchalian, this series invites 2SLGBTQIA+-identified Asian participants to explore erotic writing as a gateway to personal expression, political reclamation, and collective healing.
Details
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Facilitator: CE Gatchalian
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Format: Three workshops held via Zoom
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Public Reading: Hybrid – online and in-person at Kogawa House (Vancouver)
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Eligibility: Open to 2SLGBTQIA+-identified Asian participants
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Dates: Saturdays, Nov 15, 22, 29 | 2–3:30 PM EST / 11 AM–12:30 PM PST
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Cost: Free, with registration required
Context and Rationale
The erotic is never just about sex. For anyone, it is a rich, multidimensional force that touches on intimacy, identity, and imagination. For BIPOC writers in particular, it becomes a conduit through which layered narratives emerge: racialized desire, ancestral silence, diasporic dislocation, intergenerational trauma, gendered power, and resistance.
In this workshop, participants will be guided through writing exercises and discussions that centre the erotic not only as a sensual force but as a deeply political and emotionally resonant practice. Together, we will create a space where pleasure is honoured, vulnerability is protected, and stories that have long been suppressed are allowed to unfold.
Workshop Structure
Session 1: Reclaiming the Erotic
An introduction to erotic writing as a holistic, intersectional practice. Participants will reflect on their own cultural and personal histories around desire, shame, and silence.
Session 2: Writing the Body / Writing the Lineage
Deepening the connection between body and ancestry. Exploring how trauma, taboos, and inherited stories shape erotic identity—and how abjection can, paradoxically, be empowering.
Session 3: The Politics of Pleasure
Crafting scenes or fragments that integrate the erotic with race, resistance, and relationality. Discussion of structure, consent, and agency on the page.
Public Presentation
An optional opportunity for participants to share work generated during the series in a supportive, celebratory environment. The event will highlight the power of queer Asian erotic writing to challenge dominant narratives and create new imaginative space.
Spots are limited. All experience levels welcome.
About CE Gatchalian
Born and raised on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh peoples (colonially known as “Vancouver”), now based in Tkaronto (“Toronto”), C.E. Gatchalian (he/him/his) is a Filipinx queer neurodivergent author, editor, playwright, dramaturge, teacher and consultant. A graduate of the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing, he is the author of six books and co-editor of two anthologies. He was the 2013 recipient of the Dayne Ogilvie Prize and is a three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist.
His plays have been produced nationally and internationally, as well as on radio and television. His memoir, Double Melancholy: Art, Beauty and the Making of a Brown Queer Man, was published in 2019 by Arsenal Pulp Press, and he recently co-edited Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing (Cormorant Books). In 2022 he was a recipient of the one-time only British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Arts & Music Awards for his contributions to the arts in BC.
Photo credit: Raymond Shum, Tempest Photo