Muse & the Marketplace 2019

As race and identity become more central literary concerns, we find acute critiques of how individuals from marginalized groups are portrayed. We also find critiques of white identity and white based social realities. As memoirists or fiction writers, how do we write about race or those of a different ethnicity or race, and do it accurately and well?

For both white and POC writers, this starts with an investigation into one’s own identity-- a far more complex process than many understand. It entails understanding race in a historical and literary context as well as a broad range of fields. It involves addressing the limitations of your own life experience. In other words, writing about race is a worthy but far more difficult task than is often assumed in workshops. This talk will reference writers like Toni Morrison, Baldwin, Hilton Als, Marlon James, Zadie Smith, Jonathan Franzen, and Viet Nguyen. Writers will leave this session with an assignment and a plan for exploring race and identity.