Muse & the Marketplace 2019

Whether it’s a letter from a loved one, a public document written by a stranger, or a medical bill mass-produced in a language we hardly understand, encountering real texts in the world can help us discover new ways of reading (and writing!). In this session, we’ll explore ways that authors have built stories in conversation with existing texts, starting with a piece that holds intense meaning for you. Tseng will describe her own father’s journey to America, the letters he wrote to her over a period of thirty-odd years, and the book of poems she made with them, called Not so dear Jenny. Come ready to share similar examples, experiment with existing texts to make new ones, and look at examples of other collaborative texts. If you'd like, bring a "real-life" text that holds intense meaning for you, or that's simply captured your imagination.