The Asian American Experience and the Craft of Writing with Jenny Zhang
- Asian American Studies
- School of Arts & Sciences
- Visiting Artists Grant
Asian American Studies’ Undergraduate Advisory Board played a major role in selecting Jenny Zhang to be a visiting artist in the program. In their words, "Her writing is as much an exploration of the transition from Chinese immigrant girlhood to Chinese American womanhood, and by broader extension, Asian American identities in the U.S., as it is a consideration of the language of the human condition, capturing moments of small but not insignificant joys and mundane sorrows." (cover of Jenny Zhang’s Sour Heart)
The Asian American Studies program will bring Jenny Zhang, acclaimed writer of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, to Penn for an intensive, two-day workshop: an experimental space, fostered by Zhang, which will combine her expertise in the craft of writing with live concerns about contemporary Asian American identity and experience. Zhang is currently completing a screenplay based on her acclaimed 2017 short story collection, Sour Heart. Her latest collection of poetry, My Baby First Birthday, continues to explore basic human emotions, but through raw, gendered, and unsettled paths. Zhang’s visit provides a unique opportunity for students to combine research interests and the arts. In addition to this workshop, Zhang will give a reading at the Kelly Writers House and host an event with Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies.