The Writer’s Block: A Q&A with Chen Ko Hua, Alice Yousef and Henriikka Tavi

Chen Ko Hua, Alice Yousef, and Henriikka Tavi visited City of Asylum from the University of Iowa’s International Writing Workshop in September for Jazz Poetry Month. Chen Ko Hua is a poet from Taiwan, whose work includes more than twenty volumes of poetry, frequently addressing queer issues. Alice Yousef, a poet and translator from the Palestinian territories, writes about the Middle East and Palestinian experience on her blog, “Blooms in Indigo.” And Henrikka Tavi, a poet, translator, and fiction writer from Finland, is a founding member of Poesia, a poetry publishing cooperative, and the author of 12, an experimental poetry book project.

The poets spoke to SampsoniaWay.org about their writing process, the challenge of translating their poetry, and the sources for their inspiration.