Khet Mar on the Road
by Silvia Duarte / April 11, 2011 / No comments
On April 4, the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program launched Writers in Motion, a two weeks study tour of the Mid-Atlantic and the American South, where eight international writers will explore the theme of “Fall and Recovery.” One of the writers is Khet Mar, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s writer in residence.
Khet Mar is a journalist, novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist born in Burma. Author of the novel Wild Snowy Night, three collections of short stories and a volume of essays, she has had work translated into Japanese, Spanish, and English.
The eight writers are traveling to Gettysburg, New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, Birmingham, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. to examine the different challenges presented by historical crises and upheavals, both natural and social. Topics will include the Civil War, Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill, and the Civil Rights movement. Through all this phenomena the writers engage issues of race, class, and federal (versus local) governance.
The visiting writers are meeting with local writers, scientists, historians, and citizens, and will visit creative writing departments and tour local landmarks and museums in an effort to deepen their understanding of both the complexity of United States history as well as the challenges of writing cohesively and comprehensively about disaster worldwide. An international filmmaker will accompany the delegation.
In the upcoming days, Khet Mar will be introducing some of her traveling partners in a series of short interviews. Read the following:
Filipino Writer Vicente García Groyón
Canadian Writer Madeleine Thien
Guatemalan Writer Eduardo Halfon
If you want to read what Khet Mar and the other writers are discovering through this trip, read their blog posts here.
