Woman. Warrior. Writer. 6-24
Marisa Lin Vol 5 No. 7 6-3-24
Woman. Warrior. Writer. Marisa Lin!
How did you come to author your life?
I’ve always been a poet, but it wasn’t until six years ago that I realized it. It was during my final quarter of college when I took my first creative writing course. That class—and the professor, Sarah Frisch—transformed my trajectory. Sarah assigned us to read The Glass Essay by Anne Carson. It was a long poem and I had never read anything like it. I remember thinking, “Wait, you're allowed to do this?” and feeling an entire universe opening to me. By then it was too late to change my academic focus (I was an Economics major) but the great thing about writing is that you can do it anytime, anywhere. After graduating college, I continued to write while working full-time, took a few workshops, and eventually gathered enough pieces to form a chapbook. Publishing Dream Elevator was a huge milestone for me. Growing up, I never imagined I could be an author. I'm indebted to Sarah, who first believed in me, and to the teachers, friends, and mentors who have encouraged me along the way.
Marisa Lin (she/they) is a Minnesota native and author of DREAM ELEVATOR, published by Kernpunkt Press (2024). In 2023, she was awarded fellowships from UC Berkeley’s Arts Research Center and Roots Wounds Words. Her poems are forthcoming or published in Poetry South, Porter House Review, Cimarron Review, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day series. Marisa graduates in 2024 with a Master’s Degree of Public Policy from UC Berkeley.
I am thrilled to feature Marisa Lin who was in WCWW—she is a wonderful writer and presence and I strongly advise checking out her work. She is a significant new voice.
Website: marisalin.com
Lin is the inaugural WCWW published poet! I’m so excited! Her writing appeared on the reading list — firstly, it’s great and it’s a reminder that poetic language and style counts. Secondly, if you come to workshop I will support your work. Keep reading this newsletter as more writers are coming through the pipeline.
UPDATES
Classes
Master Narratives: A Deep Dive (Live at da Shop) June 22 Sat. 9-11AM (HST), a live workshop to help you better understand your creative process. Master Narratives are foundational to our framework of belief, community, and the self. This is an OPEN GENDER class. Register now!
BREAK: Write Your Divorce Story Workshop July 19 Fri. 2-4PM (HST), I will teach Divorce Story Structure. Do you remember the 5 paragraph essay? It’s a structure that enables high school students to easily organize their thoughts and ideas about a piece of writing. In this class I present a structural framework that will allow you to write your divorce story. Disclaimer: ask your lawyer about putting it in your legal file. See Scarlet Society: HOW TO WRITE YOUR DIVORCE STORY or Youtube for more info.
Intersectionality: Manuscript Workshop wraps up this month! This is an intense fast-paced MFA level workshop and is a tight cohort of highly accomplished individuals and dedicated writers. This is a very serious class. You must be working on a specific manuscript project. The next 10-week session begins September 9. Class closes at 8 writers. Writing submission required. Instructor permission only. Contact: writer@drstephaniehan.com
News
Congratulations to (WWWs) Toni Ann Johnson and Susan Kiyo Ito -- both Nominees for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.
Natasha Déon (WWW) is a 2024 L.A. Times Book Prize judge in Fiction and Debut Fiction.
Kavita A. Jindal (WWW) is part of The Whole Kahani a group of South Asian British Women Writers. The group won the 2024 Eastern Eye Award for fiction for their anthology Tongues and Bellies.
Utitofon Ebong Inyang’s (WCWW; Intersectionality) Cambridge University Press online article (I)nSights from Àwòrán: Yorùbá Epistemologies and the Limits of Cartesian Vision in Teju Cole’s Open City received the Abioseh Porter Best Essay Award for an outstanding article in African literary studies published in a major peer-reviewed journal in the preceding calendar year.
Lilly U. Nguyen (WCWW, AWCWW) will have “Reflections and the Multiple Layers that Intercede” in The North American Review and “The Possibilities of a Line” in the Colorado Review. Lilly was a wonderful presence in class and writes lyrical prose. I am looking forward to these reads.
An encouraging FB post from Renee Simms (WWW)—
I’m excited to tell y’all that my next two books will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This follows many months of writing, revising, worrying, and self-doubt. I’m eternally grateful to Tanya and Carol at McKinnon Literary, and I look forward to working with Jenna at FSG. I hope this post encourages any friends who are patiently waiting for something to happen. Please keep going. Find your faith.
MERCH
Support women writers! Woman. Warrior. Writer. merchandise proceeds go towards funding scholarships for writing workshops!
I did a live in-person chat with Elise Hu author of Flawless at Dashop in Kaimuki.
K-beauty’s global power and the beauty algorithm’s influence on pop culture is provocative and disturbing…nothing like matching up your appearance to the demands of an equation. My teen angst math student nightmare come to life. How might K-beauty impact our lives? Can we parse the nuance between conformity and interdependence? What does it mean to LOOK like you are part of a group? Beauty in the future. Beauty now.
Asians have always been associated with the future – check out Jane Chi-Hyun Park’s (WCWW; Intersectionality) Yellow Future: Oriental Style in Hollywood Cinema. She details film aesthetics and there are moments of dry humor in her film theory work. I enjoyed the read. Ever notice that ole turtleneck and stretchy clothes trope and how space creatures have vague Asiatic features, and their sentences even end in verbs? Hello…Yoda….let’s copy the diction of Korean and Japanese sentence construction-subject-object-verb…hope that gives you something to chew on.
PALESTINE and MAUI
The siege on Gaza is entering its eighth month. In solidarity with a Free Palestine, Marisa Lin created this amazing Divest Israel toolkit.
We have a housing crisis in Hawai’i. The State Legislature passed bill 2919 to allow counties to phase out vacation rentals. It’s an important step to address housing issues across the state. Please consider a donation to the Maui Strong Fund.
Keep writing. Your voice matters. Your story is your life. And it’s important.
Aloha,
Stephanie