Woman. Warrior. Writer.
Rosanna Oh Vol. 4 No. 9 August 11, 2023
Vol. 4 No. 9 August 10, 2023
Meet Woman. Warrior. Writer. Rosanna Oh!
How did you come to author your life?
I started writing (terrible) poetry in the seventh grade after reading Jane Eyre. On weekends and holidays, I worked the register at my parents’ grocery store on Long Island. During breaks, I read books on a milk crate. One of these was Jane Eyre, which a kind customer, a former schoolteacher, had gifted me. I loved the book for its language and characterization of Jane as a heroine for whom books serve as a source of power and agency. This idea has carried me through college, where I took my first writing workshop, and still holds true for me now.
Rosanna Young Oh is the author of The Corrected Version (2023), which is her debut collection of poems. Her writing has appeared in Literary Hub, Best New Poets, and Harvard Review Online, and has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and New York State Writers Institute. Her poetry was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Queens Historical Society, where she was an artist-in-residence. She currently lives and writes in New York.
IG@roohinnyc
TEACHING and WORKSHOP
Intersectionality: Manuscript Workshop runs September 06-November 8 WEDNESDAYS 5-7AM HST for 10 weeks $1080. This workshop is for those are working on a specific manuscript project. This is a class for writers of literary fiction and non-fiction. Limited enrollment. Instructor permission only. Please contact me.
BREAK: Divorce Story Workshop runs October 6-October 27 FRIDAYS 5-7AM for 4 weeks $432. The newly designed Divorce Story workshop is for women who are ready to write their divorce story for their legal/personal file. You will be taken through the steps necessary to write what may be one of the most significant stories that you have lived--the story of your marriage, from the perspective of divorce.
Check out this Scarlet Society interview I did on divorce stories.
NEWS and OPPORTUNITIES
Reema Rajbanshi (Asian/American WCWW) author of Sugar, Smoke, Song was at a Writing by Writers Casita De Catarina residency in Baja California this summer at work on her experimental travel novel.
Arianna Jimenez (WCWW; Intersectionality) and Iris Kim (WCWW; Asian/American WCWW; Intersectionality) were 2023 Tin House fellows!
Renee Simms teaches at Rainier Writing Workshop of Pacific Lutheran University. “The Art of Heroine Worship” from Meet Behind Mars is a superb story. I have read a lot of stories. There are many good stories. There are few brilliant ones. Teachers: put it on your syllabus.
INTERVIEWS
It was so fun talking to Mireya Vela and Andrea Auten of The Scapegoat Guild Podcast and Sheila Gallien of Dropping in to Power. Check it out! I’m available to chat on your podcast!
PEACE
I was in DC for the Korea Peace Action: National Mobilization to end the Korean War in Washington D.C. on July 26/27.
There is no peace treaty. Korea went from being subject to Japanese colonialism to being divided by the USSR and the US into North and South Korea--a tragic example of Cold War politics and colonialism. The Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act now has 33 supporters in the House of Reps.
For more background on why peace may be important and to learn about Korean American identity, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of history lectures I gave for the Council of Korean Americans.
I had some more thoughts on this—but after trying to squeeze in various sized drafts to this newsletter, I’ve decided to send it out separately this fall.
MAUI
If you have ever visited Hawai'i, especially Maui, please consider a donation to the Red Cross. More on this later too…
MERCH
Grab a T-shirt. Support the Woman. Warrior. Writer. Scholarship Fund.
SIGN UP FOR CLASS. Write your truth to power. Free your voice.
Stay strong. Do not quit. Ever.
Aloha,
Steph