Writing Poetry in Response to Current Events

SESSION DESCRIPTION:

Writing may not be able to stop a bullet, but it can help us to survive. In this OnDemand webinar, Lisa Kwong reflects on the role of poetry as a response to current events and why people turn to it as a way to process and cope. Considering examples that address events including, but not limited to, the Virginia Tech massacre, the swine flu and COVID-19 pandemics, and last year’s Atlanta spa shootings, Kwong demonstrates that poetry can be a powerful source of comfort for our communities.

INSTRUCTOR BIO:

A native of Radford, Virginia, Lisa Kwong is the author of Becoming AppalAsian (Glass Lyre Press, 2022), a poetry chapbook, and “Searching for Wonton Soup,” winner of Sundress Publications’ 2019 Poetry Broadside Contest. Her poems have appeared in Best New Poets, A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, root & branch, the minnesota review, Still: The Journal, Naugatuck River Review, Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture, and other publications. She currently teaches Asian American Studies at Indiana University and English at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, Indiana.