The MFA Program for Writers recently celebrated its annual winter residency at the Blue Ridge Assembly, the site of the original Black Mountain College in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The residency featured inspiring lectures and classes from both faculty and graduating students. And writers and readers can access the wonderful craft discussions and lectures from the MFA Program for Writers faculty online here. Rita Banerjee’s Opening Lecture, “Translating the World, Translating Ourselves,” explores why translation is such a vital aesthetic, psychic, and embodied craft tool for creative writers. In translating our experiences and ourselves onto the page, we as writers become more aware of the metaphors we live by and can ask ourselves “What is the story behind my story, essay, or poem?” Some authors studied in the talk include Basho, Agyeya, Allen Ginsberg, Elizabeth Bishop, Rudyard Kipling, James Baldwin, Yoko Tawada, and Jhumpa Lahiri.
The Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers store features a rich archive of faculty lectures and craft discussions from January 1992 – January 2024, and can be accessed here: https://www.wwcmfa.org/store/
Rita Banerjee 