The MFA Program for Writers recently celebrated its annual summer residency at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, 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, “Narrative Design from World Literature: the Kishōtenketsu and West African Griot Tradition,” explores how we can expand our craft knowledge and technique as writers by studying narrative design from world literature. The Japanese kishōtenketsu offers a new way to compose a poem or story beyond the Western emphasis on the plot triangle or Aristotelian idea of “plot is action.” Likewise, the West African Griot Tradition emphasizes the communal aspect of storytelling and notes the import of the storyteller and listener in the creation of a tale the sustains the history of a community and imagines its future. Some authors studied in the talk include Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, E.J. Koh, Ocean Vuong, Samuel Kọ́láwọ́lé, Yaa Gyasi, Teju Cole, and JJJJJerome Ellis.
The Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers store features a rich archive of faculty lectures and craft discussions from January 1992 – July 2024, and can be accessed here: https://www.wwcmfa.org/store/
Rita Banerjee 