Rita Banerjee’s essay in three parts, “The Female Gaze,” is an excerpt from her memoir and manifesto on how young women of color keep their cool against social, sexual, and economic pressure.
In her essay exploring the female gaze, female agency, and female cool, Banerjee asks: What if women, especially women of color, were the progenitors of cool? That is, did women have to cultivate their own cool—their own sense of style, creative expression, and coldness—in order to survive patriarchy across millennia across cultures? If the male gaze aims subordinate and colonize, what does the female gaze, tempered by cool, desire? What does the female gaze cherish or hold dear? If a woman were fully aware of her gaze, would she use it to objectify and colonize, or could her gaze destabilize and decolonize?
The MFA Program for Writers Director, Dr. Rita Banerjee will be a Visiting Writer in the undergraduate Creative Writing program at Warren Wilson College and will be teaching the creative writing workshop “Narrative Forms from World Literature: Kishōtenketsu and Rasa Theory” on Tuesday, October 17 from 12-1 pm EDT. The workshop’s open to anyone on campus and more details follow below as does information about Dr. Banerjee’s reading on campus on the evening of October 17 from 7-8 pm EDT:
In contemporary American creative writing, theatre, and screenwriting classes, the narrative structures and forms most centered are derived from the Western literary canon. Aristotle’s definition of comedy, tragedy, and catharsis from the Poetics and Gustav Freytag’s “plot triangle” from Die Technik des Dramas are seen as the conventional and standard way by which we analyze and structure storytelling. However, in our workshop on Narrative Forms from World Literature, we will study and learn from narrative structures, forms, aesthetic theories, and storytelling techniques from a variety of world literatures. We will delve into storytelling forms beyond the plot triangle and will highlight Nonwestern narrative techniques like the kishōtenketsu narrative form from Japanese. This workshop will also discuss rasa theory, which centers nine major emotional states to make the connection between viewer and character stronger. Rasa theory derives from Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra, which acts as a counterpoint to Aristotle’s demarcation of tragedy and comedy from the Poetics. By studying Narrative Forms from World Literature, students will diversify and strengthen their craft knowledge and technique, and will gain access to storytelling structures, forms, and aesthetic traditions beyond the Anglo-American canon.
Check out the Painted Bride hosts editors and writers Kathleen Volk Miller, Marion Wrenn, Jason Schneiderman, Tim Fitts, and Sara Aykit discuss Rita Banerjee’s jazz-inspired poetry on their podcast here. And here’s more information about Episode 27: Suicides and Skeleton Jazz :
This week’s discussion both took us back and made sure that none of us would see the world the same way again. With images of breakdancing, gospel choir, and the not-so-innocent Georgia Brown, we were in it. Whether we’re distinguishing jazz from jazz or figuring out what a clapper is, this episode is filled with risky moves.
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More about the author:
Rita Banerjee is the author of Echo in Four Beats, CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing, the novella “A Night with Kali” in Approaching Footsteps, and Cracklers at Night. She received her doctorate in Comparative Literature from Harvard and her MFA from the University of Washington, and her work appears in Hunger Mountain, PANK, Tupelo Quarterly, Isele Magazine, Nat. Brut., Poets & Writers, Academy of American Poets, Los Angeles Review of Books, Vermont Public Radio, and elsewhere. She is the co-writer of Burning Down the Louvre, a forthcoming documentary film about race, intimacy, and tribalism in the United States and in France, and serves as Senior Editor of the South Asian Avant-Garde and Creative Director of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop. She received a 2021-2022 Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council for her new memoir and manifesto on female cool, and one of the opening chapters of this memoir, “Birth of Cool” was a Notable Essay in the 2020 Best American Essays. She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
Rita Banerjee will be be featured on WGDR Radio’s “Bon Mot” program at 5 pm EST on Sunday, August 20, 2023. The radio program will air on 91.1 and 91.7 FM Vermont, and can be found in archive here. The show is hosted by Rick Argan and Banerjee will be be reading from her poetry collection Echo in Four Beats and her new memoir manuscript on female cool. The show will also feature readings from Hunger Mountain, Issue 25: Art Saves, which was edited and curated by Erin Stalcup and features poetry, fiction, nonfiction, graphic literature, and hybrid work from the first 25 years of Hunger Mountain literary magazine. The reading also features faculty and students reading from Hunger Mountain: Art Saves from the MFA in Writing & Publishing program at VCFA in Spring 2021. You can listen to the broadcast here.
During the the Tongass Mist Writing Retreat (April 12-16, 2023) in Sitka, Alaska, Visiting Rita Banerjee sat down with Brooke Shafer, one of the hosts of “The Library Show” on Raven Radio (KCAW, 104.7 FM Sitka, Alaska). Brooke Shafer asked Rita Banerjee about her favorite books, current reads, what drew her to writing, what it’s like to teach creative writing, and the memoir and manifesto on female cool that she currently working on. Banerjee also got a chance to read from “Cool as Kin,” a new chapter from her memoir on-air.
KCAW Raven Radio will be airing Brooke Shafer’s interview and conversation with Rita Banerjee on Sunday, May 7, 10:30 am Alaska Time (2:30 pm EDT, 11:30 am PDT). And you can listen to “The Library Show” broadcast live (or download it) on May 7 on Raven Radio at:
The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Paris Writing Retreat will take place from July 19-25, 2023. Situated in heart of Paris’ Montparnasse neighborhood, amongst the fresh and popular open air markets and charming boutiques, the hotel stay is full of Parisian charm, and retreat activities will include craft of writing seminars and creative writing workshops, literary tours of Paris. If you’re serious about writing and want to soak in some exquisite French culture this summer, join our retreat in Paris! The faculty includes award-winning writers Diana Norma Szokolyai and Rita Banerjee.Genres include poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, and hybrid. Multilingual submissions are welcome. Partial scholarships for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, writers who are students, writers who are parents, and writers who are educators are available.Apply for scholarships by May 15, 2023. And if you’d like to join us in Paris, France, please apply online at cww.submittable.com by June 1, 2023.More info: cww.nyc
The MFA Program for Writers is a rigorous and highly-selective four-semester graduate program that is consistently ranked as one of the most prestigious low-residency MFA in creative writing programs in the country. Faculty and alumni include Nobel, Pulitzer, and National Book Award winners, national and state poet laureates, and NEA, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and MacArthur fellows.
Banerjee brings extensive experience to the position. She is an award-winning writer herself, and has previously served as director of MFA programs at two other schools.
“I am honored to join Warren Wilson as the new director of the MFA Program for Writers, which has such an illustrious history and has launched the careers of so many talented writers worldwide, and which offers a vibrant, world-class education focused on artistry, rigor, community, and the possibilities of the imagination,” Banerjee said.
Banerjee holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. She has served as director of MFA programs at Vermont College of Fine Arts and Long Island University. She is co-founder and executive creative director of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop, which was founded at Harvard University, an editor-at-large of the “South Asian Avant-Garde,” and she served as interim executive director of Kundiman, a national organization dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian American creative writing.
Her extensive teaching experience spans creative writing (including poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction), literature, publishing, and foreign languages in graduate, undergraduate, and community workshop settings in the U.S. and abroad.
“Dr. Banerjee’s extensive scholarly and creative accomplishments, combined with her demonstrated administrative expertise make her a perfect fit for this world-class, nationally ranked program,” said Dr. Jay Roberts, provost and dean of the faculty at Warren Wilson. “I am confident the MFA Program for Writers is in good hands, and we are excited to watch its continued development under her leadership.”
Banerjee is the author of the poetry collections “Echo in Four Beats,” which was named one of Book Riot’s “Must-Read Poetic Voices of Split This Rock 2018,” and “Cracklers at Night.” She is also editor of “CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing” and author of the novella “A Night with Kali.” She received a 2021-2022 Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council for her new memoir and manifesto “Merchants of Cool: How Female Cool Could Not Be Sold,” and one of the opening chapters of this new memoir, “Birth of Cool” was a Notable Essay in the 2020 “Best American Essays.”
“Rita is an accomplished writer-scholar, a committed teacher and mentor, and an expert administrator,” said Christie Kitano, a MFA poetry faculty member who served on the search committee. “The MFA is a storied program with deeply held roots and traditions, so it was difficult to imagine finding a new director who would maintain the program’s core values while simultaneously envisioning new possibilities. Luckily, Rita immediately stood out as uniquely skilled and prepared to take on this responsibility. She commands the right combination of expertise, imagination, and vision to lead the program into the future.”
Banerjee’s appointment follows the retirement of the current director of the MFA Program for Writers Debra Allbery, who has held the position for the past 14 years. Allbery will continue serving during a transitional time, when she will mentor Banerjee leading toward the June 2023 residency when Banerjee’s directorship will begin.
“We are proud to welcome Rita into our community and look forward to working with her,” said Dr. Paula Garrett, the chair of the English department at Warren Wilson College. “We are also grateful for Deb Allbery’s continued leadership, and so appreciate her mentoring of Rita in this transitional time. We anticipate a great future for the MFA, both continuing its great traditions and welcoming changes as the field itself is changing.”
Tongass Mist Writing is owned and operated by Ruth Underhill @ruth_elizabeth_underhill, a local Sitkan with a dream to see more writers experience and cherish the mists of the Tongass National Forest with the knock of raven call and sound of rocks rolling up the shores of this beautiful Tlingit Aáni land where she lives as a very lucky guest. Ruth shapes retreats and writing resources to allow #artists to carry its wild and beauty into their diverse and empowered writing. The retreat includes lodging on an oceanfront campus, daily meals, wilderness excursions, six literary salons, fireside readings, a wildlife cruise, and sauna. Tongass Mist welcomes its second visiting writer to Sitka in April 2023. Rita Banerjee will join the Sitka Fine Arts Campus April 12-16th for a four day retreat featuring wilderness excursions, generative writing salons, readings by a fire, literary craft talks and the incomparable experience of creating, enjoying a welcoming art community in the heart of the Tongass National Forest. Rita comes to visit us with incredible experience writing, film making, teaching, publishing and directing writing programs across the country. To apply, submit an application on the Tongass Mist Writing Retreat websiteby March 19, 2023 at 3 pm Alaska Standard Time.
The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is delighted to announce that we will be offering Writing Coaching and Editorial Servicesfor our writing students starting in early 2023! Authors who are in the development stage of their manuscript drafting or have a book manuscript ready and are looking for advice regarding book proposals, manuscript submissions, and seeking out literary agents are welcome to apply. Writers who are working in all genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, play or screenwriting, hybrid, and illustrated work are welcome to apply.
Here are the types of services offered by our faculty.
Writing Coaching
Manuscript Review
Publishing and Submission Advice
Developing Query Letters for Literary Agents
Developing Book Proposals
Line Editing of Manuscripts
One-on-One Consultations
Small-Group Writing Workshops
Manuscript Development Advice
One-on-One Craft Advice
Please note that most faculty charge between $125 – $150 / hour for editorial services and writing coaching.
In applying for the writing coaching services, be sure to note what kinds of services you are interested in, the scope of your project.
To apply for Writing Coaching and Editorial Services, please complete the following steps:
Include a writing sample of 5-10 pages of prose, poetry, or hybrid work with your application
In the cover letter, please note:
which faculty you would prefer to work with (please select from our 2023 Faculty List below)
a brief on-paragraph synopsis of your project and the scope of your project
please note any genres that you are working in or developing further
what kind of editorial services you are seeking and
a brief one-paragraph biography of yourself as a writer and creator
With your application, please include two professional references (with phone, email address, and mailing address included). If possible, please include two contact references who can speak to your experience as a writer.
Our 2023 Faculty Include:
Rita Banerjee is the Executive Creative Director of the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop and editor of CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing. She is the author of the poetry collection Echo in Four Beats , which was named one of Book Riot’s“Must-Read Poetic Voices of Split This Rock 2018”, the novella “A Night with Kali” in Approaching Footsteps, and the poetry chapbook Cracklers at Night. She is the co-writer and co-director of Burning Down the Louvre (2023), a documentary film about race, intimacy, and tribalism in the United States and in France. She received her doctorate in Comparative Literature from Harvard and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington, and she is a recipient of a Vermont Studio Center Artist’s Grant, the Tom and Laurel Nebel Fellowship, and South Asia Initiative and Tata Grants among other awards. Her writing appears in the Academy of American Poets, Poets & Writers,PANK, Tupelo Quarterly, Nat. Brut., Vermont Public Radio, Hunger Mountain, Kweli Journal, The Scofield, The Rumpus, Painted Bride Quarterly, Mass Poetry, Hyphen Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, Electric Literature, VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, Queen Mob’s Tea House, Objet d’Art, and elsewhere. She is currently working on a novel, a book on South Asian literary modernisms, and a memoir and manifesto on female cool. Her writing is represented by agent Jamie Chambliss of Folio Literary Management.
Franky Frances Cannonis a writer, editor, educator, and artist. She recently served as the Managing Director of the Sundog Poetry Center in Vermont. She has taught at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, Champlain College, the Vermont Commons School, the University of Iowa, and as a visiting lecturer at Middlebury College and the University of Vermont. She has an MFA in creative writing from Iowa and a BA in poetry and printmaking from the University of Vermont. Her published books include: Walter Benjamin: Reimagined, MIT Press, The Highs and Lows of Shapeshift Ma and Big-Little Frank, Gold Wake Press, Tropicalia, Vagabond Press, Predator/Play, Ethel Press, Uranian Fruit, Honeybee Press, Sagittaria, Bottlecap Press, and Image Burn, a self-published art book. She has worked for The Iowa Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly, The Believer, and The Lucky Peach. Her writing has been published in The New York Times,Poetry Northwest, The Iowa Review, The Green Mountain Review, Vice, Lithub, The Moscow Times, The Examined Life Journal, Gastronomica, Electric Lit, Edible magazine, Mount Island, Fourth Genre, and Vol. 1 Brooklyn.
Kristina Marie Darlingis the author of thirty-nine books, which include Stylistic Innovation, Conscious Experience, and the Self in Modernist Women’s Poetry, available from Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group; Daylight Has Already Come: Selected Poems 2014 – 2020, which was published by Black Lawrence Press; Silence in Contemporary Poetry, which will be published in hardcover by Clemson University Press in the United States and Liverpool University Press in the United Kingdom; Silent Refusal: Essays on Contemporary Feminist Writing, newly available from Black Ocean; Angel of the North, which is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry; and X Marks the Dress: A Registry (co-written with Carol Guess), which was just launched by Persea Books in the United States. Penguin Random House Canada has also published a Canadian edition. An expert consultant with the U.S. Fulbright Commission, Dr. Darling’s work has also been recognized with three residencies at Yaddo, where she has held the Martha Walsh Pulver Residency for a Poet and the Howard Moss Residency in Poetry; eight residencies at the American Academy in Rome, where she has also served as an ambassador for recruitment; grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation and Harvard University’s Kittredge Fund; a Fundación Valparaíso fellowship to live and work in Spain; a Hawthornden Castle Fellowship, funded by the Heinz Foundation; an artist-in-residence position at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris; two grants from the Whiting Foundation; a Faber Residency in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, which she received on two separate occasions; an artist-in-residence position with the Andorran Ministry of Culture; an artist-in-residence position at the Florence School of Fine Arts; an appointment at Scuola Internazionale de Grafica in Venice; and the Dan Liberthson Prize from the Academy of American Poets, which she received on three separate occasions; among many other awards and honors. Dr. Darling serves as Editor-in-Chief of Tupelo Press & Tupelo Quarterly and teaches at the American University of Rome. Born and raised in the American Midwest, she currently divides her time between the United States, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast.
Tim Horvath is the author of Understories (Bellevue Literary Press), which won the New Hampshire Literary Award for Outstanding Work of Fiction, and Circulation (sunnyoutside). His fiction has appeared in Conjunctions, AGNI, Harvard Review, and many other journals, and his book reviews appear in Georgia Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and American Book Review. His novel-in-progress focuses on the lives of contemporary classical composers and musicians. He has taught Creative Writing in the Granada, Spain, program for the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop, and in the BFA and MFA programs at New England College, including the Institute of Art and Design.
Corrine Previte is currently working as a 4th Grade Teacher in Lynn, Massachusetts. Previously, Corrine graduated from Gordon College in 2017 with a B.S. in Elementary Education and a B.A. in English, where she took courses in creative playwriting, literary journal, British and Irish Literature. During her time at Gordon, she not only was captain of the track team but she was also the News Editor for the college’s newspaper: The Tartan and a member of the Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society. She has recently completed her master’s at Gordon where she studied to be a reading specialist and English as a Second Language Teacher. She also took courses in writing for publication, developing and advanced writers. Corrine Previte is an avid writer and has been since the age of 6. She has a love for children’s books and travel writing. Her favorite authors that inspire her include Patricia Polacco, Jane Brett and Elizabeth Gilbert. Previte has worked with Cambridge Writer’s Workshop since 2019. She has enjoyed the hands-on experience with editors and publishers. During this time, Previte’s children’s book manuscript is under review.
Natalya Sukhonos is bilingual in Russian and English and also speaks Spanish, French, and Portuguese. She has a PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. Natalya is Assistant Professor at the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Zayed University. Natalya’s poems are published by the American Journal of Poetry; Haight Ashbury Literary Journal; Saint Ann’s Review; Driftwood Press; Literary Mama; Middle Gray Magazine; Really System; Empty Sink Publishing and other journals. Her first book “Parachute” was published by Aldrich Press of Kelsay Books. “A Stranger Home” was published by Moon Pie Press in 2020. You can find out more about her work on natalyasukhonos.com.
Diana Norma Szokolyai is a writer and Executive Artistic Director of Cambridge Writers’ Workshop. Her edited volume, CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing, will be released by C&R Press on March 7, 2018. She is author of the poetry collections Parallel Sparrows (honorable mention for Best Poetry Book in the 2014 Paris Book Festival) and Roses in the Snow (first runner-up Best Poetry Book at the 2009 DIY Book Festival). She also records her poetry with musicians and has collaborated with several composers including David Krebs (US), Robert Lemay (Canada), Claudio Gabriele (Italy), Peter James (UK), Jason Haye (UK), and Sebastian Wesman (Estonia). Diana Norma is a founding member of the performing arts groups Sounds in Bloom, ChagallPAC, and The Brooklyn Soundpainting Ensemble. Her poetry-music collaboration with Flux Without Pause, “Space Mothlight,” hit #16 on the Creative Commons Hot 100 list in 2015, and can be found in the curated WFMU Free Music Archive. Her work has been recently reviewed by The London Grip and published in VIDA: Reports from the Field, The Fiction Project, Quail Bell Magazine, Lyre Lyre, The Boston Globe, Dr. Hurley’s Snake Oil Cure,The Dudley Review and Up the Staircase Quarterly, The Million Line Poem, The Cambridge Community Poem, and elsewhere, as well as anthologized in Our Last Walk, The Highwaymen NYC #2, Other Countries: Contemporary Poets Rewiring History, Always Wondering, and Teachers as Writers. She is currently at work on her next book and an album of poetry & music. Diana Norma holds a M.A. in French (UCONN, La Sorbonne) and an Ed.M in Arts in Education (Harvard).
The Young Women’s Society of New York City, founded by Sunita Singh of LIU Brooklyn, welcomes Rita Banerjee as a guest speaker to discuss “On Writing and Publishing” on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 from 6:30-7:30 pm EST on Zoom.
The Young Women’s Society of New York City space for females across NYC where they can voice their concerns, feelings, and fears. The club aims to empower young women within the community by providing opportunities to learn STEM-related skills and hear from accomplished women within various fields. Rita Banerjee will be present on writing, publishing, and academia, and how young women (both cis and trans) can flourish in such fields. To join the Zoom conversation on September 28, please email theyoungwomenssocietystaff@gmail.com.
Membership to the Young Women’s Society of New York City is open to undergraduate, graduate, and young professional students who identify as female and who live, study, and/or work in NYC. To join the community, please email theyoungwomenssocietystaff@gmail.com.