Honoring Ancestral Stories
Through a Contemporary Lens
with Megan Kamalei Kakimoto
Folklore, mythology, superstitions, and generational memory. Each one is a gift we inherit from our ancestors, and the generations that have come before us. How do we do right by this gift while creating our own narratives? In this class, we will study the works of authors who draw from their own ancestral stories, dissecting how they use plot, point of view, setting, detail, and other elements of literature to recover the voices of their ancestors while offering forth something new. Writing exercises will teach us how to see the potential in our own work to house ancestral stories in conversation with narratives that have come before. Authors may include Kali Fajardo-Anstine, K-Ming Chang, Joseph Han, Nana Nkweti, Eloghosa Osunda, and Isabel Yap, among others.
Megan Kamalei Kakimoto is a Japanese and Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiian) writer from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Her fiction has been featured in Granta, Conjunctions, Joyland, and elsewhere. She has been a finalist for the Keene Prize for Literature and has received support from the Rona Jaffe Foundation and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers and lives in Honolulu. Her debut collection EVERY DROP IS A MAN'S NIGHTMARE is forthcoming from Bloomsbury.
COURSE EXPECTATIONS
The Honoring Ancestral Stories Through a Contemporary Lens Master Class is a safe space for AAPI writers, at all levels. We will meet on Saturday, May 20th, 1-4PM EST via ZOOM.
CLASS DETAILS
Class Date: Saturday, May 20
The enrollment is limited to 25 participants.
Workshop Fee: $125
REGISTER TODAY. SECURE YOUR SEAT.
Register for the workshop with an email to events@kwelijournal.org.
Payment in advance secures your seat.
You can also make your payment via check or money order. Please mail your payment to the following address.
Kweli Journal
PO Box 693
New York, NY 10021
ATTN: Megan Kakimoto Master Class
For more information, please email events@kwelijournal.org.
