Category: News

Colorlines Magazine; 12/22/2002; article by Libero Della Piana

excerpt (Click on excerpt to access the rest):

Science fiction has been a part of the Black American experience from the first moment slaves looked to the skies to follow the “drinking gourd” North to freedom. To enslaved people ripped from their homeland and dragged to a new world, the idea that the stars would lead them to an unknown land of freedom might have seemed a fantastic fiction, an imaginary hope. That the symbol of freedom was both a distant star and a symbol of the African communal past is no small irony. The tension of black existence has always been a pull between the hope of the future and the magical legacy of …

Saturday, June 24, 11am ­ 6pm

Fiction/Nonfiction: A Group Workshop for Prose Writers with Alexander Chee

An intensive day long workshop devoted to refining your work-in-progress. Discussions will focus on redrafting, jump-starting and troubleshooting, discussion about elements of prose, group critiques and personal advice from instructor. An engaging, supportive environment for serious published or unpublished writers who want critical feedback and suggestions on their fiction.

Participants must submit over email up to 20 pages of chapters/short stories/prose excerpts by Friday June 2nd. The instructor and fellow participants will receive copies of your work in advance for thoughtful criticism. Your email submission will be acknowledged. Class filled on rolling basis.

$125 general, $100 members. Please call 212.494.0061 to register. Limited to 12 students.

@ the Workshop
16 West 32nd, 10th Floor
New York City

Alexander Chee’s first novel, Edinburgh (Picador), won the Asian American Literary Award, the Michener and the Lambda. He is a recent the recipient of a Whiting Writers Award and a fellowship from the NEA in fiction. His essays and stories are anthologized in The M Word, TakeOut, Loss Within Loss, and Boys Like Us, among others, and he has taught writing at Wesleyan University, the New School and Goddard College. He begins as Amherst College’s Visiting Writer in the fall of this year. His new novel, The Queen of the Night, is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin in 2007.

The Million Dollar Book Contract: How to Get (the BEST) Agent

On April 25, 2006, The Asian American Writers’ Workshop presented a panel discussion featuring four top literary agents sharing their expertise on how to land a book contract.

Panelists:

Sloan Harris has worked in the book department of International Creative Management for 16 years, specializing in narrative nonfiction and literary fiction. Clients include Jeffrey Goldberg, Hampton Sides, Doug Stanton, Susan Casey, George Pelecanos, James McManus, Anthony Lane, and Anthony Swofford, among others.

Dorian Karchmar is a literary agent at the William Morris Agency where she specializes in literary fiction and creative nonfiction. Clients include Jennifer Haigh, Eric Puchner, Dr. Sharon Moalem and Scott Heim.

Ayesha Pande launched Lyons & Pande International last fall with her partner Jennifer Lyons, and was previously an editor at Crown Publishers, HarperResource and Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Clients include Malaysian writer Preeta Samarasan as well Pakistani American writer Sheba Karim.

Ira Silverberg is a literary agent at Donadio & Olson. Prior to that, he worked in publishing in various capacities at Grove Weidenfeld, High Risk Books/Serpent’s Tail and Grove Press. Clients include Christopher Sorrentino, Rene Steinke, Kate Spade, Lawrence Chua, R. Zamora Linmark.

Quang Bao, Moderator, is the Executive Director of The Asian American Writers’ Workshop.

Click here to read the transcript of the panel