Writing Co-Lab

Travel and food writing can go beyond the commercial spheres—there are many more stories that are worth discovering. Travel and food writings are foundational ways for us to document our past journeys, our connection with languages, places, and memories; it also brings us a chance to learn how best to write about the things and environments that once nourished us. 

During the 6-Week workshops, we’ll do generative writing exercises together, workshop one another’s piece, and read works from international writers such as Sanmao, Bryan Washington, Grace Talusan, Samanta Schweblin, Gabriela Wiener, Sulaiman Addonia, and more. We’ll also be reading together some short travel and food essays from lit mags such as Fare, Off Assignment, etc. It’ll be six sessions with all of us having fun exploring and writing together!

Each week, we’ll focus on reading 1-2 essays about travel or food that intersect with the theme of migration and home. Both emerging and established writers who work on different genres are welcomed. If you have your writings to be workshopped, or are just looking for a place to kickstart your work, this is the workshop for you. The goal for the 6 weeks is for us to generate more writings and to foster a safe writing community down the road. If you’re interested in the business side of writing and pitching, we’ll also include resources in the last two sessions.

About the Instructor

Jenna Tang is a Taiwanese writer and a translator who translates between Mandarin, French, Spanish, and English. Her translations and essays are published in The Paris Review, Lit Hub, Restless Books, Latin American Literature Today, AAWW, McSweeney’s, Catapult, Fare Magazine, and elsewhere. Her translations include works from Taiwanese feminist authors, Lin Yi-Han (Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise), Lâu Tsí-û (“Not Your Child”), Leah Yang, and more. She has given talks about translation, languages, and gender movements across 22 universities in the States, Canada, China, and Taiwan.

Student Testimonials

"Jenna Tang is doing incredible and important work as a translator and writer. She is so generous and always opens the door for others. Her work challenges the status quo and creates a space for resonant stories and writers to find many audiences and communities across languages and borders. She helps us see what is possible in the literary world and how to find our way toward it. I can't think of anyone I'd rather learn from more!" — K-Ming Chang, writer

“Jenna Tang works tirelessly and generously to promote literature in translation and to build community within the translation sphere. As a translator from Taiwan now based in the US, she moves fluidly between the cultures she translates from and to, probing the bounds of the English language and seeking out voices who have hitherto not received sufficient attention.” — Jeremy Tiang, translator

“Jenna is a thoughtful translator and creative spirit who works from multiple lineages and myriad inspirations, toggling between the minutest of details and big-picture issues in a text with ease. Warm and inquisitive, she's committed to community in all senses and brings passion and energy to every one of her endeavors.” — Mike Fu, Literary Translator of Sanmao’s Stories of the Sahara

“Jenna made each one of us feel valued and comfortable during class. She was a fantastic teacher, genuinely enthusiastic about the subject. Her thoughtfully-prepared class discussions were directly applicable to my translation practice, and I am now a better translator because of it.” — Former Student