Published: December 2010
For three days in November (9–11), novelist and short story writer Gish Jen (Mona in the Promised Land; World and Town) joined Boston College as University writer in residence. Jen delivered a Lowell Humanities lecture, taught a master class in English professor Elizabeth Graver’s writing workshop, held an open, book club–style discussion of World and Town, and met seniors in the creative writing concentration for lunch. During English professor Min Song’s Asian-American literature class in Gonzaga 232, she fielded questions from students:
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“Fingers must be moving”
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“I had never been to a funeral”
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“Social life, professional life, family life”
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“It forms itself as I go”
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“The day comes”
Q: How structured are you in your writing?
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Q: What inspired you to become a writer?
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Q: You’re not just a writer, you also have a family and kids. Could you talk about what it was like to try to balance those things?
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Q: Before you start writing a novel, when you have the idea in your head, do you become overwhelmed by how much you want to say?
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Q: For me, it takes forever to write a sentence that I’m happy with. Are you the same way?
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