It's academic
Arizona Views
Sedona views!
On my way up the winding path to the small chapel, I stop for a moment taking in the view of Sedona with its spell-binding rock formations. Suffering from vertigo, my feet unsteady beneath me, I tightly grasp the tiny hand-rail as I reflect on a fruitful week. Together with my supervisor, Dr. Chandani Lokuge, and fellow PhD candidate Adib Khan, we’ve been attending a writers’ conference just a few hours away.
Looking out over the mountains, I feel grateful to have been given the chance to participate in this journey – a journey that started so adventurously on Friday the 13th where plane delays and cancellations had seen us arriving 24 hours later than schedule after a detour to Denver and sleeping on the airport lounge floor. It was a Friday that never seemed to end. Luckily the frustrating start to our trip was not a herald of things to come!
Outside Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative
As part of the recently instigated exchange between Arizona State University and the Centre for Postcolonial Writing at Monash, we participated in the Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers’ Conference held in the beautiful Piper Writers House at ASU’s Virginia G. Piper Centre for Creative Writing. The conference provided the opportunity to listen to other writers, such as Percival Everett’s inspiring fiction class, “Navigating Fictive Distance.” Other seminars that made an impression included a roundtable discussion on publishing and several readings, such as those of poet Kazim Ali and fiction writer Erin McGraw. The keynote readings on the first day by poet A. Van Jordan and dramatic writer Tania Katan, also generated much interest and passionate debate.
We did more than take part in the conference, however. Several representatives from other institutions at ASU gave generously of their time, such as the English and Women’s Studies department. A great interest for Australia characterised many of these informal meetings. It was also very enjoyable to meet up with the students coming to Melbourne later this year as part of the exchange, who, despite being very busy with the conference, still took time out to discuss their forthcoming visit.
The personal highlight for me though, was to contribute to the conference and it was reassuring to learn from the experienced members of the panel, Dr Lokuge and Adib Khan, both of whom were very generous and supportive in their advice. We held a seminar called “Lost Places, New Discoveries: Crafting Fictions of Memory, Translation, Diaspora” which was very well received. A fruitful discussion followed with the audience - many of whom had great experience in this field themselves. “Why do you write in English?” was a question I particularly enjoyed receiving as this forms a part of my exegesis. In the second session “Global Perspectives: Australian Voices” we discussed Australian writing and read from our creative work. It was a most encouraging and inspiring day to receive such interest, not only in Australian writing in general, but also in us personally as writers.
Chapel of the Red Rocks, Sedona
During the trip I also benefited from the many informal sessions with my fellow travelers. For instance, as I shared a chai-tea in a desolate shopping mall with my supervisor, a new direction for a chapter on Swedish influences was emerging after having unexpectedly come across Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmmer’s collected works earlier that day in the mall.
With wobbly feet, spinning head and a familiar wave of nausea from vertigo not getting any better, I finally manage – with some help - to walk the last few metres to the chapel. The chapel’s glass covered wall has a breathtaking view over the humbling rock formations formed long before humans encountered them. I light a candle for people lost and remembered next to the altar. As we walk down the path to the waiting bus, I know I would like to come back one day with more time to explore the area. But for now, I am most happy to return to Australia and continue working away on my thesis: refreshed, renewed and not so high above the ground!
