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  • © 2022

Writing the Multicultural Experience

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Offers a course design that combines the study of literature with the practice of creative writing

  • Presents writing prompts focused on exploring the multicultural experience

  • Highlights the specific concerns of diverse writers

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Table of contents (20 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
  2. For Teachers: Designing the Course

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 11-19
  3. Identity

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 27-38
  4. Place

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 39-49
  5. Perception

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 51-61
  6. Family

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 63-74
  7. Community

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 75-86
  8. Encounters

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 87-97
  9. Inheritance

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 99-110
  10. Resistance

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 111-122
  11. Self-Designed Assignment

    • Pauline Kaldas
    Pages 123-137
  12. The Curriculum: How I Learned to Be a Writer

    • Susan Muaddi Darraj
    Pages 143-148
  13. The Eternal Gain That Is Translation

    • Khaled Mattawa
    Pages 167-169
  14. Loosening the Collars

    • Rebecca Balcárcel
    Pages 171-177
  15. A Mapmaker’s Journey

    • Lisa Suhair Majaj
    Pages 179-184

About this book

This textbook takes a new approach to teaching creative writing that centers the concerns of multicultural students. It focuses on the experiences of those who wish to write through their diverse identities, including ethnic, cultural, racial, national, regional, and international identity as well as gender identity, sexual preference, class position, and disability. Combining the study of culturally diverse literature with the process of writing, students are encouraged to engage with various texts and to use them to inspire their own work. Organized around a series of writing prompts and discussions of literary readings that address identity, place, perception, family, community, encounters, inheritance, and resistance, this book offers both writers and teachers a way to engage with the practice of writing from a multicultural perspective.

Keywords

  • Multicultural Education
  • Literature and Postcolonial Studies
  • Creativity
  • Race
  • Ethnic identity
  • Writing exercises
  • Diversity
  • Narrative perspective
  • Literary readings
  • Teaching

Reviews

“This is a timely and original contribution to the field, a valuable and much needed textbook that advocates for inclusion and diversity of practice, and advocates for and allows space for other voices in the predominantly white creative writing space. It remedies the issue of the silencing of writers of colour and speaks to the direct needs of multicultural writers.” (Paul Williams, Deputy Head of School (Research) and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia)

“The prompts in this textbook are carefully and richly imagined.  Professor Kaldas has taken the notion of the writing exercise and infused it with a heightened sensitivity to the needs and challenges of the multicultural experience. These exercises are designed to ignite not only creativity, but also useful conversations around culture and identity.” (Marcia Douglas, Professor in the Department of English, University of Colorado, USA)

“This is an important and timely textbook for teachers and students of Creative Writing who would like to bring a strong multicultural approach and experience to all aspects of their workshop practice. It’s full of excellent practical advice, writing exercises and references. A much needed addition to the field of Creative Writing teaching and pedagogy.” (Ardashir Vakil, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK)



Authors and Affiliations

  • Hollins University, Roanoke, USA

    Pauline Kaldas

About the author

Pauline Kaldas is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Hollins University, USA. She is author of Looking Both Ways (2017), The Time Between Places (2010), Letters from Cairo (2007), and Egyptian Compass (2006) and co-editor of two Arab American anthologies, Beyond Memory (2020) and Dinarzad’s Children (2009).    

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 24.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 32.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access