Sabrin presented a paper entitled Flipping the Table: Creative Writing as Call to Action.
The conference is a one-day, in-person event that will include presentations, panels, and networking, featuring writers, academics, researchers, and publishing professionals including Professor Sunny Singh and Professor Deirdre Osborne. The conference will be an avenue to discuss inclusive approaches to teaching creative writing from around the world. You will also hear from celebrated writers such as Diana Evans and Leone Ross, and from agents and editors about whether British publishing has become more inclusive. A panel in partnership with the literary magazine Wasafiri will discuss the future of small magazines. The organisers, Dr Deepa Anappara and Farhana Shaikh, hope to create a network for academics, researchers, and writers of colour through this event, to continue these conversations after the conference
You can find more information here: https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2024/september/educating-susan-decolonisation-and-inclusivity-in-creative-writing-pedagogy-and-publishing
Flipping the Table: Creative Writing as Call to Action
Decolonisation is not about inviting writers of colour at the table. It is about flipping the
table and seeing what radical alternatives can be built. In this presentation I will talk
about the importance of using creative writing pedagogy as a space to empower
students into taking actions for the world they believe in. In academia, there is the
wrong conception that activism is not rigorous and that “commitment undermines
excellence in scholarly research” (Pappé, 2017, p. xiii). Instead, I argue that we – as
educators – and our students should not shy away from engagement with real world
issues, current news, and movements; on the contrary, we should transform the
creative writing classroom into a space for imagining and bringing about alternative
futures. In this presentation I will use examples from my classroom, my writing
practice, and my decolonial activism and research to look at things that have worked
so far and challenges we are facing. In particular, I will focus on decolonising
methodologies, indigenous practices both in writing and education, collective
emergent strategy, intersectional action and pleasure activism.