Join me in this live, two-hour conversation with Matthew Zapruder and discover the Five Things I’ve Learned about the ways that following an unconventional path can be a surprising source of creative inspiration and innovation.
Hi, my name is Victoria Chang. I’m the author of seven books of poetry and the nonfiction book, Dear Memory: Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief, as well as several children’s books. My latest book of poems is With My Back to the World, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2024. It received the Forward Prize in Poetry.
I have a bit of an unusual background in that I was an East Asian Studies major in college, have a masters in East Asian Studies, but then also went to business school at Stanford, worked in consulting, banking, and marketing, then eventually returned to school for an MFA in poetry. Now I’m the Bourne Chair of poetry and a professor at Georgia Tech and the Director of Poetry@Tech.
I used to think that there were all sorts of things wrong with me, my approach, my constant switching of majors, but decades later, I see the benefits of living in the world in a horizontal versus a vertical way. This way of living, thinking, studying, perceiving, has really opened up the possibilities in my mind and in my creative work. This way of “majoring in everything” and being interested in everything, has allowed me to bring all sorts of experiences and perspectives into my creative life.
I’ve met interesting people in all fields, had innumerable interesting conversations, and read just about everything from art history to philosophy to poetry to fiction to nonfiction. I’ve found that not having preconceived notions of what creativity, poetry, or literature is or should be, has expanded my mind and opened up the possibilities for me in writing as well. Of course, I’ve studied literature, even completing a few years in a Ph.D. program in literature and creative writing, but I’ve come to believe in living a full and horizontal life to be essential to my own creativity. I’ve found inspiration in the most unusual places, even in the field of investment banking.
In terms of the actual practice of writing, I think my varied experiences in life have enabled me to remake or reinvent traditional forms, or write about atypical subject matter, or create hybrid forms if existing forms didn’t feel quite right for my subject matter.
I’d love for you to join me for my upcoming session with my friend, Matthew Zapruder. Five Things I’ve Learned about Creativity by Being an Outsider will focus on the ways not following a conventional path in practice or life, can be a surprising source of creative inspiration and innovation.
About Victoria Chang
Victoria Chang’s latest book of poems, With My Back to the World was published in 2024 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and Corsair Books in the U.K., and received the Forward Prize for Best Collection of Poetry, and was named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Guardian, Lithub, and Electric Literature. Her most recent book of poetry, The Trees Witness Everything was published by Copper Canyon Press and Corsair Books in the U.K. in 2022, and was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by the New Yorker and The Guardian.
Her nonfiction book, Dear Memory (Milkweed Editions), was published in 2021 and was named a favorite nonfiction book of 2021 by Electric Literature and Kirkus. OBIT (Copper Canyon Press, 2020), her book of poems, was named a New York Times Notable Book, a Time Must-Read Book, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. It was also longlisted for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. She has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the Chowdhury Prize in Literature. She serves as the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech and as the Director of Poetry@Tech. Her poems have been translated into many languages including Italian, Chinese, Spanish, Romanian, and Dutch.
You and a guest could win two tickets to the class of your choice.