Yan Ge: Fiction Writing with Mythology

Have you heard of the story of the hero who killed nine Suns or his wife who fled to the moon? Are you familiar with the tale of the philosopher who dreamt of butterflies or the non-binary god, anthropomorphized from a lotus? In this workshop, you will seek inspiration from literary archetypes in Chinese mythology and carry out various literary experiments where you will reinterpret, deconstruct and incorporate these images into your own writing.

You will close-read and analyse texts from The Classic of Mountains and Seas and discuss the narrative means which were used in 4th century China: can we tell these stories more dexterously, applying instead modern narrative techniques? Or will we become better storytellers if we return to our pre-modern innocence and develop a piece of fiction using ancient artistry?

Yan Ge is a fiction writer in both Chinese and English. The English translation of her novel Strange Beasts of China was a New York Times Notable Book of 2021. Her English language debut short story collection Elsewhere is coming out via Faber (UK) and Scrinber (US) in 2023. She lives in Norwich with her husband and son.

Author photo credit: Joanna Millington.