Tag: Memory

Panel at #AWP26

Lana Spendl

At the AWP Conference in Baltimore, I organized and moderated a panel on memory as a borderland in immigrant narratives. The room was full, and when we opened for questions, hands flew up across the audience. We could only get to a few, but writers and editors rushed up afterwards to continue the conversation.

The panelists—Yang Huang, Samrat Upadhyay, Marianne Villanueva, and Olga Zilberbourg—brought histories spanning countries and an extraordinary range and depth. Together we explored how immigrant writers navigate memory that is fragmented, contested, and politically charged; how personal recollection intersects with collective history; and how storytelling across cultures demands both precision and humility about what language can and cannot carry. I’m deeply grateful to each of them for the generosity and care they brought to the conversation.

AWP always reminds me why these conversations matter. This panel was one of those moments I’ll carry with me.

Panel at #AWP26 in Baltimore

Lana Spendl

I was delighted to learn today that I and a few fellow writers have had a panel accepted for the AWP Conference in early March in Baltimore. Titled “Memory as Borderland in Immigrant Narratives: The Refuge & Burden of Remembering,” this conversation will explore how memory shapes identity across geographies in both fiction and creative nonfiction.

I’ll be moderating a group of writers whose work spans Nepal, the Philippines, China, and Russia. Together, we’ll examine memory as both refuge and burden and explore how memory intersects with migration, queerness, and reimagined ways of being.