Dr. Sharleen Mondal. Associate Professor of English, recently participated in the online VONA workshop "Revision Strategies: From Expression to Art" with M. Evelina Galang.
VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation) is the only multi-genre workshop for writers of color. VONA centers and honors the traditions and aesthetics of writers of color to provide a space for their work and learning. Through our focus on this expanded definition of craft, VONA fosters the open and honest expression of personal and political writing often marginalized almost everywhere else. Our organization and writing classes engage the work of social justice and build a global community of writers of color.
Dr. Mondal shares her experience in the workshop below.
Q: What was the structure and content of the workshop and how long did it last?
A: This year the VONA summer workshop could not happen in person in Miami as planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The normally week-long workshop was condensed into an online 3.5-day intensive, conducted through Zoom and Slack, that included panels, faculty readings, a Restorative Justice and Healing Circle, a lounge for socializing with other writers, craft sessions, daily workshops with one’s instructor, and a final reading/presentation.
My instructor, M. Evelina Galang, organized a superb and rigorous self-workshop format because the condensed timeline did not permit for a traditional workshop in which writers read and offer feedback on one another’s work. Evelina guided us through a series of detailed exercises to evaluate conflict, plot, and character in our manuscripts. We brought back insights about these exercises to our discussions in addition to exploring how authors like James Baldwin navigate such issues in their own work. I also had the opportunity to have a one-on-one session with Evelina that was very helpful for discussing broader issues in my novel. In addition to working on craft and revision in our own writing, we read and discussed pieces by Roxane Gay and Edwidge Danticat as a way to reflect on our origin stories and cultural/historical inheritance as writers. These essays also prompted us to think about how we can navigate a literary and cinematic landscape that has historically devalued and dehumanized people of color and continues to do so.
Q: What were your goals for the experience and how did the workshop help you achieve them?
A: My goals were two-fold. First, I wanted to gain insight on both the manuscript I was workshopping and the larger project of which that manuscript is one chapter. Evelina’s detailed exercises helped me to see where and how I might revise that chapter and our individual meeting helped me resolve some questions I had about the novel as a whole.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, I wanted to be present and open to the VONA experience which is singular and transformative (even through Zoom!). I have wanted to do VONA for a few years, but it is quite competitive and I was not accepted the first time I applied. I have had few opportunities to be in spaces specially designed for writers of color, foregrounding the kinds of issues we face and amplifying our voices and stories. To participate in such a workshop would be deeply meaningful at any time, but to do so this summer, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the powerful social movements around racial justice happening at this time, was truly extraordinary.
Furthermore, even before the summer, the literary landscape has been changing in pivotal ways, with more honest conversations happening around publishing and compensation for writers of color - for instance, the #DignidadLiteraria movement and its highly successful actions as well as the information revealed by the #PublishingPaidMe conversation. To be part of the generation of emerging writers coming into their stories and themselves in this moment is something special and to be in community with one another at such a time was a kind of collective holding open of a precious and sacred space.
Being a VONA alum comes with a serious responsibility to move not only oneself, but other writers of color forward. This mantle that we carry is lifelong and it is an honor that I am now one of this esteemed group. There are countless examples of VONA alum bringing about profound changes – social changes, changes in readers’ perceptions and understanding, and changes in the lives of other writers through mentorship and fellowship. The Foundation teaches and models what it means to write a revolution in our hearts and in our world and it was incredible to be part of the VONA summer workshop experience.
Being a VONA alum comes with a serious responsibility to move not only oneself, but other writers of color forward. This mantle that we carry is lifelong and it is an honor that I am now one of this esteemed group. There are countless examples of VONA alum bringing about profound changes – social changes, changes in readers’ perceptions and understanding, and changes in the lives of other writers through mentorship and fellowship. The Foundation teaches and models what it means to write a revolution in our hearts and in our world and it was incredible to be part of the VONA summer workshop experience.
Congratulations, Dr. Mondal!
