Writing the “No Place” with Janika Oza

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Editor's Note

Writing the “No Place” with Janika Oza
Saturday, May 16
9 AM – 12 PM PT/ 12 PM – 3 PM ET
Online

This class explores how to write what Dorothy Allison called ‘the no place’ – a place that is real to you but unfamiliar to others, somewhere you must invent on the page. How do we begin to re-see the settings familiar to us so as to locate them on the page, and how do we enter them through language?

This class aims to reframe the writing of place with an awareness of the world, conscious that the shape of a place is dependent upon who is noticing it. Place, after all, is not just the setting but the body experiencing it—which means it is feelings, context, desire, and the atmosphere in which they all meld.

We’ll focus especially on the intersection between place and memory, drawing on readings by authors such as Alexander Chee and Edwidge Danticat. Through generative prompts and exercises, we’ll challenge ourselves to write familiar places with fresh perspectives and words. This workshop encourages creative exploration and is suitable for writers of both fiction and non-fiction at any stage.

Scholarship
The scholarship for this intensive has already been awarded.

BIO: Janika Oza is the author of the novel A History of Burning, winner of the 2024 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, a finalist for the 2024 Carol Shield’s Prize, and a New York Times Editor’s Choice. She is the winner of a 2022 O. Henry Award and her stories and essays have appeared in publications such as BOMB Magazine, Apartamento, and The Kenyon Review. Currently, she is the 2025 Writer-in-Residence at University of Toronto Scarborough.