Writer’s block can manifest in various shapes and forms. For fiction writer Noelle Q. De Jesus, it has come in the unfortunate form of a pandemic, which she has also described to us as “a veritable lego land of procrastination”.
In an attempt to find balance in these uncertain times, Noelle has managed to uncover a few critical crucial techniques to tear down these blocks in order to finish her second novel, Another Immense Sky, which she developed during her time as one of the 2019/2020 Jalan Basar Writers-in-Residence. Set against the backdrop of political strife in the Philippines, the novel navigates complex family dynamics, love triangles, and what it means to be an artist and a responsible citizen, torn between the struggle to live the life one wants versus the life one actually gets.
NEW SKIES / NEW WORKS will feature excerpts of Noelle’s novel-in-progress, as well as an exploration into her own unique creative writing process amidst a still-unfolding global crisis. A Q&A segment will follow the discussion.
In light of the current circumstances, there will be no entry fee for this edition of NEW WORKS. We do however encourage you to make a donation to either Sing Lit Station. Every dollar counts!
Noelle Q de Jesus was born in Connecticut, raised and educated in the Philippines and has, since 2000, lived in Singapore, where she and her husband raised her daughter and son. She is the author of two collections of short fiction, Cursed and Other Stories (Penguin Random House SEA) launched at the SWF 2019, and Blood Collected Stories (Ethos Books Singapore) launched at SWF 2015, which also won the 2016 Next Generation Indie Award for the Short Story. A French translation of Blood Collected Stories will be coming out of Editions Do in the fall. She is currently at work on her first literary novel, Another Immense Sky, and a volume of essays called Lessons From My Tennis Life. At the moment, she is also translating a Filipino novel into English for the Ateneo University Press called, For B or How Love Devastates Four Out Of Every Five Of Us by the Filipino novelist Ricky Lee. Noelle has an MFA in Fiction from Bowling Green State University.
VENUE: Via online broadcast
LINK: Coming soon
EVENT WEBSITE: Sing Lit Station (for registration)
DATE AND TIME
6 May 2020, 7.30pm-8.30pm