Panel Discussion: Writing in a Second Language
This panel discussion covers the topic of authors who have started writing in new languages or have moved to different countries during their writing career. Nico Graf, orginally from Luxembourg, lives in Germany. He says that he has always written in German. He says that while the language in his writing has become more and more German, his themes have become increasingly Luxembourgian. Gagan Gill discusses India’s many different languages and cultures. She has written in Punjabi but now writes in Hindi; she says this is a “chosen exile” from her own language. Jérôme Carlos says that while he speaks and writes in French, his landscape is still an African one. Samira Al-Mana, an Iraqi native living in London since 1965, talks about the political conflict going on in Iraq at the time. She says that she sees herself as both an exile and immigrant; she still feels personally connected to her home country despite how complicated that connection.
In: International Writing Program Archive | Translation
Authors: Samira Al-Mana , Gagan Gill, Nico Graf
Date Recorded: January 01, 1990
Program: --
Format: discussion
Contributors: Clark Blaise
Topics: national identity; writing in non-native language; separateness of small countries; contemporary Arabic literature; Arab culture
Note: Month and Day are unknown.