The current fraught socio-political climate is motivating writers to engage with social issues on the page. The personal is political, and the political is personal. In truth, the writer has long played a role as a witness, conscience, and predictor of social change. How do we write compellingly yet responsibly about social issues? By grappling with the social issues at the core of our stories and by harnessing the narrative elements of stories embedded in the social issues we care about.
We are thrilled to host Kavita Das, author of Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues, for a member-exclusive webinar about the relationship between the writer, reader, and subject, and how writers can think about applying the notions of context and narrative to their work. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in writing exercises that allow them to apply lessons on how they might balance doing justice to the issues they care about while telling a good story.
This is a member-exclusive event. If you are a member, please visit the member benefits page to access the registration link. Not a PEN America member? Join today!
Kavita Das is currently a Masters in Fine Arts candidate in creative nonfiction and screenwriting at Antioch University where she is the Eloise Klein Healy Scholar. Kavita writes about culture, race, gender, and their intersections. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, her work has been published in WIRED, CNN, Teen Vogue, Catapult, Fast Company, Tin House, Longreads, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Kenyon Review, NBC News Asian America, Guernica, Electric Literature, Colorlines, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Kavita’s second book Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues (Beacon Press, October 2022) is inspired by the Writing About Social Issues class she created and teaches. Her first book, Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar, was published by Harper Collins India in 2019. Kavita lives in her hometown of New York City and tries to keep up with the city that doesn’t sleep and her six-year-old. Find her on Instagram: @kavitadas, X: @kavitamix, and at kavitadas.com.