In today’s fast-paced world, writing can sometimes be an act of courage — to pause, to be honest with oneself, and to choose to tell a truth.

 

The workshop “Living Authentically, Writing Truthfully” led by writer and Associate Professor Dr. Ngô Văn Giá invites you to slow down and live wholeheartedly — to be genuine in your feelings and reflections, with yourself and with life. Only when we are honest with our words, with the act of writing itself, can we truly write.

​

Writing is also a way to look inward — not to judge, but to understand. Through that understanding, we can begin to name our most authentic emotions.

 

The journey of writing often begins with something simple yet profound: the courage to live truthfully, and to write with sincerity.

There are moments we’ve lived through, yet never truly understood. There are emotions that came and quietly passed, simply because we weren’t gentle enough to reach for them.
Writing is the way back — a way to listen deeply and relive, fully and honestly, the things we once thought were gone.

With over 20 years of experience in teaching and creative writing, author Nguyen Phan Que Mai will guide and inspire you — whether you wish to explore poetry, prose, or to write in English or Vietnamese. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a nearly complete piece to present to the class, and the opportunity to be recognized with an award for outstanding work from the organizers.
Bring your questions, your doubts, and your creative longings. Together with Quế Mai, you’ll explore your own creative path — and begin to sketch the journey toward your dreams.

Have you ever come up with a great story—only to sit down and not know how to write it? Or perhaps you managed to write it, but it just didn’t feel as powerful as it did in your mind? Maybe something felt… off? One major reason this happens is because we haven’t yet found our own writing voice.
Finding the voice that truly fits you is like discovering the perfect outfit for a literary celebration — one that lets you move comfortably and confidently through the world of storytelling. If it’s too tight or too loose, it just doesn’t feel right.

Inspired by the title of Schiller’s poem “Beautiful world, where are you” — famously set to music by Franz Schubert — this workshop invites you to search for, refine, and expand the range of your unique voice. No beautiful literary world can be built without it. But where does one begin the search for a writing voice? The answer is not difficult — but it’s far from easy.

Inspired by the idea of the symposium — the philosophical feasts of ancient Greece — this gathering is more than just a conversation.It’s a space where knowledge, personal experience, and quiet reflection are placed on the table — offered up honestly, and received deeply.

As profound questions brush against the self and reflections spark from one mind to another, you’ll nibble on a few finger foods while sipping on thoughts of “Who am I?” — in the true spirit of a philosophical banquet: light nourishment for the body, rich dialogue for the soul. Together with other young minds, you’ll begin to sketch the map of your own identity through:

• Asking reflective questions — holding a mirror to one another

• Using lived experience as a lens to better understand yourself

• Reading and contemplating select philosophical excerpts