E. Lily Yu Talks the Role of the Writer
Last Thursday, October 10, marked the first installment of the English Department’s Visiting Writers Series for the 2024–25 academic school year. For the event, Reed College was proud to welcome writer E. Lily Yu to read passages from her works aloud, give a lecture, and answer questions from those in attendance during the subsequent Q&A session. Yu’s works include On Fragile Waves, the poetic story of an Afghan family and their migration across several countries, as well as Jewel Box, which is a collection of Yu’s very best short stories. Her works often blur the lines between traditional genre conventions by incorporating elements of fantasy, sci-fi, and literary fiction, and have gone on to win many accolades, one example being her debut novel On Fragile Waves winning the Washington State Book Award in 2022.
The Visiting Writers Series is primarily coordinated by the faculty of the Creative Writing department and aims to bring in unique writers working predominantly with prose or poetry to enhance the literary activity and discussions on campus. While students taking creative writing courses may already have read certain works by the visiting writer and prepared several questions in advance, the event hosted in the Chapel is open to everyone, regardless of one’s major or current courses.
In response to the questions from the audience during the Q&A segment, Yu revealed a lot about her personal writing experience and her path to becoming a published author. Despite her success, Yu was quick to emphasize her difficulties with writing, ones that are likely to be relatable to writers no matter their experience. She spoke of the pressure from her parents, the constant rejection and revision of her work, the need for a day job to provide an income, and the years upon years of solitary work that goes into being a writer. However, Yu made a case that it was because of these challenges that she was able to develop her own authorial voice and perspective. To the many writers in the audience aspiring for success like that of herself, Yu advised them to embrace the external obstacles, rejection, and self-doubt. One’s passion and dedication to writing will propel them past even the most devastating and hopeless moments.
In addition to advice for aspiring writers, the audience learned about Yu’s influences and general views on literature. Throughout the event, Yu cited several writers as influences, favorites, or sometimes both. These writers include but are not limited to Gabriel García Márquez, Vladimir Nabokov, James Baldwin, Rudyard Kipling, and Geoffrey Chaucer. Although each of these writers was influential in some way to Yu, they were mostly brought up for different reasons and at different times, some in reference to specific parts of specific works and others to their overarching views on literature as a whole.
One of the more striking ideas presented by Yu related to craftsmanship and the role of the writer. She frequently mentioned the idea that the writer and the work are somewhat separate entities. Lamenting against writers who are unable to restrain their ego from imprinting itself upon the page, Yu spoke of the importance of making authorship invisible and how that is a result of excellent craftsmanship. She conjured the image of a sculptor and their sculpture, in that the sculpture already exists somewhere within the preexisting material object; it is only the sculptor’s job to remove the excess and reveal it.
With E. Lily Yu being the first visiting writer for the academic year, there are now two more to look forward to at later times. Kinsale Drake will be visiting on November 7 and Fernando Flores will be visiting on February 27. All installments of the Visiting Writers Series are hosted on a Thursday at 6:30pm in the Eliot Chapel. All are welcome and encouraged to attend!