Becoming poets: Stories from Asia

Abstract

As English becomes more widely used around the world, it has also been increasingly adopted as a language for literary expression by writers who learnt it as an additional language. This is particularly so in post-colonial settings. Just as varieties of English have developed in different parts of the world, literatures in English with regional colour have also emerged. The corpus of literary writing in English in each location may vary according to how long a period English has been adopted as a language of education or its sociopolitical importance. Poetry seems to be one of the earliest types of writing to emerge in such contexts. The development of learners of English into poets writing in English is intriguing not only because it contributes to the understanding of the development of creative writing and literary communities but also because it can provide insights into how educators can help learners enjoy the learning of a language more. This seminar is part of a larger study of poets writing in English in five Asian locations, ten from each location, and presents the learning stories of four poets based on interview data. (The project is fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR, the People’s Republic of China, Project No. HKU 745908H).