The internet offered up some unexpected loveliness tonight. Andrea Beltran (a poet I haven’t yet met) wrote notes from last year’s AWP conference in Seattle, in her blog post titled, “The emotional infrastructure of the world.” What can one say (in summation) after several days across the country with 13,000 other writers? I am grateful that Andrea included a few lines from the panel I moderated. It’s strange and humbling to find out that sometimes the words you need to read are your own.
Our panel, “Race and Belonging: Navigating the MFA Program as a Writer of Color,” convened on March 1st, 2014. It was the last day of the hectic conference, and two months before The New Yorker published Junot Diaz’ brilliant “MFA vs. POC” essay, which threw greater light and attention on a conversation many of us have had for years.
Writers Sejal Shah, Jon Pineda, Tim Seibles, and Crystal Williams at AWP 2014 in Seattle, post panel. We’re missing Eduardo C. Corral and panel organizer, Cathy Linh Che.
Here is the section of Andrea’s post that references our panel:
Race and Belonging: Navigating the MFA Program as a Writer of Color
“I sought diversity at the level of language.” – Eduardo C. Corral
“It’s important that we talk across our cultural lines.” – Tim Seibles
“It is your responsibility to find out what your writing is and write it.” – Sejal Shah
Read Andrea’s whole post here: The emotional infrastructure of the world.
I’m looking forward to AWP 2015 and hope to meet Andrea (and see you, reader) then.
Sejal Shah 
You must be logged in to post a comment.