When they met in Shanghai in a sunny April il writer Sun Wei told National President Dave Bromwich she will be looking for more stories for her “Mirror” series when she takes up her two-month residency as the fourth Rewi Alley Fellow at the Michael King Writers Centre in Auckland’s Devonport in September.
Sun Wei has set herself a target of 52 interconnecting stories that take place in different parts of the world. She’s already written nine during her periods as writer in residence at eight different countries since 2011.
“The series is about people’s search for the truth of what the world is and the eternal question — Who am I”
Dave says Sun Wei is a very enthusiastic and passionate. She said New Zealand is her ‘“dreamland”. They discussed the diversity of people she will meet in Auckland and the opportunity she will have ‘mirror’ their stories. For more detail about Sun Wei, her full CV is here.
The Rewi Alley Fellowship is supported by the Deng Fund. In a reciprocal arrangement New Zealand writers may apply next year for an equivalent residency at the 2020 Shanghai International Literary Festival.
Just a week before Sun Wei arrives in September, Auckland branch will help host a panel discussion around Elspeth Sandys’ new book A Communist in the Family: Searching for Rewi Alley at the Devonport Library on Tuesday August 27. Panellists will include former Ambassador to China John McKinnon and Rewi biographer Geoff Chapple. Elspeth’s travel to China in 2017 to research her book was supported by the Deng Fund.
Applications for the seventh round of the Deng Fund open on September 1.
