National Day on Writing

@LaGuardia Community College

What is the National Day on Writing?

The National Day on Writing, begun under the auspices of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), is a day to celebrate writing — no matter where, why, or how we write! This year, the celebration will take place on Wednesday, October 20, 2021.

How are we celebrating in 2021?

We’ll have a Zoom celebration from 5-6:30 pm on Wednesday, October 20, where students, faculty, and staff will get to participate in a life writing workshop with author Anna Qu as well as share their responses to this year’s writing prompt:

In her essay “A Map of Lost Things” Jamila Osman writes, “Where are you from? People still ask me, but the answer is not simple. I am from a place beyond the scope of any map or road atlas. I am from a house of borrowed things, a land of irreconcilable and devastating losses, a terrain marked by grief. I am from nomads who moved in search of water, carving a home wherever they ended up like water carves its shape into rock. I am from a wild hope, a blinding courage, a blur and madness uncharted by any cartographer. I am from a land unmapped and entirely my own.” Where are YOU from?

We’ll also have pre-recorded author readings, activities, interviews, and prompts posted and shared in the days leading up to the event and available afterwards, so we can keep writing and celebrating in October and beyond!

Join the Celebration

Register for the life writing Zoom workshop and Q&A with author Anna Qu, followed by readings of our responses to the shared prompt. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with the prompt and instructions on how to join the meeting.

Register here!

About Anna Qu

Anna Qu is a Chinese American writer. She writes personal essays on identity and growing up in New York as an immigrant. Her work has appeared in Poets & Writers, Lithub, Threepenny Review, Lumina, Kartika, Kweli, Vol.1 Brooklyn, and Jezebel, among other publications. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Sarah Lawrence College.  

Anna serves as the Nonfiction Editor at Kweli Journal, and teaches at the low res MFA program at New England College, Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, and Catapult.

To learn more about Anna and her work, check out the following publications and podcasts:

For Asian Women Raised in Sweatshop Conditions, Queens Posed Obstacles to Assimilation (The New York Times Book Review, Sept. 19, 2021)

Writing Against the American Dream: Anna Qu Interviewed by Yoojin Na (BOMB Magazine, Aug. 10, 2021)

The Real Reason Anna Qu Wants You to Pay Attention to Praise (Electric Lit, Sept. 28, 2021)

Immigrantly Podcast

Dear Asian Americans Podcast 

Otherppl with Brad Listi

With Thanks

The Directors of LaGuardia’s Writing Program, Allia Abdullah-Matta, Jacqueline Jones and Dominique Zino, would like to thank the following people and campus organizations for their support for the 2021 National Day on Writing:

The LaGuardia Women’s Center, especially Nathan Tosh and Deema Bayrakdar;

The Multicultural Exchange within the Office of Campus Life at LaGuardia, which consists of two peer mentoring programs: the Black Male Empowerment Cooperative (BMEC), a project of the CUNY Black Male Initiative (BMI) and CREAR Futuros (College Readiness, Achievement and Retention), an initiative of Hispanic Federation and CUNY, with special thanks to Rachel Romain, Student Life Manager for BMEC & CREAR Futuros;

The organizers of previous National Day on Writing celebrations, especially Bethany Holmstrom, who designed this website and led the 2020 celebration, Carrie Connors, Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez, and the faculty members of the English Department’s Creative Writing Committee, whose contributions we have leaned on as we continue the tradition of bringing students, faculty, and staff together to celebrate the various roles writing plays in our lives.