Jean Kwok, award-winning and international and New York Times bestselling author, will give a master class for us on Sunday, 31 October 2021 from 15:00 – 16:30 Amsterdam time (remember the daylight saving time change that day!). This course will take place online.

Note: If you are currently enrolled in one of our 6- or 8-week core courses, don’t forget to use your members’ discount code when you register to receive 25% off. You will have received it by email when you registered.

We’ll be discussing topics such as writer’s block, plotting and publishing, as well as craft decisions that went into Jean’s most recent novel, Searching for Sylvie Lee. This master class will be moderated by teacher Jennifer Gryzenhout and consist of an interview followed by breakout sessions where you’ll get a chance to ask Jean your questions.

To get the most out of this class, we recommend that you read Searching for Sylvie Lee in advance. The novel is a mystery, family saga and immigrant story wrapped in one. The book is widely available. If you’re based in Amsterdam, you can purchase a copy at Boekhandel van Rossum.

ABOUT THESE TEACHERS

Jean Kwok is the award-winning author of Girl in Translation, Mambo in Chinatown and Searching for Sylvie Lee. Her work has been published in twenty countries and is taught in schools across the world. Searching for Sylvie Lee was a Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club pick, a Belletrist pick, and an instant New York Times bestseller. Jean has been selected for numerous honors, including the American Library Association Alex Award, the Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award, an Orange New Writers title and the Sunday Times Short Story Award international shortlist. She immigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn when she was five and worked in a Chinatown clothing factory for much of her childhood. She received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and earned an MFA from Columbia University.

Jennifer Gryzenhout is a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction from Calgary, Canada. She teaches English literature at the International School of Amsterdam and creative writing with the Collective. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. She has short stories published in Ink Tears and The Avalon Literary Review, and is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize nomination.

ABOUT OUR MASTER CLASS SERIES

In this series, working writers talk tips, tricks and techniques with a focus on a single novel or collection. The classes are conducted in an interview format with plenty of room for questions. Check out our podcast archive to listen to recordings of previous Master Classes with writers such as A.M. Homes, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction; Kristen Roupenian, author of the viral short story “Cat Person”; and Jennifer Clement, PEN International president.