Thursday 22 September

UCA Venue: Dining Hall

Venue: UCA Naryn Campus Lobby

By: Lucy Palmer

To write creatively is to enter a space of ‘not-knowing’, to become a nomad or traveler in one’s own internal landscape where ideas, memories, emotions converge into three unpredictable elements: language, the world, the self. Lucy Palmer “Whenever I go to the village, I feel my absence there.” (Anushervon Jumakhonov) For the last two years, students and faculty at UCA, as well as teachers from Naryn schools, have explored this inner landscape in a series of writings which illuminate, in new and surprising ways, ancient nomadic culture and its ongoing place in a post-digital world. “Veins drawing beautiful rivers, hairs drawing forests, muscles making relief and bones making picks.” Javohir Mirmastov This workshop by Lucy Palmer and will present original works focusing on the themes of survival, identity, time, space, and the elemental life read by the writers themselves. Participants will be taken to the lookout overlooking Naryn and, using localized sensory prompts, will create a short piece of creative work as the basis for a collaborative conference poem.

About Lucy Palmer

Lucy Palmer is Senior Lecturer of Communications and Media based at the Naryn campus. She is an award-winning journalist, memoir writer, editor and author of the acclaimed memoir, ”A Bird on My Shoulder,” published by Allen and Unwin. Palmer holds a Master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Wollongong, Australia and a BA in Film, Media, and Communications from the Polytechnic of Central London, UK.

Venue: Naryn Riverside (Gather in University of Central Asia Naryn lobby at 15.45 KGT to walk to the river)

UCA Venue: Dining Hall

UCA Venue: Marquee