Himalayan Literature Festival & Writers Workshop 2026
Malla Hotel, Kathmandu
30 May 2026
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
The Himalayan Literature Festival & Writers Workshop 2026 is delighted to present Tender Archive: Poetry as a Pathway to Healing, a two-hour generative workshop led by acclaimed poet Tina Chang.
In this two-hour generative workshop, we gather around the small sacred things that have traveled with us, a photograph tucked into a book, a letter weathered by time, a stone carried in a pocket, an object whose story hums with memory. These fragments become our entry points into language as we open our imagination toward mending the places that ache while embracing gratitude. You are invited to arrive exactly as you are, with enthusiasm and uncertainty, with your brightness and your shadow, with the stories you’ve told and the ones you have kept hidden. Through guided prompts, writing time, and thoughtful sharing, we allow poetry to hold what feels tender, unresolved, or newly felt. By the end of our two hours together, you’ll carry away new work, a fresh sense of creative possibility, and practical guidance for sustaining your writing life and building community wherever you are. All levels are welcome.
TINA CHANG is the author of the poetry collections Half-Lit Houses (2004) and Of Gods & Strangers (2011) and Hybrida (2019) and the forthcoming collection, LION (W.W. Norton, 2026). She is co-editor of the Norton anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond. Her poems have been published in journals such as Poetry, American Poet, McSweeney’s, The New York Times, and Ploughshares. She is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Laureate fellowship, as well as awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Poets & Writers, the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, among others. In 2010, she was named the first female Poet Laureate of Brooklyn and she served in this role for over a decade. Graduate of Columbia University, she is Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Binghamton University. She will serve as visiting professor at Harvard University in 2026.
Online Participation:
A limited number of virtual seats are available for those who wish to join remotely. To register or request more information, please contact:
Himalayan Literature Festival & Writers Workshop
hlfwwk2026@gmail.com
https://hlf.whitelotusbookshop.com/
