Mail Code HA
Uzma Aslam Khan
Emily Dickinson Hall 16
413.559.6074
On leave of absence spring 2023.
Uzma Aslam Khan, associate professor of fiction writing, received an M.F.A in creative writing from the University of Arizona.
Uzma is the author of five novels translated worldwide to critical acclaim. These include Trespassing, nominated for the Commonwealth Prize in 2003; The Geometry of God, a Kirkus Reviews’ Best Book of 2009; and Thinner than Skin, nominated for the Man Asian Literary Prize and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2014. Her short fiction has twice won a Zoetrope: All Story Short Fiction Prize, and appeared in Granta, The Massachusetts Review, Nimrod International Journal of Poetry and Prose, AGNI, and Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women. Her non-fiction has appeared in the Guardian, Counterpunch, Drawbridge, Herald and Dawn, among other national and international periodicals and journals, on topics that include women and the arts, U.S. foreign policy, racism and Islamophobia, particularly in representations of Muslim women.
Uzma’s newest novel, The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali, is out now in the US. Set in the British penal settlement of the Andaman Islands during the 1930s, through the Japanese occupation during the Second World War, the book, twenty-seven years in the making, writes into being the stories of those caught in the vortex of history, yet written out of it. Central to the novel, then, are questions of whose histories we believe, elevate, celebrate—and whose we erase. The questions are central also to Uzma’s teaching. Her courses offer a global perspective on creative writing and literature, existing at the intersection of art, history, racial justice, and environmental justice, with an emphasis on communities displaced by colonialism and war.
Uzma has taught in Morocco, Pakistan, and Hawai’i. She joined Hampshire College in Fall 2012.
Our course's focus is on everything food-its cultivation, consumption, culture, care, and more. We'll read and write both fiction and creative non-fiction, along the way exploring what we eat, what we eat eats, with whom we eat, what we know of where our food comes from, and what foods we do not have access to, or have forgotten. All to better appreciate, in the words of Vandana Shiva, "Eating as a conversation with other living beings." Students will be asked to incorporate research into their projects, and fully embrace the revision process, as a way to explore fresh perspectives on one of our most diverse cultural practices and pleasures. The themes could encompass lineage, race, class, gender, hospitality, agriculture, colonialism, hunger, environmental justice, sexuality/sensuality, and more. Students will also be invited to bring to our class supplementary material (written or visual), including recipes. In addition to creative writing, course requirements will include keeping up with the reading, regular attendance, in-class presentations and participation, and a thorough commitment to the work of your peers. NOTE: ALL students-including those on the Waitlist-MUST attend the first day of class in order to secure a seat. Keywords: creative writing workshop, food writing, food culture, food justice.
Ideal for Div I and Div II students, this course's focus will be on recognizing, analyzing, and developing different narrative techniques of the short story. Each technique will be studied individually, as well as in relation to the work as a whole. As David Lodge writes in The Art of Fiction, "Effects in fiction are plural and interconnected, each drawing on and contribution to all the others." We will take apart these "effects" in order to better appreciate how they are linked, both when reading and writing. In addition to creative writing, course requirements will include keeping up with the reading, regular attendance, in-class presentations and participation, and a thorough commitment to the work of your peers. NOTE: ALL students-including those on the Waitlist-MUST attend the first day of class in order to secure a seat. Keywords: creative writing workshop, short story, craft.
This is a creative writing workshop in which students will read and create comics, with an emphasis on comics rooted in autobiographical stories and/or narratives of displacement. Because comics are primarily a visual medium, as much time will be spent considering the visual and artistic choices of the creators as discussing their thematic elements. The same is true for your own work, which will be workshopped for its visual as much as written inventiveness. It doesn't matter if you cannot draw well! Lots of "professional" comics artists are limited in their visual skills. What matters is that you learn to see what these artists are doing, through trying it yourself. In other words, what matters is your devotion to a steady learning practice. In addition to creating comics, course requirements will include keeping up with the reading, regular attendance, in-class presentations and participation, and a thorough commitment to the work of your peers. Please note: This class is not suited to students with an interest in superhero comics. Though superhero comics continue to dominate the form, NO superhero comics will be read, accepted, or workshopped in this class. Also note: Students MUST attend the first class in order to keep their seats.
This is an intermediate-advanced creative writing course ideal for Division II and Division III students, particularly those with a passion for exploring transitions, both chosen and unchosen, as an engine for beautiful expressions of art. It will also appeal to those wanting to explore how movement is controlled, and who controls it. We will look at writers who embrace these themes in different contexts. For instance, in the context of those profiled for their race, religion, or sexual orientation. Those who are refugees dislocated by wars, colonialism, climate change, poverty, and pandemics. Those who relocate by choice, say for work or education. "Movement" may be from one country to another; one identity to another; entering a groundbreaking career; a change in physical ability; a change in diet (becoming vegan?). The focus will be on critical reading, as well as on creating your own original works of fiction (and narrative non-fiction). In addition to a love of creative writing, course requirements will include keeping up with all the reading, regular attendance, in-class presentations and participation, and a thorough commitment to the work of your peers. NOTE: Though the course is not by instructor permission, students MUST attend the first class in order to keep their seat.
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This is an intermediate/advanced-level creative writing course, ideal for both Div II and Div III students, including those new to historical fiction. Through reading and writing historical fiction in a range of styles and from a range of places, we will look at how fictional characters are shaped by history. What are the tools writers use to create their characters, and are these tools any different from those used to construct characters in a contemporary setting? Equally, how do we talk about character in historical fiction? Are we looking for a portrayal that in some way complements our understanding of a time and place, one that challenges it-or both, often at the same time? These are among the lively, illuminating questions we will aim to tackle in the course. The focus will be on critical reading and writing, and from there we will move to creative writing, for which you will need to do research, all while keeping in mind that you are not writing a textbook but a narrative. Fact checking the background of your character(s) by doing some basic homework while at the same time remaining true to your imaginings is one of the many challenges we'll embrace. NOTE: Though the course is not by instructor permission, students MUST attend the first of class in order to keep their seats. (keywords: creative writing, historical fiction, history)
