Ms. Wen Zhen is a famous female young writer in China. Cheng Yu Tung College invited her as Writer-in-Residence from 19th October to 24th October, 2017. During this period, she delivered a lecture and 2 creative writing workshops, sharing her views on literary creation with students and teachers.

In the evening of 23th October, her lecture “The Self and the World”, attracted 60 audience and was received with hearty round of applause. Wen Zhen talked about her uneasy childhood and the tense relationship with her grandma. Those stories made her become more attentive and sensitive and they also affected her writing. Writing is her comfort, for her self-reflection and is her life. She never thought of stopping writing or writing for whom on purpose. She was very grateful when she realized her words could comfort people too.

 

The workshops were also successful. In the creative writing workshops, Wen Zhen tutored 7 young students’ literary writing (about 20 pieces of works) carefully and exchanged opinions with them. She taught them about designing plot, characterization and asked them to practice by telling a 5-min story impromptu within 10-min preparation. Wen Zhen’s sharing was unconventional and helpful. In addition, her erudition, sense of humor and affable manner truly impressed students.

Ms. Wen Zhen was born in the 80’s and she was the first MA graduate in Creative Writing in Beijing University. She was the youngest writer who received the Lao She Literary Award in 2014, by her work “The Love Story on Anxiang Road”. Lao She Literary is one of the most important literary awards in China and Wen Zhen was the youngest among the recipients. Another work “The Last Night We Were Together” was honored with Annual Young Writer Award of Chinese Literature Media Awards.