March Poetry & Pie with Daniel Lee and Allison Alsup

Daniel W.K. Lee (李華強) is a third-generation refugee, queer, Cantonese American born in Kuching, Malaysia. He earned his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at The New School, and his debut collection of poetry, Anatomy of Want, was published by QueerMojo/Rebel Satori Press in 2019. Daniel makes New Orleans his home with his head-turning whippet Camden. Find out more about him at danielwklee.com or follow him: @strongplum on Instagram / @danielsaudade on Twitter.

Allison Alsup is an award-winning writer, teacher and editor. She holds an M.F.A. in Fiction from Emerson College. Her short stories have won multiple contests and appear, among other places, in the 2014 O’Henry Prize Stories and the U.K.‘s 2018 Manchester Fiction Prize shortlist; her non-fiction in Best Food Writing 2015. Her debut novel, Foreign Seed, is to be published next summer by Keylight Books, an imprint of Turner Publishing reserved for works believed to have cinematic potential.

As co-founder of the New Orleans Writers Workshop, Allison has taught a multitude of classes, helping hundreds of writers to hone their craft and achieve their creative writing goals–whether that be revising a story, seeking a first publication or applying to M.F.A. programs. She also mentors writers individually on projects ranging from short personal essays to full-length novels.

Allison firmly believes that engaging with creative expression, whether our own or that of others, not only serves to explore the human condition but is what defines the human condition.