Sherry Zhang (Xue Li Zhang) is very softly, gently, tiptoeing her way back to creative writing.
The second-generation Chinese-New Zealander has been working in journalism as the kaiwāwahi/editor at arts and culture journal The Pantograph Punch, and has interned in newsrooms such as The Spinoff and Bloomberg News. She also received the Metro Mag x Deadly Ponies Feature Writing Scholarship.
"I used to write a lot, was really enjoying journalism, doing personal essays. Then, I think, got a little bit burnt out or had to figure out my relationship with writing again."
Editing Pantograph Punch provided that break from writing, but then it went into indefinite hiatus earlier this year and Zhang found herself at a crossroads.
"I think we’re all mourning that. And I was trying to see that it also was a silver lining, of the universe being ‘it’s also time for you to try to write your own things, write the things you want to write’."
With the encouragement of Ruby Macomber, this year’s New Zealand Writers’ Fest curator whom she works with at Te Kāhui, a rōpū facilitating equitable arts opportunities in Corrections and communities, Zhang applied for the festival’s residency programme.
"I’d been looking for opportunities to try and learn how to write and upskill and learn craft or just have space to think about writing, maybe trying to write, and connect up with other young writers and being in the [writing] community."
When she has written in the past, she has always enjoyed exploring the intersection of gender and sexuality and culture in all its different facets.
"But I’ve also at times felt the tension of being boxed in.
"And sometimes there’s only certain kinds of stories you can tell with those lenses. So I guess I’m trying to also delve into the full breadth of the kinds of stories maybe someone who comes from a family like mine or looks like me can write. And they can be silly stories or revenge fantasies or, you know, like, angry stories, sad stories, but also joyful stories."
That is the theme of one of her workshops for the festival, Writing Beyond Tragedy, with Joseph Trinidad (Filipino).
Now settling into Robert Lord Cottage for the month, Zhang is trying to negotiate the transition from the comfort of journalism to creative writing.
"It’s like piecing all the puzzles together and then trying to write fiction ... Like, it’s so endless, the possibilities.
"I’m OK with having no idea and being a little bit terrified, I think. I think it will inform each other, right? I’m sure it will make me a better journalist, whatever I’m exploring here. And I’m sure, like, whatever I bring to the space will also contribute the creative side."
"I’m definitely being confronted with myself and trying to see that as a necessary pathway I must go through."
As a self-described type A personality, Zhang is trying not to become goal orientated and pressure herself to write a full-on manuscript.
"I’m like, ‘let’s be kind to myself’. It’s actually more important if I make the most of going to fun places in Dunedin, meeting some cool people in Otepoti ... That will be a success in itself."
Zhang has been down the pressure path before. She was the student who attributed a lot of her self-esteem to getting good grades and then doing well at her job.
A bookworm growing up, Zhang spent a lot of time in her parents’ coffee shop in Browns Bay reading the newspapers and magazines and also visiting the local library where Nancy Drew books were a favourite.
"Maybe journalism was always in my heart. But I guess I never saw it as a possible career for myself. I think the diversity of who’s a writer or who’s a journalist, I guess, especially like 20 years ago, wasn’t the best. And so I think I really struggled to dream that I could be in that space."
She pushed back against family wishes when it came to subject choices at school, choosing English and creative arts over science and maths.
Her family then "understandably" pushed her towards a law degree, which she enjoyed as it appealed to her argumentative side.
"I think they were very anxious that I wanted to also pursue, like, let’s not say creative writing. Even journalism was enough of a challenge for them to conceptualise and be like, ‘oh, that’s a viable pathway’."
"So I guess, things, I feel like things felt more possible maybe only in the last few years."
She went on to do a bachelor of arts in communications and media studies, finishing her studies on an exchange at the University of California in Berkeley.
"I just spent all my free time, I guess, trying to learn the non-fiction side. And I feel like I’ve got very tunnel vision. I shaped my personality to be the job. And then I guess found myself doing some cool opportunities in different newsrooms."
Now she has decided to pause and "play around with storytelling and experimenting" without a specific career or job title attached to it.
Attending the festival is her way of helping the next generation of writers, she hopes by illuminating some of those pathways.
"I think it can feel really scary if you’re someone who has these dreams and you’re a young person, but maybe the school environment you’re in or the family background you have makes you feel like you can’t access those creative dreams."
The Dunedin Sound’s ripples
Over a few months Tate Fountain came to the slow realisation that the songs of the ’80s "Dunedin Sound" kept popping up in her life.
"I would be producing shows and the Verlaines would be on the soundtrack or I was at the Taite Music Prize and saw [Flying Nun band] Look Blue Go Purple get the classic record award.
"I was just kind of like, there’s so much that’s still here, it has so much staying power."
The seed was sown and Fountain, a writer, performer, director, producer and literary editor, began to wonder what it was like to write in Dunedin and how being a writer in a place with such a creative history affected people’s creativity.
"I thought it was just an incredible opportunity to look at writing that was of a place by young people that had been so appreciated and taken up by listeners and audiences across the world and what that might do, sort of, in the decades following or how that might be viewed by the young writers who follow after them."
The pitch was picked up by the fest and Fountain has enlisted a lineup of poets and musicians — Eliana Gray, Isla Huia (Te Āti Haunui a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Uenuku), Molly Crighton and Tawhai Huriwai (Tough Guy) (Ngāti Porou, Ngā Puhi) to respond to the concept, each having a 10-15 minute slot to perform and speak about their work.
"It’s an eclectic suite of writers. All four of them bringing something slightly different to the table, and I’m excited to see what they produce."
Fountain is excited about the opportunity to attend the festival as she is passionate about young people’s writing and curating their work.
"I’m very aware that I’m coming at it from the outside in, and so I’m looking forward to spending some time in the streets, in the architecture and in the space of where all of this creativity happened and that’s part of why I wanted to get writers who were from Dunedin and who have strong connections there to tell me what it’s like, because of course I can only respond to what these songs mean to me."
"Seeing the outpouring of love and appreciation for Martin’s work has extricably informed what they’ll go on to produce."
As the editorial committee lead for Starling, a literary journal showcasing the work of New Zealand writers under 25, Fountain has found working with young writers to be enriching and inspiring.
"So any opportunity to get involved . . . I thought it’s an incredible opportunity for young writers to get together to curate, produce and present."
Fountain herself has always been a keen writer and reader.
"I’ve always loved books. I’ve been quite supported in that by my family."
"I began exploring, working across all disciplines pushing the form of what poetry could be, which is something I think I’ll continue to do and certainly have endeavoured to do with the Remix."
She has found her own writing is informed by the wide range of writing that comes across her desk editing Starling.
"I’ve been published in various other sort of nooks and crannies along the way. And now I’m in a position where I continue to move into the curatorial and producing side of it as well and that’s been really wonderful."
While she works across different aspects of the arts — holding producing, co-ordinating, and digital marketing roles at various arts festivals, including Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival, samesame but different (NZ LGBTQIA literary festival), and Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival — she believes there is value in calling herself a poet.
"Like I am a poet. I’m published as a poet. I don’t exclusively work in the poetry space. I’m also interested in screenwriting, prose in its myriad of forms. So writer more broadly, because I think it captures everything, but I’m very interested in all of us claiming the poet term."
"So I’m sure we will see that some stage. I’m in that delicious place of the ideas are coming, the ideas are percolating, and finally, all of this creative energy that I’ve had is is on its way out."
She balances writing with her "day job" as programme manager and producer for the Auckland Arts Festival, where she gets to immerse herself in live art across dance, theatre and music.
"Getting to see a bunch of work that makes me feel inspired and challenged and galvanised. It’s a delicious kind of busy."
TO SEE
New Zealand Young Writers Fest: Tate Fountain, The Remix, September 13, 8pm, Te Whare o Rukutia; Sherry Zhang: Spinning Yarns!, September 14, 10am, Fringe HQ (19 George St); Journalism as an Act of Community Building, September 14, 2.30pm, Te Whare o Rukutia; Writing Beyond Tragedy: A Workshop, September 15, 11.30am, Te Whare o Rukutia.
