December 2015

15 posts in December 2015

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Guernica Special Issue: The Boundaries of Nations



Guernica, long time partner of Disquiet, has a killer special issue out, The Boundaries of Nations (including short fiction by Disquiet’s Jeff Parker!)

Check it out!

Dinaw Mengustu on his father’s Ethiopia and the ways in which imagination, memory, and politics converge in exile; Anna Ciezadlo visits Lesbos at the peak of the refugee crisis; Atossa Abrahamian on the buying and selling of passports and what it means to be from somewhere; author and activist Jasminko Halilović on growing up under siege in Sarajevo; director Jonas Carpignano on his film “Mediterranea”; Laura Kurgan in conversation with Bill Rankin on the politics of map-making; Rachel Price on contemporary Cuban art; fiction by Valeria Luiselli and Jeff Parker; poetry by Yosefa Raz and Aliah Lavonne Tigh.



I was inspired by Disquiet's excellent instructors, supportive peers, and gorgeous setting. It was a wonderful writing adventure. , Carolyn Kras


Disquiet is an audacious writing adventure, a heartfelt community, an opportunity for cross cultural understanding, an explosion of literary talent. If you are related to Portugal in any way (or want to be), you’ve found home. Elaine Ávila, 2015 Faculty


Disquiet is community, is learning from strangers, friends, in markets, cafes, museums, and bars. Disquiet is Lisbon, and the city colors every workshop and every meeting and meal. You don't ever want to leave. Stefan Kiesbye, 2015 Faculty


I had just finished my MFA and needed some inspiration to keep working on my thesis. The air, wind, light, cobblestones, tiles, sounds, tastes, music, and most of all the people of Lisbon, along with the camaraderie of my fellow 'Disquieters' was exactly what I needed. Anne Silva, 2015 Participant


It only took me half a day in this labyrinthine literary dream of a city to realize that Disquiet was wonderful. My workshop teacher, Stephanie Timm, certainly played a huge role in my positive experience--her generosity and commitment in the room was outstanding. She's a close second to your stellar set of readings/lectures and of course, Lisbon itself. I wish the sense of wandering and lack of urgency I felt while I was there was somehow commodifiable, a thing I could stuff in my carry-on. Although, now that I'm home after a week of traveling, I've noticed that the ways in which Lisbon taught me to observe and look at the world seem to have stuck. Thank you for a truly formative two weeks. Stephanie Del Rosso, 2015 Participant


[M]y experience at DisQuiet was absolutely life changing. I will be forever grateful for the things that I learned and the people that I met. I believe that life long relationships have been born. Yma Johnson, 2015 Participant


The workshop with Leslie Jamison, fellow writers and their works, the readings, events, and Lisbon itself, etc.--they all truly surpassed anything I'd imagined. Somehow, in spite of how rigorous and stimulating (and packed) the schedule was, I ended up writing quite a bit. I also managed to go out and explore and eat (a lot) and drink (a bit) and talk and laugh (a lot) and get to know truly amazing folks, some of whom I am happy to call friends now. A group of us were talking about this phenomenon one night and someone offered the theory that the intensity of this experience and thoughtful structure of the program allows folks to be a bit more open and vulnerable--often more quickly--to each other in meaningful ways. I think this has been true for me. Being in Lisbon and participating in Disquiet offered a much-needed recalibration. Esther Lee, 2015 Participant
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