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Walberberg 2008:
Rooted Realities and Maps of Migration |
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My fellow writers were engaging in conversation and charismatic readers of their work (I was happy to have met them) and, as a monoglot, I could not help but be impressed by the fluency of those participants speaking and writing in their second language. The pieces produced in my poetry workshop would not have seemed out of place in a British class.
But perhaps above all I will remember the participant who, on the final day, spoke so poignantly about leaving her childhood in the US to return to Germany, abandoning English as her first language; an estrangement she obviously carries with her even now. It was an affecting glimpse of a life shaped by migration, and closed what was a memorable, thought-provoking few days.
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