Ethel Walker School
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Walker’s Welcomes Fall Visiting Writer Malinda Lo
The Ethel Walker School had the honor of hosting Malinda Lo for the Visiting Writer Seminar this fall. An accomplished author through the lens of her queer and Asian-American perspective, she addressed the student body about a “web of conditions” that led her to the current moment. She alluded to the fact that success does not arrive without all the small steps and choices it takes for one to arrive. After discovering her voice at Wellesley College, her first job interview for a position at an investment bank, concluded with the hiring officer saying that the job wasn’t for her, but wished her luck in her writing career. She mentioned that being a writer was always within her but cultural, generational, and societal restraints diverted her from following this passion early on. As her focus shifted more towards building a career as a writer, she became more aware of the interconnectivity of life — that every action one takes impacts something or someone somewhere else. Therefore kindness and deep contemplation of the choices that one makes is paramount. She ended her address with the following parting words: “Our paths may never cross again but we are connected because we shared this moment together.”
Hear more about Malinda Lo and Walker’s Visiting Writer Seminar as written by Annie D. ’26:
The Visiting Writer Seminar recently had the pleasure of hosting best-selling author Malinda Lo on campus for the fall of 2024. Malinda Lo is a New York Times best-selling author of several successful young adult novels, as well as her most recent book, A Scatter of Light. Lo’s most popular book, Last Night at the Telegraph Club, has received the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, a Printz Honor and was also an LA Times Book Prize finalist. Her debut novel, Ash, was a sapphic retelling of Cinderella, and it was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, as well as the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Lambda Literary Award. Lo has also been honored as a Great Immigrant by the Carnegie Corporation.
During Malinda Lo’s time at Walker’s, she led discussions about the writing process, read excerpts from her novels, and met with several English classes as well as the Visiting Writer Seminar. Students were given an opportunity to connect with Lo and learn from her journey as a successful writer. She taught literary master classes and writing workshops to allow students to see the writing process from a different point of view. By sharing her personal creative process, students could continue to develop their own interpretations of that process. She shared her inspirations, thoughts, and conflicts while she was writing these books.
One of the unique offerings at The Ethel Walker School is our Visiting Writer Seminar, offered both in the fall and in the spring. Students involved in the semester-long course have a rare opportunity to take a close look at the literary work of a single author in order to develop an in-depth understanding of the writer’s form and process, culminating in a week-long visit from the author to our campus. When the author arrives on campus, the Visiting Writer Seminar is encouraged to engage with the author through interviews, master classes, and readings, providing a unique experience for those students interested in learning more about an author’s methods, style and practices.