Creative students take a bite out of China

Monday, 29 June 2015

Students from the University of Adelaide have translated a global learning opportunity into a work of creative art, taking the initiative to self-publish their writing about their experiences on a field trip to China.

The result of their work is Chew, a 48-page magazine containing more than a dozen pieces of prose, poetry and insights gathered during the three-week study tour in Beijing.

The magazine's publication comes at a time when the next group of Adelaide students is preparing to depart for China this Friday, 3 July. This new study tour, organised by the University's Department of English and Creative Writing, will see nine University of Adelaide students experiencing Beijing with author and Professor of English and Creative Writing Nicholas Jose, as well as Creative Writing PhD student and published author Matt Hooton.

The first tour involved 11 students, spanning the disciplines of Creative Writing, Asian Studies, Commerce and English. Among them was Anthony Nocera, a fourth-year Law/Arts student studying a major in Creative Writing. It was his suggestion that the students publish their writing.

"All of us wrote on the trip, but it was an intense few weeks – we were so busy that we never had the chance to read each other's work while we were over there," says Anthony.

"When we returned, we discovered there was all of this great writing, but we had no real outlet to get it into the community. That's why we decided to publish Chew, to give people an opportunity to read our work."

Anthony says Chew doesn't hold back in its depiction of Beijing from a visitor's point of view. "It's a very raw place in many ways, and some of our writing reflects its rawness. There was a lot to process in such a short period of time.

"Much of the work reflects not only our thoughts and experiences of Beijing, but also how we perceived ourselves and Australia as a result of the trip," he says.

"What's wonderful from my point of view is that we've had a unique global learning experience which has now been translated into an opportunity to share our writing. The publication of Chew is a student-driven experience but it wouldn't have happened without the study tour."

Just a few hundred copies of Chew have been printed but the magazine can be freely read online: http://issuu.com/chewmagazine/docs/chewmagonline1

"We hope people enjoy it," Anthony says. "The magazine offers so much diversity of styles and experiences just within a small group of students. There is a lot of great writing going on in Adelaide and we hope Chew contributes to the wealth of creative output in this State in some way."

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