As part of inSITU Workshop Series

Used to describe bootleg goods, ‘shanzhai’ is a Chinese word that literally translates to ‘remote mountain village’. Also referring to an independent group of people living in the mountain and taking it as their own home, this term also gestures towards a place of freedom from authority and control.   

Moving beyond just direct imitation, ‘shanzhai’ has become a way for people to take the original, pull it apart, reconstruct, embellish, and make it something new. How can it inspire us to write poems of innovation... deviance… or collectivity? 

In this workshop, we will learn how to write poetry that channels this ‘shanzhai’ spirit. Together, we will read poems by Danielle Mitchell, Vidya Rajan and Chen Chen that will introduce us to centos, cut-up poetry, and lyrical borrowing. Using these techniques, we will create our own ‘shanzhai’ poems. Please bring your favourite text (poem, song, story, conversation, anything at all). 

All participants will be sent a Shanzhai Poetry reading list before the workshop.   

ACCESSIBILITY: This venue is fully wheelchair accessible and has all gender bathrooms. 

If you would like to attend and require Auslan Interpretation, please send us an email at writingprojects@darebin.vic.gov.au.