ASU alum: experience the best story inspiration

An Arizona State University poetry alum not only has a gift with words, but also with images, reported the Battle Creek Enquirer on Nov. 14.

Rose Swartz earned a master's degree in creative writing at Arizona State University in 2010. After graduation, she took a position at Kellogg Community College teaching freshman composition and literature as an adjunct.  

Yearning for adventure, Swartz responded to an online ad seeking English teachers in China, and spent six months in Beijing. She disliked the teaching ("There were 800 students registered ... It was kind of like an English factory.”), but found herself drawn to chronicling her time there with a camera.

"My mom always told me that you don't have to experience everything to write about it," the article quoted Swartz as saying. "But if you experience everything, it makes a great story."

Swartz unveils an exhibit of photographs from her time in China and Southeast Asia at a Kalamazoo, Mich. art gallery on Dec. 6.

Swartz’s story was also picked up by national outlets, including the Houston Chronicle and the Miami Herald.

For more information on ASU’s creative writing program in the Department of English, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, visit: http://www.english.clas.asu.edu/creativewriting.