About Gina Li
After twenty years of wrangling others’ words as a commercial translator, Gina trained as an Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) facilitator. Her AWA workshops are a safe space for writers to take risks and tap into their creative joy. You can find her writing at ginali.substack.com where she shares stories and reflections on love, loss, life, and embracing the beautiful bittersweetness of it all. She lives in Markham with her teen and two frisky felines, taking inspiration from her walks in the woods and around the beautiful body of water near her home.
Visit Gina Li on her website, Substack, and Instagram.
A Conversation with Gina Li
We sat down with Gina to discuss her writing journey, creative process, and what inspires her stories. Get an inside look at her experiences and learn valuable insights from a fellow writer in our community.
Which writers inspire you and why?
The writers who inspire me the most are memoirists who are unflinching in their ability to look at their lives and tell uncomfortable truths. Who own their stories. Who reckon with their pasts. Who don’t just tell us what happened, but who artfully and skillfully create a compelling narrative that resonates with the reader.
What is your favourite genre in which to write and why?
Although I dabble in poetry and occasionally write fiction, I always come back to memoir. It’s where I go to understand who I am and what I think. It’s where I make sense, it’s where I wrest meaning. It’s where I find coherence and cohesion.
How did you begin writing?
It all began about ten years ago. For decades, I’d been working with other people’s words in various roles (editor, copywriter, translator). All that time, I dreamed about penning my own stories. Finally, I signed up for a creative writing workshop and, over the years, have taken dozens more. For the longest time, writing was something that happened in the shadows, safe from judgment and criticism. Now, I regularly share my work online and read it at open mics.