Jennifer Quist teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Alberta. She is the author of a book called Translingual Creative Writing Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy: Daoism and Decentering Monolingual Workshop as well as three novels, and many stories and essays. Her debut novel was longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Award. Her PhD is in Transnational and Comparative Literatures and included a semester of language study at Harbin Institute of Technology.

Targeted at developing short creative nonfiction, the workshops offered to ECWC for this project used Daoist parables from the Zhuangzi as a framework for encouraging spontaneous, thoughtful prose based in writers' lived experiences. The creative strategies of renowned bilingual writers connected to East Asian communities were presented to provide inspiration and examples of successful risk-taking with blending languages and cultures in art. Freewriting exercises were crafted to prompt bilingual writing and experimentation. Sharing and feedback among workshop participants offered encouragement and advice.