Nico Leger
Nico has taken advantage of numerous opportunities at Brandeis to develop his creative writing talent. As a
2019 Brandeis Poetry Contest winner, he represented Brandeis at the Intercollegiate Boston Poetry Festival, where he was able to hear and read work by other poets his age. His winning poem, “where do the geese go?” is written in haibun, which is a Japanese form traditionally used to account one’s travels. He played around with this style to discuss his trans identity in terms of how it is understood in both the West and the East. Nico appreciates that the creative writing workshops at Brandeis always expose him to new authors and works. He advises other college students who are interested in pursuing creative writing to attend readings in the Boston area because they are a great way to spend an evening and find inspiration. For anyone who is interested in queer writing, he recommends the literary journal Foglifter.
During the 2019-2020 academic year, Nico studied abroad in South Korea. Because he met so many different people, he learned a lot about human relationships that he wants to continue capturing in his work. One aspect of relationships that particularly interests him is connection/misconnection and communication/miscommunication, which is prominent when you are trying to build relationships with people from backgrounds other than your own. In the future, Nico hopes to return to South Korea for graduate school or to teach English. Eventually, he would like to become a professor. Regardless of what he ends up doing for a career, poetry is something that he plans to pursue for the rest of his life, and he is grateful for everything he has learned through Brandeis’ creative writing program.