Poet, translator and musician Fiona Sze-Lorrain read poetry from her recent books and performed on the guzheng — a traditional Chinese harp — for Creighton students, staff and faculty Oct. 26 in the Skutt Student Center.

Sze-Lorrain is a French national who was born in Singapore. She has played the Chinese harp since she was a child, and also writes and translates poetry in French, English and Chinese. 

She read poetry in all three languages, occasionally pausing to comment on the poetry and joke with the audience, before moving to the Chinese harp. After her performance, she answered questions from the audience and then signed her books and CDs.

“She’s obviously very talented,” said Roselyn Cerutis, associate professor in the School of Dentistry. “She is an artist, she can write and she can do poetry, which is really a gift.”

This was the first time Sze-Lorrain performed both her poetry and music, which included ancient Chinese tunes and modern compositions from the 50s-90s, at the same event, usually choosing to perform each in a separate environment.  

“It was relaxing,” said Emily Pritchard, an English student in the school of Arts and Sciences. “I really liked the fact that she usually thinks of them as two separate parts of her life and that this was the first time that she had ever combined them.” 

Sze-Lorrain was invited to Creighton by the Department of English and the Asian World Center at Creighton, which works to nurture the relationship between the cultures of Asia and the Western world. 

“We hope students will be inspired by the relationship between music and poetry, that they will learn from Sze-Lorrain’s creative process both in her own work and in translating the poetry and prose of others, and that they will gain insight into the global community that poetry and translation create,” wrote Mary Helen Stefaniak, Creative Writing professor in the English department.

In addition to Sze-Lorrain’s event Wednesday evening, she also met with writing and music classes during her visit to Creighton. Next she will be traveling to New York to read from her latest poetry book The Ruined Elegance.