Our new Arts Council National Lottery funded project takes the Filipino custom of the Balikbayan Box as its central theme to explore the spirit of nursing across borders and boundaries. 'Balikbayan Box’ refers to the Filipino custom of migrant workers sending boxes of gifts back home to loved ones and is inspired by Romalyn Ante’s poem 'Notes Inside a Balikbayan Box'.
Visit our exhibition to explore the installation ‘Inside Home’ by Haleema Aziz and meet our writers in residence – Romalyn Ante, Jennifer Wong and Christie Watson – to explore the art of nursing with a difference.
Our writers will each be running a writing workshop for a different audience to help them engage with the exhibition themes, and develop their own writing skills: refugees, schoolchildren and young adults.
Writing residencies run in the RCN Library and Museum (20 Cavendish Square) from April – June 2026. Find our what our writers have been working on at this public celebration of art and migration panel event in July.
Our writers will be based in the Moved to Care exhibition space in the England Library from 11am-4pm during their residency week. Anybody can drop in and chat to them between 3-4pm, or if you're a member you can book a free half-hour 121 slot. Discuss your own writing, ask questions about publication or the role of art and creativity in nursing with our writers in residence.
Romalyn Ante FRSL is an award-winning Filipino-born British nurse, poet, novelist, and editor, based in the Midlands. Romalyn was born and raised in Lipa, Philippines, and migrated to the UK in 2005. She writes in English as her second language. In 2012, she began writing poetry after completing her nursing studies and becoming a registered nurse. Her works include Antiemetic for Homesickness (Chatto, 2020), AGIMAT (Chatto, 2024), and her debut novel, The Left-Behind Child, will be published by Chatto in August 2026.
RCN members can book a 121 slot with Romalyn and if you're not a member, you can drop in every afternoon (3-4pm Monday to Thursday and 2-3pm on Friday). [Image: Justine Desmond/RCN]
Originally from Hong Kong, Jennifer Wong is the author of Light Year (Nine Arches Press, 2026), »Ø¼Ò Letters Home (Nine Arches Press, 2020), and pamphlets including time difference (Verve, 2024) and Diary of a Miu Miu Salesgirl (Bitter Melon Poetry). She studied at Oxford and has a PhD in creative writing from Oxford Brookes University. She is a visiting lecturer at University of Hong Kong for Spring 2026. Currently, she is also editing a Rebecca Swift Foundation anthology entitled Woman, Mapped (Fly on the Wall Press, 2026).
RCN members can book a 121 slot with Jennifer and if you're not a member, you can drop in every afternoon (3-4pm Tuesday to Friday) or join our Family Day on Saturday 30 May. [Image: Jennifer Wong]
Christie Watson is a best-selling, award winning writer and Professor of Creative Writing at UEA. She has published eight books: four novels, including her first novel Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, which won the Costa First Novel Award, and four works of non-fiction, including nursing memoir, The Language of Kindness which was a number one Sunday Times bestseller and spent five months in the Top Ten Bestseller list. Killing Me Softly, her latest novel, will be released March 2026.
RCN members can book a 121 slot with Christie and if you're not a member, you can drop in every afternoon (3-4pm Monday to Friday). Christie is also running a 'Writing Lived Experience' workshop on 24 June for younger writers (aged 18-30) where she will guide you through some creative exercises to find your own voice as a writer. [Image: Rebecca Reid]
