Reading Archive
More Cakes and Ale: Holidays and Traditions in Literature
The closest I’ve ever gotten to an acting experience was in college, when I was taking a class about Shakespeare’s comedies and histories. The professor was one of my favorites, who not only helped me better understand the plays but also helped me appreciate them more. When she announced
Is Anyone Reading Your Blog Posts?: Building a Literary Community in the Age of Facebook
In the creative writing for new media course I teach at the University of Iowa, we spend the first few weeks talking about ways in which technology has changed the way we communicate with one another, for better or worse. When it comes to Facebook in particular, it’s interesting
How to Write Indian Literature
If you’re studying a nation’s literature, it’s best to know that nation’s language. English literature finds definition in its mother tongue, despite the linguistic leap from Shakespeare to Zadie Smith. American literature, whose myriad dialects are called upon by Walt Whitman, John Ashbery, and Nikki Giovanni, rests comfortably in
A Year Spent Reading 100 Books
I write New Year’s resolutions every year, though I really ought to know better. Run every day, floss regularly, stop eating donuts: it’s the stuff of fantasy. In 2014 I spared myself the usual set-ups for failure in favor of a more exotic set-up for failure: I resolved to
Etymology as Pedagogy: How Words Teach Me to Live
When I learned, not long ago, that the word “daisy” comes from the Old English word “day’s eye,” referring to how the petals open at dawn and close at night, I was delighted. Here was proof that the English language can be governed by a beautiful logic. It was
The Narrowed Divide: Of Stylists, Shape-Shifters, and Multiple Aesthetics
Our collective understanding of how a story, poem, or essay should operate remains in constant flux; every sentence is a new description of language, every piece of writing, a new commentary on art. In this sense, any shared definition of storytelling is best left unresolved, unless we are
Holiday Book Shopping List: The TV-Lovers Edition
‘Tis the season for gift giving, and what makes a better gift than an unforgettable book? 2014 has been a great year for books and television both, so here are some pairings to help you shop for the TV enthusiast in your life.
How Books Brought Me Back into the World
My parents worried about me when I was young. They clipped out articles with titles like “What To Do When Your Child Doesn’t Speak” and strongly encouraged me to interact with the other kids in my nursery school and kindergarten classes. When my kindergarten teacher suggested to my parents
Iguala, Ayotzinapa, and Why Carolyn Forché is More Relevant Than Ever
I went to Mexico City to write about it. But also to read a lot too. To slough off the rust of my own ignorance about this country my family came from. You can never read enough. Such is the shame of academia. But the beauty of being young
Giving, Not Taking: Expectations of Author Interactions
In 2009, I was at the annual AWP conference in Chicago, heading into a panel session about flash fiction. Coming out of the room from the last session was Audrey Niffenegger who, even without her name tag, would have been distinguishable by her auburn hair. “Excuse me,” I said.