Las Damas: The New Generation of Latina Writers
A student of mine asked the other day if Latinos still wrote. He was dead serious. And by the reddening at the tops of his ears I could tell it was a completely sincere question, a bold one with all of the shame that fills the liminal space between
Book Recommendations for All You Budding Freelance Writer Entrepreneur-Types
This past winter has been a hellishly bleak and frigid ice-scape, filled with dark mornings, dark nights, burst steam pipes, and broken furnaces. And frankly, it’s been hard to get myself motivated to do the work people are paying me for, let alone the personal projects that will someday
Orange Roses
Orange Roses Lucy Ives Ahsahta Press, September 2013 104 pages $18.00 With the proliferation of graduate programs in creative writing, the day approaches when most poetry published in the United States will have been written by people with graduate degrees in writing poetry—a prospect that may launch a thousand
Lit GIFs: The Old Man and the Sea
Santiago, an elderly Cuban fisherman, has gone 84 days without a catch. His apprentice, Manolin, still likes him, but his parents have made him go work with a more successful fisherman. So on day 85 of his Bad Luck Streak, Santiago sails his skiff out alone, beyond the usual
The Ploughshares Round-Down: “Die Empty”
If you’re on Twitter, you likely noticed that a new tool took over the twitterverse last week, allowing everyone to identify and re-post their very first tweets. My first? Ahem: I retweeted a friend’s observation that “The writers of the show He-man were frickin’ geniuses”. I mean, obvs my friend spoke truth. Still, by taking that
Seven Types of Writers That Don’t Play Well With Others
Wromance, a word I invented, refers to a friendship between writers at its ideal—respectful, supportive, and considerate. You champion each other but never abuse your relationship. Friendship is not confused for a professional agreement or misconstrued for therapy. Your commonality may lie in a shared passion, but it does
Toscanelli’s Ray
This review was contributed by Roderick Vincent. Toscanelli’s Ray Wallis Wilde-Menozzi Cadmus Editions, April 2013 345 pages $16.95 Wallis Wilde-Menozzi lived in the U.S. and England before moving to Italy in 1981. Perhaps it is this confluence of international perspectives that enlighten the philosophical elements latent in her writing.
Writers With Responsibilities: Be Who You Are
Dear Sally, Do you have the magic spell that can inspire me to write again? I have not written anything in so long. Whenever I write about parenting or families, I feel like “this has all been said before. Why write about it?” I also find that it’s been
Writing Lessons: Jackie Mercurio
In our Writing Lessons series, writers and writing students will discuss lessons learned, epiphanies about craft, and the challenges of studying writing. This week, we hear from Jackie Mercurio, a student in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College. Jackie’s creative nonfiction will be appearing in the May issue