Top British and Irish Novelists, Cowardice in Publishing, and More
Anelise Chen defines autofiction; Twitter accounts that impersonate writers; the most well-preserved section of the Iliad; and other news.
Genre: Creative Nonfiction
Exhibitionist
“One Life: Sylvia Plath,” an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., features a selection of the poet’s manuscripts, journals, clothing, and other personal objects, including a typewriter and even a lock of her hair, as well as numerous pieces of Plath’s artwork: collages, drawings, self-portraits, and photographs. The museum also incorporates other types of art and interdisciplinary projects into its Plath programming, such as “I Am Vertical,” a dance performed in December in the museum’s courtyard, created by choreographer-in-residence Dana Tai Soon Burgess and named after one of Plath’s poems. Envision how your own life and work as a writer might be presented in an art museum, and write a lyric essay about this hypothetical exhibit. What objects would be on display? Which e-mails or photographs would help tell your stories? Consider using different forms and conventions, such as lists and fragments.
Maya Angelou’s Ninetieth Birthday, Roxane Gay’s Pop-Up Magazine, and More
Joan Silber Wins PEN/Faulkner Award; Chinese government cracks down on Hong Kong booksellers; women on male authors describing women; and other news.
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
Caption:
“Literature is more of a community effort than most people realize.” Alexander Chee talks about how the essays came together for his first collection, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays (Mariner Books, 2018), with Rich Fahle of PBS Books at the 2018 AWP Annual Conference & Book Fair in Tampa.
Genre:
A Bookstore With No Staff, #saferLIT Campaign, and More
The “literary heart of America” is in Virginia; Barnes & Noble launches book app; Weike Wang wins PEN/Hemingway Award; and other news.
National Poetry Month, Anisfield-Wolf Winners, and More
Fifty new writers to watch; Elizabeth Ebert, the “grand dame of cowboy poetry,” has died; NPR’s Twitter poetry challenge; and other news.
Siri Hustvedt on Art and Science
Caption:
“I think physicists and poets are not as different as we like to think. The same unconscious processes are at work in both.” In this interview from the 2017 Louisiana Literature festival in Denmark, Siri Hustvedt talks about her background in neuroscience, the experiences of writing both nonfiction and fiction, and the value of approaching questions from different interdisciplinary perspectives.
Flashbacks in Literature, Emily Skaja Wins Walt Whitman Award, and More
Anita Shreve has died; Meg Wolitzer’s new novel; championship rounds of literary March Madness; and other news.
Neruda and Resistance, Garth Greenwell on the Growth of the Writer, and More
A takedown of Sean Penn’s debut novel; the similarities between Frank O’Hara and Notorious B.I.G.; Publishers Weekly’s bookstore of the year; and other news.
Missed Connection
The “missed connections” section of the classified advertisements website Craigslist has long been a virtual bulletin board to share a memory (i.e. I smiled at you on the train and you smiled back) in hopes that someone would answer back. Write a personal essay recalling a situation in which you may have missed an opportunity to connect with someone, whether a romantic or professional prospect, or a potentially significant person who may have slipped through your fingers. Explore ideas of fate and chance, persistence, lost opportunities, and assertiveness. How have your approaches to meeting new people evolved over time? Are there any missed connections from your past that might be picked up again now, years later?
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