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"Within that economy of words, you choose words that have certain angles, that have certain edges, that effect people in a certain way." Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose memoir Between the World and Me (Spiegel & Grau, 2015) is a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award, speaks with Khalil Gibran Muhammad about what he learned as a poet and how those skills continue to influence his writing.
"We do what everyone says we can't. We write." Trumbo tells the story of legendary screenwriter and novelist Dalton Trumbo, played by Bryan Cranston, who was blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1940s after he was accused of being a Communist. The film is directed by Jay Roach with a screenplay by John McNamara.
"I was captured by the Facist Militia on December 13 1943." So begins Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz, republished as If This Is a Man in the new three-volume collection, The Complete Works of Primo Levi (Liveright, 2015), edited by Ann Goldstein. Robert Weil, David Remnick, and John Turturro read selections from the edition at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.
Think of a song that you would consider a lifelong favorite, even if your love for it now is attributed more to a strong sense of nostalgia than to your current musical tastes. Does hearing the song unexpectedly on the car radio or in a restaurant suddenly transport you to a different time or instantly change your mood? Write a personal essay about the memories you have associated with the song, and how the lyrics might have resonated with a certain significance in your past. How has your understanding and appreciation of the song evolved?
"She could taste with all of her skin, including her eyelids." Author and naturalist Sy Montgomery describes her first meeting with Athena, a giant Pacific octopus, at the New England Aquarium in Boston. This encounter spurred her to write The Soul of an Octopus (Atria Books, 2015), a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
"Whether I was born this way or my personality was formed by circumstance, I don't think anyone would call me an easy person to deal with..." Photographer Sally Mann reads from her memoir, Hold Still (Little, Brown, 2015), a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Research a paranormal story or legend native to your community. Write an essay that meditates on its origins, its historical context, how it characterizes your community today, and what reservations or questions it stirs up in you. Whether you’re the deepest skeptic or the most willing believer, how you engage with these supernatural tales can reveal a lot about your mind and imagination.
"When we think of Asian American literature... my hope is that you have makers, but then you have people that are there to receive it." Sarah Gambito talks with Anna Alves, Melissa R. Sipin, and Jessica Hagedorn about the growing audience for Filipino American literature at the launch party for Kuwento: Lost Things (Carayan Press, 2015), a new anthology of Filipino myths, at the Asian American Writers' Workshop in New York City.
"The mission of Deep Vellum is... to promote and foster the art and craft of translation." Will Evans, founding publisher and executive director of Deep Vellum Publishing, speaks about the need for translation in contemporary literature and his hopes for a more vibrant literary culture. The Dallas-based press is featured in Small Press Points in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Write a letter to a friend you’ve lost touch with for at least ten years—perhaps you haven’t spoken to each other because of a falling-out or one of you moved to a new town. What do you remember about the last time you saw this person? Reflect upon the ways in which you have changed and remained the same from who you were ten years ago. Examine the emotions that surface when you think about this old friend and your relationship, and the physical places that your memories take you.
