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“It was the end of the world and no one was coming to get you if you made a mistake.” If you’re looking for some spooky spirit on Halloween, watch this animated video based on a true story produced by Jezebel for their annual Scary Story contest. Read this fiction prompt from The Time Is Now for inspiration to write your own terrifying tale.
In the 1990 film Arachnophobia directed by Frank Marshall, a family doctor, his wife, and their two young children move from San Francisco to a small town in rural California that is soon overtaken by deadly spiders. Dr. Ross Jennings suffers from arachnophobia, an overwhelmingly intense fear of spiders, stemming from a traumatic childhood incident when he witnessed a spider crawling up his bed and over his body and was too paralyzed with terror to move. Write a personal essay that examines the origins of one of your own fears—either serious, silly, or somewhere in-between. Are there elements of your reaction to this object of fear that seem reasonable or irrational? How have you countered, enabled, or worked to coexist with this fear?
“Your mind wants to move, and the best thing a work of art can do is take your mind with it, moving somewhere you never expected to move.” Anne Carson talks about the artists and philosophers who inspire her to create and think, and how boxing has helped her in the wake of her recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in a conversation with Norwegian author Linn Ullmann for this Louisiana Channel event.
In a 2019 New York Times essay revisiting Alexander Payne’s 1999 film, Election—based on Tom Perrotta’s novel of the same name about a high school student-body election showdown between overachiever Tracy Flick and a social studies teacher—critic A.O. Scott reconsiders his understanding of the movie’s hero and villain twenty years later. “Payne’s film exposes the casual misogyny baked into the structures of civic and scholastic life,” writes Scott. “How despicably does a man have to behave before he forfeits our sympathy? How much does a woman—a teenage girl—have to suffer before she earns it?” Look back on previous presidential election years and reflect on major events that may have occurred in your personal life during those times. Were there heroes and villains who you might cast in a different light now?
“It is a blessing to feel like what I write actually matters in the world. It gives me meaning and purpose.” In this Daily Show interview with host Jon Stewart, author Ta-Nehisi Coates talks about how his recent travels to Senegal and Palestine informed his understanding of power and oppression, and inspired his new book, The Message (One World, 2024).
From 2006 to 2010, and again from 2020 to 2022, filmmaker David Lynch recorded daily morning weather reports that were broadcast from Los Angeles-based radio stations, his own website, and on YouTube. In some episodes, the weather report included just the date, temperature, and a couple of words describing what Lynch saw out of his window. Other times, reports included short observations or thoughts about his or others’ creative projects, and what he planned on having for lunch later in the day. “It’s a Saturday. Here in L.A., a sunny morning, a pretty strong breeze blowing right now. 52 degrees Fahrenheit, around 11 degrees Celsius,” says Lynch in a 2022 entry. Write a personal essay that begins with a weather report and then launches into what you’ve been thinking about recently, perhaps in conjunction with a book, film, or other piece of art you’ve encountered. How does a weather report set the tone?
In this episode of the Open Book Broadcast, Suzette Mullen speaks about the publishing process for her debut memoir, The Only Way Through Is Out (University of Wisconsin Press, 2024), and why queer voices and stories matter in a conversation with host Ally Berthiaume. Mullen is featured in “5 Over 50: 2024” in the November/December issue in Poets & Writers Magazine.
Francis Ford Coppola’s new film, Megalopolis, takes some of its characters, relationships, political intrigue, and set and costume design from historic events that occurred around 63 BCE during the decline of the Roman Republic. Mashed up with this historical aspect is a setting that gestures to both contemporary cities, such as New York City, and futuristic science fiction elements, such as building materials with magical properties. Compose an essay that revisits a pivotal experience from your past and incorporates a speculative element by taking metaphors and the act of imagining beyond their usual boundaries. How do you balance details grounded in the reality you remember with the more ambiguous elements of emotions and imagination?
The 2025 DISQUIET International Literary Program, sponsored by Dzanc Books and Centro Nacional de Cultura, will be held from June 22, 2025, to July 4, 2025, at the Centro Nacional de Cultura in Lisbon, Portugal. The conference features workshops in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well as a multi-genre Writing the Luso Experience workshop, lectures, craft talks, and literary walks. The faculty includes poets Erica Dawson, Diana Khoi Nguyen, and Terri Witek; fiction writer Gabriel Bump; and fiction writer and translator Bruna Dantas Lobato.
DISQUIET International Literary Program, 610 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002.
Studio Faire offers two- or four-week residencies year-round to artists and writers, including poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators, at an early 19th-century house in Nérac, France. The residency accommodates up to six visitors at a time. Residents are provided with a private work space and bedroom and two bathrooms, as well as access to a common kitchen, dining room, and garden area.
Studio Faire, 58 Avenue Georges Clemenceau, 47600 Nérac, France. Julia Douglas, Cofounder and Residency Coordinator.
