On the Uses of Observation
The author of Perennial Ceremony: Lessons and Gifts From a Dakota Garden considers the importance of paying careful attention in writing.
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Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow: How to Write the Unbearable Story
The author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction confronts the question every writer inevitably faces: Is my compulsion to tell the truth stronger than my fear of the consequences?
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Wanderer & Wonderer: A Q&A With Victoria Chang
The author of With My Back to the World talks about the importance of staying true to who we are while allowing the writing to tell us where to go, and how she views her work as a mapping of her changing mind and perception.
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Ten Questions for Robyn Schiff
“Read more than you write.” —Robyn Schiff, author of Information Desk: An Epic
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The Enchantment of Memory: Drawing Inspiration From Science and Fairy Tales
The author of The Museum of Human History discusses how the human mind and archetypal narratives informed her novel.
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Ten Questions for Kwame Alexander
“Writing this book forced me to deal with, and face, some parts of my personality that haven’t served me.” —Kwame Alexander, author of Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Recipes, Letters, and Remembrances
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The Art of Reading Gary Paulsen: How “Boy Books” Taught Me to Write
As a child the author idolized the sharp prose and arresting images of survival in Gary Paulsen’s young adult novels. Now, as an adult novelist, that love is complicated by questions of who gets to tell what stories—even as her admiration endures.
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Bringing the Joy: A Profile of Luis Alberto Urrea
Luis Alberto Urrea always knew his mother had a story; he just didn’t know how to tell it. But in researching his new novel, Good Night, Irene, he gained a deeper understanding of the person she was and the happy ending she deserved.
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Real Person, Imagined Scene
The author of Selected Books of the Beloved investigates the uses of specificity in narrative poetry.
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How It Felt: A Profile of Namwali Serpell
In The Furrows, Namwali Serpell draws readers into the roiling nature of grief in a powerful narrative that explores memory, loss, and Black identity without resting on what she calls the “meaningless platitude” that art promotes empathy.
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