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December 10, 2017The Moth
I do not nominate the moth, pallid creature of night, to be any sort of talisman or totem. Moths are vandals, eating your heirloom woolens. These Visigoths deserve summary execution. No last meal of tartan ...
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March 04, 2019Kate Harris wins $30,000 RBC Taylor Prize for Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road
This afternoon, Kate Harris spoke about the "glory and pain" of both the bike trip that inspired her memoir Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road (Knopf Canada) and of the writing process ...
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April 12, 2019A Map of Reading From Zero to Infinity
“Modern reading is a silent and solitary activity. Ancient reading was usually oral, either aloud, in groups, or individually.” (Paul Saenger’s Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading)Around ...
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November 25, 2019Offstage Magic
Festival season is over, and I’m still reeling from all the conversations and questions that have arisen offstage. What it is about the magic of writers without microphones, with cups of coffee and ...
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September 26, 2015Welcome to the Non-Literal World
Recently, when I was in the park with my son, he found me a stone (as he often does). He presented it to me. We’re in the finding and naming stuff stage, so I told him, “stone.” He said, “No. ...
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July 10, 2015On Sports and Writing
Years ago, when applying to MFA Programs, I was asked for a personal essay about my writing and writing influences. Without a shred of irony I stated that my earliest literary influences were televangelists ...
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May 23, 2009
Teenagers with a Vision...
I enjoyed meeting Emil Sher and reading with him at Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People this morning. Folks visiting ranged in age from babies in buggies to ladies and gents with white hair. That’s ...
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May 21, 2009
El Numero Uno
No heavy stuff today. No sah!Sky too clear, sun too warm, and, just now, it’s too lazy, snoozy, comfortable, with a wee bit of wind, dog barking in the distance, as if, were time to fall asleep and ...
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April 12, 2021Practice in the mirror: "I don't answer that question," and other helpful phrases for poets
Welcome to week two of Careful Inventory, poets and friends! Thanks so much for coming back or tuning in. As promised, today’s post is an opportunity for you to practice setting some boundaries that ...
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May 25, 2021"I Felt Like I Had Found a Place" Poet Vanessa Shields on the High Highs and Low Lows of a Life Spent Writing & Publishing
Every family story contains at least one unforgettable character. A person who inspires those who come after with his or her strength, struggles, and legacy. For poet Vanessa Shields, it was her grandmother, ...
