September 17, 2019
“Sexy, Messy, Scary, Fun, Overwhelming, and Precarious”: A Conversation with Carley Moore
Carley Moore is a writer, mother, and teacher, and all of these roles find their way into her terrific new novel, The Not Wives (Feminist Press). The book brings together […]
September 16, 2019
What Makes a Character Human?
It’s been almost twenty years ago now since James Wood penned (metaphorically speaking, of course, since I’m sure he used a computer) his famous critique of a genre of literary […]
September 12, 2019
Adventures in Composition and The Essay
This is the first in a series, Adventures in Composition and the Essay. Since I’m teaching the most composition courses I’ve ever taught in a single semester (three), I have […]
September 7, 2019
To Allow for Wonder: An Interview with Amorak Huey and W. Todd Kaneko, Authors of Poetry: A Writers’ Guide and Anthology
This post is the tenth in a months-long series that explores the topic of craft: what it is, how it has evolved, who has historically had access to it, and […]
September 6, 2019
Poetry for People Who Hate Poetry – September
I never expected math to help me become a poet. I wouldn’t say I became a poet to get away from math, but when I declared an English major, I […]
September 3, 2019
“Discovering the shape of the book as it emerges”: A Conversation with Dana Roeser
Dana Roeser is the author of four award-winning books of poetry. The recently published All Transparent Things Need Thundershirts won the Wilder Prize at Two Sylvias Press. The Theme of […]
September 3, 2019
“Our relation to human precarity”: A Conversation with H.L. Hix
H.L. Hix’s recent books include a poetry collection, Rain Inscription; an edition, with Julie Kane, of selected poems of contemporary Lithuanian poet Tautvyda Marcinkevičiūtė, called Terribly In Love; an essay […]
September 2, 2019
The Grace of Distance: A Conversation with Matthew Thorburn
Matthew Thorburn’s new book of poems, The Grace of Distance, was published by Louisiana State University Press in August. He’s also the author of six previous collections, including the book-length poem […]
August 31, 2019
“The Prairie-Grass Dividing,” the Beer
The second in a series of seven Walt Whitman beer reviews: “The Distillation Would Intoxicate Me Also” There’s democracy in beer drinking, or so Americans like to believe. When the punditocracy […]
August 30, 2019
The Possibilities of Criticism: An Interview with Charles Baxter, Author of Burning Down the House and The Art of Subtext
This post is the ninth in a months-long series that explores the topic of craft: what it is, how it has evolved, who has historically had access to it, and […]
August 27, 2019
An Interview with Chaya Bhuvaneswar, Author of White Dancing Elephants
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of reading Chaya Bhuvaneswar’s debut short story collection White Dancing Elephants. It’s a mesmerizing group of stories, filled with both joy and sorrow, […]
August 23, 2019
It Will Be Empowering: An Interview with David Mura, Author of A Stranger’s Journey; Race, Identity, and Narrative Craft in Writing
This post is the eighth in a months-long series that explores the topic of craft: what it is, how it has evolved, who has historically had access to it, and […]