January 3, 2019
Poetry for People Who Hate Poetry – January
“Education is not the filling of a pail,” reads the sign above my colleague’s desk, “but the lighting of a fire.” These lines—often attributed to the poet W. B. Yeats—happen […]
September 20, 2018
How to Write an Ideological Novel
It is a truth if not universally then at least widely acknowledged that all fiction is inherently political. In fact, today, many writers would argue that all fiction should be […]
July 26, 2018
In the Dark
On Facebook, I watch a woman announce she’s just now starting to watch The Handmaid’s Tale. Twenty minutes into the first episode, she posts an update demanding to see an […]
May 23, 2018
Your Online Dating Profile Written by Famous Writers
The Misunderstood Detective With a Poet’s Soul: About You: You love to dwell in uncertainties. You relish the chance to analyze anything, whether it be a text, film, or person. […]
November 30, 2017
Because That’s Real Life: An Evening with Margaret Atwood
On November 16, Margaret Atwood, the grande dame of all things literary (and of dystopian nightmares that have revealed themselves to be unnervingly prescient) graced Cleveland with her presence at […]
May 3, 2017
Margaret Atwood and The Speculative in Poetry
Online and in person, it feels like everyone’s talking about The Handmaid’s Tale, the ten-episode television series based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel of the same name, first published in 1985. […]
February 22, 2017
Goon I Feel You
How such gentle names belie the bodies checked into boards. Like in another context you could say: Here maple leafs fall among islanders, and think I’m talking about vacationing […]
May 11, 2015
Breakdowns of this Century in Mitchell, Atwood, Prince, and Enlightened
The first time I heard about a shift in modern civilization was in regard to the period following World War I, when classical art gave way to Picasso’s Cubism and classical music […]
December 11, 2014
Martyr Stories, Past and Present
Some of the most popular stories in medieval Europe were tales of saints and martyrs. Many of the hagiographies were essentially martyr stories as well, seeing as most early Christians were […]
July 22, 2012
American Poetry Critics and Literary Memory
The poetry critic of the New York Times, David Orr, gives us a capsule overview of “novelist-poets” in a July 20th article: “The club of novelist-poets is distinguished but […]
July 2, 2012
The Jack of All Modes
When you publish a novel, there’s often a flurry of interviews over the ensuing months. The interviewers repeat questions independently of one another. It’s an interesting indicator of what people […]