December 31, 2018
Devils, Unicorns, and Fever Dreams: My 2018 Reading List
As 2018 drew to a close and the literary internet was flooded with “Best of 2018” book lists, I noticed a fair amount of backlash against these lists—namely, that they […]
January 4, 2018
Difficult and Devoted: My Abbreviated 2017 Reading List
Another year has come and gone. As always, I wish I had read more—to have spent more hours of this year alone, in the quiet, with nothing but a book, […]
November 30, 2017
A Letter to My Women’s Studies Students
I probably won’t tell you this is up until after I turn in grades. I probably shouldn’t tell you that the grading system itself is archaic and not a measure […]
July 10, 2017
Getting Weird at the Chautauqua Institution
When I made plans to teach a workshop during the first week of the Chautauqua Institution’s season this summer, I wasn’t sure how my students might respond. After all, Chautauqua […]
January 8, 2017
Snowstorms and Speculation: My Abbreviated 2016 Reading List
I generally don’t make New Year’s resolutions, and I also don’t go out of my way to eat black-eyed peas or sauerkraut on January 1, but I do have a […]
August 20, 2016
MFA: Expectation vs. Reality
It’s mid-August, the time of year when aspiring writers all over the country are gearing up to begin MFA programs. Only three short years ago, that was me. I remember […]
April 17, 2016
Trauma Privilege
It was November 8, 2015, at 11:09 p.m. I know because I took a screenshot. In a Facebook group I moderate of over 200 local writers, a woman addressed a […]
August 30, 2012
Mix Tape: Ignore the Man Behind the Curtain
A look at the gratuitous-by-nature acknowledgments page—from “faux-modest self-promotion” to name-dropping to the ubiquitous list of friends and colleagues. “Is it really so gratifying to be recognized in print when […]
June 14, 2012
Mix Tape: Judge a Book
What are the top ten poetry presses based on their book covers? These small presses are big on design. Seventeen-year-old Sarah Turbin’s paperback cover design for John Green’s 2006 Printz Honor title, […]
December 14, 2011
A Brief Interview with Roxane Gay
Given that you’re reading this on a literary journal’s blog, there’s a good chance your ear’s close enough to the ground re small presses and magazines that you need little […]