Childhood as a Place
Writes my smart poet/translator friend E.C. Belli: Because we are so multi-rooted, because we are from everywhere, we are no longer really from a place.…
On Growing Up Under a Dictatorship
Poet and novelist Alejandro Zambra on "Silence and Silencing," via BombBlog (via Montana Ray): The language of parents, the silence of our parents: sometimes we didn’t…
Jonathan Lethem on Being a Young Writer
"Experiment, play, dare to be really bad, fool around, and just notice what an incredible luxury it is to be in this formative, uncertain, experimental…
“The real woman is not up in the clouds nor among the stars…”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton on gender parity from 1874: The talk about women being so much above men, celestial, ethereal, and all that, is sentimental nonsense.…
Continue reading → “The real woman is not up in the clouds nor among the stars…”
Andre Dubus III on Postmodern Writing
There are some beautiful books out there. But the ones that leave me cold are the ones where I feel—it’s that postmodern thing—it’s more experimentation…
Marina Tsvetaeva on Alexander Blok
"A stone thrown into a silent lake is—the sound of your name. The light click of hooves at night —your name. Your name at my…
LGBT News: Serving in Iraq While Trans & Closeted; Homelessness; Anti-Sex-Ed Bill in Utah
1.) Sam Taylor just finished an eleven-month tour in Iraq as a chaplain's assistant with the U.S. army. While enlisted, she hid her transgender identity…
Kathryn Harrison on Writing Versus Therapy
It is a rigidly controlled book. It came at a time in my life when I’d been in therapy and analysis for years and just…
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Alina Simone on The Cold War
From an op-ed by singer/songwriter/author Alina Simone in the Wall Street Journal: But as recent headlines make clear, we still haven’t managed to outrun some of…
Geoff Dyer on Nonfiction Books
I’m most interested in the book which is completely un-sellable on the basis of a proposal or contract. One of the reasons so many nonfiction…
Tanya Paperny 