So much 49 Alaska Writing Center news each week: Only 10 days until the start of Bill Sherwonit’s class, “Adventures in Creative Nonfiction: The Art of the Personal Essay” (Monday nights 7 to 9:30 pm, Oct. 4 to Nov. 22) (see his recent guest post here for some ideas as to his approach) and only […]
Ela: 49 Writers Weekly Round-up Read More »
Why do we write? Many answers to that question, but today’s focus: healing. I credit my writing group (hi Doug!) for sending this to my attention, and many newspaper readers will recognize it as well. This week, David Brooks wrote an NYT op-ed about Fanny Burney’s ghastly account of her 1811 mastectomy without anesthesia. What
Andromeda: Writing as healing Read More »
I just dropped off my two children, ages 15 and 12, for their very first day at school. This is something most parents start doing when their children reach the age of scissors and paste. Up until now, we homeschooled, so even though my son shaves and my daughter wears eyeliner, it’s just like we’re
Andromeda: First day of school and lessons from children Read More »
I returned from my first MFA residency two weeks ago, but haven’t blogged about it: in part because we have so many great contributors who fill our pages; in part because I’m still processing what I experienced; in part because too much happened to cover in a single blogpost of reasonable length. (So she explained,
A third and final postcard to 49w friends from my recent research trip to Italy and Germany. I planned my recent Europe trip as a one-way journey from Rome to Munich, with plans to visit the concentration camp at Dachau just before flying home to Alaska. To be honest, I dreaded ending the trip on
The details matter: Postcard from Dachau, Germany Read More »
It’s disappointing – even a little chilling — to realize that a passion for literature and art does not guarantee the creation of a healthy intellect or the blossoming of a gentle spirit. Consider Hitler. An avid reader, he had 16,000 titles in his private library. Even at the end, when Soviet soldiers invaded his
Postcard from Rome: The Discus Thrower Read More »
When I was pregnant with my first child, I wanted to tell everyone as soon as I took the drugstore test — in the bathroom of a Chinese restaurant, actually, because I was too impatient to drive home. And I didn’t regret telling people even in the next few weeks, when I had signs I
Are you showing yet? Read More »
What fun to open Sunday’s Anchorage Daily News and find the front page of the Life and Arts section devoted almost entirely to Alaskan writers. There’s a great write-up, complete with photos, on Dan Coyle and his new book The Talent Code (you read about it here first, remember?). Oh, and there’s the reprint from
Our Mother’s Day Special Concludes. Thanks to participants Eowyn Ivey, Cinthia Ritchie, Marybeth Holleman and Deb Vanasse; full bios are available at the end of Thursday’s Part I post. Having children has given me such a wealth of ideas and emotions to write about. What motherhood has taught me is that there is no perfect
Our Children, Our Books Part III Read More »
Our Mother’s Day Special Continues…See Thursday’s Part I for an explanation of how this roundrobin conversation started, and complete bios for Eowyn Ivey, Marybeth Holleman, Cinthia Ritchie, Deb Vanasse, and Andromeda Romano-Lax. I’m afraid I’ll censor myself… I imagined my own son googling me — oh dear Lord! I thought that was a little strange.
Our Children, Our Books Part II Read More »
