“Fiction is the art form of human yearning.” – Robert Olen Butler
“We are living in the most fearmongering time in human history.” – Barry Glassner
“I think what we need to do is to remind people that the Earth is a very dangerous place these days. That ISIS is trying to do us harm. And that the president’s commitment is to keep the country safe.” – Sean Spicer
Author: MFA Writing
Last Call: Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat
Are you ready to jump-start your writing in 2018? Join us at the third annual Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat, Feb. 16-19, in Port Townsend, Washington. Registration closes on Monday, January 15th. Don’t be left out! Come ready to focus on your writing for a long weekend. Planned topics include: study of poet and impressionism; language… Continue reading Last Call: Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat
A Holiday Potluck of Literature
Welcome to a table piled with a potluck of literature. If you think about it, all writers and readers are connected by our own ancient internet of literature.
What Is Writing For?
What is writing for?
I confess that, after having taught creative writing for more than 35 years and read tons of student writing I don’t remember and tons of good and great books by good and great authors I also don’t remember, I sometimes find myself wondering if we really need any more new writing.
More about Our Pushcart Nominees & an Invitation to Submit for Volume Six
The 2017 volume of Clockhouse came together in a moment of sadness and anxiety for many Americans, but that sadness and anxiety fueled art showcasing what can be offered during times of trial. This volume celebrates the true meaning of being American: protest, humanity, and freedom—even if those ideals wax and wane throughout our… Continue reading More about Our Pushcart Nominees & an Invitation to Submit for Volume Six
Acknowledgements
Last week I finished my first pass page proofs for Shadow Child, my new novel coming out in May. I started it in the year 2000. Holding those pages in my hands, with their elegant design and their printing marks, I was amazed at how much effort has gone into the creation of this book,… Continue reading Acknowledgements
Amtrak Writer’s Residency: Rail Tale
I’m writing to you today from the Amtrak quiet car, on a southbound train somewhere in New Jersey. Although the Amtrak Writer’s Residency Program is “currently evaluating the future of the program and do not have a timeline for when the next submission process will launch,” you can still pay out of pocket for a DIY Amtrak residency. That’s what I’ve been doing in 2017, now that my full-time teaching job is in Virginia and my fiancé is a theater director in New York.
Congratulations to Our Pushcart Prize Nominees
We’re pleased to announce that we’ve nominated the following writers’ works from CLOCKHOUSE Volume Five for the Pushcart Prize: Creative Nonfiction Ira Sukrungruang, “Because, the Ferguson Verdict” Fiction Diana Wagman, “Small World” Poetry Sabine Bradley, “I did it to a man” Paisley Rekdal, “Atlas Moth,” Clifford Thompson, “2014” Please join… Continue reading Congratulations to Our Pushcart Prize Nominees
The Indoor Secret Movie Voice
As soon as
you find your voice, you’ve lost it
On Deadline and On Holiday
On deadline and on holiday? How is a writer to cope?
On Deadline and On Holiday
On deadline and on holiday? How is a writer to cope?
Thanksgiving is here and my desk, which is usually covered with story notes and research books is now also covered with cookbooks and shopping lists. My laptop windows range from comic book scripts to “how to cook a turkey in 45 minutes” articles. Needless to say, it is a confusing time for a writer. When you are on deadline and on holiday, how is a writer to cope?
NYC Book Launch for Douglas A. Martin’s ACKER
The NYC book launch for Goddard MFA faculty member Douglas A. Martin‘s new book Acker, will be held on Monday, November 20, 7pm, at Callicoon Fine Arts, 49 Delancey Street. The event will include readings by Wayne Koestenbaum, Dorothea Lasky, Douglas A. Martin, and Darcey Steinke. Acker, published by Nightboat, is a lyric cover of Kathy Acker’s career and a… Continue reading NYC Book Launch for Douglas A. Martin’s ACKER
The Fries Test: On Disability Representation
Twenty years ago, I edited Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out, the first commercially published multi-genre anthology of writers with disabilities writing about disability. The anthology was published by Plume. In the introduction, I wrote: “Throughout history, people with disabilities have been stared out. Now, here in these pages — in literature of inventive form, at times harrowingly funny, at times provocatively wise — writers with disabilities affirm our lives by putting the world on notice that we are staring back.”
CLOCKHOUSE Volume Six: There’s Still Time to Submit!
Again, many thanks for the wonderful response to Clockhouse Volume Five. There’s still time to submit for publication in Volume Six: The submissions period is open through December 1, 2017. Please feel free to share this Call for Submissions, and please visit the Clockhouse website for submissions guidelines, for excerpts from the current issue, and to purchase… Continue reading CLOCKHOUSE Volume Six: There’s Still Time to Submit!
FIVE STORIES OF THE BODY: Anecdotes of Academia, Sexual Harassment and Abuse
I walked away and sat trembling on the back step of an abandoned building on campus, embarrassed. Later, at home, still thinking about it and unable to shake the feeling of being somehow exposed to view, I made myself a cup of tea and ate a slice of buttered toast…
Unpacking the Passed
A college professor of mine, the indomitable Beth McCoy at Geneseo, liked to use the word “unpack.”
“Unpack that statement for us,” she’d say in class, meaning, Give us the meat. Tell us how you got there, what it means.
Call and Response
The entire play is built on this invisible structure of call and response. The call is the spoken word. The response is flesh. The word made flesh. It is tied to the Yoruban concept of Nommo, which loosely translated means: “speaking makes it so.” Nommo is also a Dogon word from Mali that refers to the power of words to create reality and build community. You will also find this idea in the book of Genesis.
packing up my summer book: 20 lines
There is a stack of summer books on the floor still to return to the library, that have reached their renewal limit, overdue.
No Slaveholders: A Commencement Address
This ain’t the Ivy League, there’s no huge endowment here, but there’s no slaveholders either.
Register Now: Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat!
Back by popular demand! It’s time to register for the third annual Lighthouse Writers Conference and Retreat (LWC&R). At last year’s closing session, attendees unanimously clamored “more, more!” – so don’t be left out! Come together with Goddard writing colleagues and with your own writer-self to revitalize your work in the richness of Goddard’s Port… Continue reading Register Now: Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat!