Theater video tags: writing process

Fully Booked Chats: Ocean Vuong

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“I think I expect to suffer here, and my goal then is to suffer well or suffer skillfully.” In this conversation with Dawn Lanuza for the Fully Booked Chats series, Ocean Vuong discusses the differences between writing poems and novels, the question of whether literature can heal, and the story behind his name Ocean.

Brenda Shaughnessy’s Five Basic Rules

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In this 2014 State of the Arts video, Brenda Shaughnessy speaks about the themes of her first three books, what motivates her to write, and her “Five Basic Rules” for aspiring poets. Shaughnessy’s essay “Air: Speak and Breathe” is featured in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

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An Interview With Derek Owusu

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“When you are comfortable with your own voice, you’re able to create other voices that are authentic as well.” In this short video, Derek Owusu, author most recently of Losing the Plot (Canongate Books, 2022) and one of Granta’s 2023 Best of Young British Novelists, talks about writing immigrant stories and finding your voice.

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The Big Read: A Conversation With Tobias Wolff

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“A book can change your life, and I know because I had that happen to me.” Award-winning author Tobias Wolff talks about his childhood, education, writing life, and his novel Old School (Vintage, 2003) in this short film directed by Lawrence Bridges for the National Endowment for the Arts’ “Big Read” initiative. For more from Wolff, read this profile by Joe Woodward published in the March/April 2008 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

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Eimear McBride and Discovery

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“It doesn’t interest me to know how a book will end, I have to discover that for myself.” In this video from the National Centre for Writing, Eimear McBride, who won the 2014 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction for her debut novel, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, speaks about how character and story and the process of discovery are the keys to her writing process.

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Greta Gerwig’s Writing Advice

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“That’s the thing about writing. It’s about sitting with the problem.” In this Behind the Curtain video, screenwriter and director Greta Gerwig talks about adapting Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel Little Women into a film and the challenges of the writing process.

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Shastri Akella in Conversation With Rakesh Satyal

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In this Books Are Magic event, Shastri Akella reads from his debut novel, The Sea Elephants (Flatiron Books, 2023), and speaks about his journey navigating the writing life with author Rakesh Satyal. Akella is featured in “First Fiction 2023” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

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