2019 John Leonard Prize Finalists, Women Writers of Italy, and More
Lucy Ellmann on the origins of Ducks, Newburyport; Mimi Lok considers the nature of memory; Garrett Caples revisits the poetry of Samuel Greenberg; and other stories.
Genre: Not Genre-Specific
Revisiting Mary MacLane, Writing About Revolution, and More
Michelle Hart previews forthcoming LGBTQ titles; Kacen Callender discusses audience; Adrienne Brodeur talks writing with compassion; and other stories.
Charles Wright the Teacher, New Poem-a-Day Editors, and More
GQ selects its best books of 2019; Jeff VanderMeer on writing in the shadow of climate change and political crisis; New York Times book critics reflect on 2019 favorites; and other stories.
Languages From Home, a World Where Books Are Dead, and More
Ken Liu discusses his popular translations of Chinese science fiction; Jenna Bush Hager selects Margaret Renkl’s Late Migrations for her book club; JP Gritton talks writing an unlikable character; and other stories.
Neon Literary Launches, Libraries Eliminate Late Fees, and More
Lucy Scholes highlights a lost work of fiction; Carolina De Robertis talks queer joy and pleasure; Naja Marie Aidt on writing while grieving; and other stories.
Ralph Ellison in Letters, Thunder Cake, and More
Eve L. Ewing on finding poetry in the world; writing for the AIDS crisis; the New York Times selects new and notable translated fiction; and other stories.
NYPL Selects the Best Books of 2019, Revisiting the Black Mountain Poets, and More
Classical Arabic literature in translation; Dexter Palmer on writing historical fiction; poetry without borders; and other stories.
Youth Writers Thrive in New Orleans
In New Orleans, you don’t have to be an adult to hone your skills and find a literary community. Youth writers are thriving and preparing to lead the next generation of New Orleans writers.
Here are a few places where young writers can find resources and adults can hear some amazing youth writers share their work:
N.O.Y.O.M.: The New Orleans Youth Open Mic was started in the spring of 2014. N.O.Y.O.M. is open to seventh through twelfth grade students in the Greater New Orleans area and provides a stage and space for young people to explore themselves and share their experiences with their peers through writing. N.O.Y.O.M. partners with the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, which hosts their shows on the third Wednesday of the month, and the New Orleans Public Library is often on-site proving free books and additional resources for all students in attendance.
826 New Orleans: I served on the board in the early days when it was called Big Class. The 826 New Orleans Youth Writing Center has after-school programming, workshops, and field trips for young writers aged six to eighteen. It’s a beautiful space on St. Bernard Avenue with a shop full of books, including student publications, 826 T-shirts, and more.
NOCCA: New Orleans Center for Creative Arts is the local school of the arts that offers intensive instruction in culinary arts, dance, media arts, music, theatre arts, visual arts, and creative writing. Their creative writing program is robust and rigorous. I’ve taught classes there on several occasions and students are reared to enter creative writing programs in the future.
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: The Greater New Orleans Writing Project is an affiliate sponsor that administers the Scholastic Writing Awards for Southeast Louisiana. The competition provides awards to writers in grades seventh through twelfth in our region in writing categories that include flash fiction, novel writing, personal essay and memoir, and poetry.
Can you imagine having all these resources as a writer in high school? Amazing!
Young writers at 826 New Orleans. Kelly Harris is the literary outreach coordinator for Poets & Writers in New Orleans. Contact her at NOLA@pw.org or on Twitter, @NOLApworg.
Early Joan Didion, One Hundred Books at the New York Times, and More
How to pick the ten best books of the year; a new micropublisher unearthing lost writing; art for the AIDS crisis; and other stories.
The Colony Summit
Hey mi gente! This week I wanted to spend a little time putting a spotlight on what community building through writing can look like. Here in Houston, we have writing groups that focus on poetry or fiction, and those are excellent workspaces being put together, but there is a need for information about the world around writing and publishing for writers of color. Enter the Colony Summit—a space and group designed to be a resource for writers of color in the Houston area.
The idea is super simple: Give writers of color a space to meet, provide some snacks, some ideas, some experts, and some resources and let these writers ask questions. Tintero Projects, a group I started for emerging Latinx writers, has a hand in organizing these events, along with support from VIP Arts Houston, Houston Public Library, My Brother’s Keeper, Houston Department of Health, and the Mayor’s Office of Education.
This project is still fairly new. So far it’s been a year of meetings. The Colony Summit meets quarterly and so the meetings are always packed. This all began as an idea batted around by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, the current poet laureate for Houston, and me about a year ago. We both felt more needed to be done to gather all the writers of color up in the city and get folks talking to one another about where they are in their writing and what ways we could provide support. For example, some writers don’t know about submissions to literary journals or how to create a Submittable account for submissions. Others want to know about fellowships and residencies, or are just searching for community.
Our last Colony Summit meeting was on November 9, but be on the lookout for the next one. If you are in the Houston area and want to check out a session, don’t hesitate. Look for @vipartshouston on Instagram for announcements and more information.
Writers at a recent Colony Summit meeting. Lupe Mendez is the literary outreach coordinator for Poets & Writers in Houston. Contact him at Houston@pw.org or on Twitter, @houstonpworg.
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