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“When you’re sick, the act of living is more act than living.” Meghan O’Rourke reads from her book The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness (Riverhead Books, 2022) and discusses how the book changed as her illness changed in this virtual event with Jonathan M. Adler for the Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Book Talks series.
In this video, Nikki Giovanni and Renée Watson speak about their love of libraries, the writers who have influenced them, and Maya’s Song (HarperCollins, 2022), a picture book for young readers about the life and work of Maya Angelou written by Watson and illustrated by Bryan Collier.
Award-winning poet Harryette Mullen reads from her manuscript of haiku and is introduced by poet and literary critic Stephen Yenser at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles for this reading copresented by the UCLA Department of English.
In a recent installment of our Writers Recommend series, Janine Joseph, author of Decade of the Brain (Alice James Books, 2023), writes about finding solace in computer scientist Neal Agarwal’s the Deep Sea website. Scrolling down the website, Joseph discovers animals and plant life at varying depths of the ocean, including the wolf eel, the chain catshark, and the terrible claw lobster. In the ocean’s midnight zone, where “creatures survive by their own light,” she finds inspiration in “what can and might exist at those disappearing depths.” Write an essay that meditates on the mysteries and profundities of the ocean. Does its depth inspire awe and wonder as it does for Joseph, or does it strike fear in you?
In this 2016 lecture for the Greater Good Science Center’s conference, former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass discusses the history of awe and wonder in world literature, the root of the word “catharsis,” and the power poetry has to captivate and transform its readers.
It’s awards show season for the film and television industry, but behind the camera are all the hardworking folks that make these shows happen. From florists arranging dramatic centerpieces, to chauffeurs driving celebrities from venue to venue, to the graphic designers of the envelopes holding the winners’ names—each individual helps make these one-night-only events possible. Consider what happens behind the scenes at one of these massive events and write a story from the perspective of someone working for an awards show. Imagine the mounting pressure throughout the night, the unexpected responsibilities that may arise, and the difficult celebrities one might encounter for the details in your story.
In this video, Sabrina Imbler speaks about their debut book, How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures (Little, Brown, 2022), with journalist Heather Smith after an introduction by Rebecca Solnit for this event hosted by the Green Arcade in San Francisco. Imbler’s book is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
The Lying Life of Adults is a television series adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s 2019 coming-of-age novel of the same name. Set in Naples in the 1990s, the six-episode Netflix series follows the adventures of Giovanna, who leaves the suburbs to meet her estranged aunt in the city.
“The way in is always through human beings.” Stephen Markley discusses his new novel, The Deluge (Simon & Schuster, 2023), and the importance of emotionally connecting to characters when writing about topics such as climate change in this Late Night With Seth Meyers interview.
In a Q&A with Kaveh Akbar by Claire Schwartz, published in the September/October 2021 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, the poet reflects on the image of a salad spinner in his long poem “The Palace.” He writes: “I have a salad spinner in my kitchen, and we use it. Every time I see it, I’m like, ‘What a ghoulish thing to have—this thing that spins lettuce.’ I can’t think of anything more useless, a more damning indictment of our relative comfort.” What central everyday objects remind you of your relative comfort, or lack thereof? Write an essay that uses concrete images to reflect on the pleasures of your daily life. Do you ever feel shame about these pleasures?
