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The historic Hotel Chelsea in New York City, made famous by diverse literary figures such as Patti Smith and O. Henry, is now the center of a dispute between its new owners and its long-time tenants; seventeen publishers have banded together to fight European e-book piracy; the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on the sales decline of chick lit; and other news.
Research one of the decades during which you were a child. Make a list of the popular music at the time, the best-selling books, the favorite movies and celebrities. Then write notes about politics—who was president? what were the major political issues in the United States and globally? Then freewrite about the neighborhood where you lived—who were your neighbors? what was the living situation like? what was a typical day for you and the people around you. Finally, choose an event from your life or from history that happened during the time you've researched and write about it, using your research to inform and contextualize what you write.
In this clip from Fresno State University, the poet laureate reads "Gospel," from his collection Breath (Knopf, 2004). For more Philip Levine, read Michael Bourne's interview in the current issue and listen to the poet read "The Mercy."
I really like to do events with/for disadvantaged populations, but often have to prioritize engagements that pay more. P&W made it possible for me to commit to this project for so long…I know the experience inspired me as an artist because the kids’ enthusiasm for art was contagious.
Writer Gwendolyn Zepeda, after a fiction workshop and reading for teens at MECA in Houston, Texas
Tin House Books rolls out the third installment of its fiction-prompt contest, "calling all writers who are obsessed with plot and obsessives who can write a mean story."
The weekly competition extracts a story-starter from William Wallace Cook's Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots, originally published in 1923 and rereleased by Tin House last December, and invites writers to take a stab at creating a five-hundred word piece of flash fiction based on the prompt.
Entries are due each Monday (there's no fee to enter), and the winning story will be published on Tin House's Open Bar blog. Last week's champion, for a story that builds off the dilemma of a locked hotel room door, is Richard Osgood, "whose wild take on the situation," according to the Tin Housers, "had us thinking of Becker, David Lynch, and highway obstructionists."
Here's a look at this week's challenge, where {A} is the male protagonist and {B} is the female: "{A’s} profession is a hazardous one—aviator, automobile racing driver, steeple jack, “human fly”—and {B} considers this fact an obstacle to their marriage." The complete contest guidelines are posted on the Plotto contest page.
The Rumpus revealed the author of its Dear Sugar advice column is novelist Cheryl Strayed; the Millions investigates the evolving payment models used by literary magazines; Jesse Eisenberg details how NBA basketball standout Jeremy Lin has helped him through tough times; and other news.
Think about a time or incident from your past when you just barely averted disaster. Write a story about it, but change the circumstances so that the disaster actually happens.
In honor of Black History Month, the folks at Open Road Media put together this collection of interviews in which authors such as Alice Walker, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Virginia Hamilton, and others discuss the significance of storytelling as part of African American culture.
Poet Stanley Kunitz often advised his students to end a poem on an image without explaining it. Write a new poem or revise an old one, ending it with an evocative image left unexplained.
The collected love letters between the poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning have been digitized and made freely available online; in the wake of Chris Brown's performance at the recent Grammy Awards, Roxane Gay addresses his diehard fans; GalleyCat explains how to stay positive in the face of rejection; and other news.
