Lost Without the River: A Memoir
Lost Without the River: A Memoir by Barbara Hoffbeck Scoblic. Published by She Writes Press. Barbara Hoffbeck grew up during the Great Depression on a small dairy farm outside Big Stone City in northeastern South Dakota. South Dakota was not…
Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II
Current events sometimes justify reviewing a book published years ago, especially if the book helps readers better understand their world today. Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II by Nobel Laureate Svetlana…
I Could Name God in Twelve Ways: Essays
At one point early in her new book of essays, I Could Name God in Twelve Ways, Karen Salyer McElmurray writes, “With memoir, we become accountable.” Later, she wants to be clear: “Memoir is a difficult act….It speaks toward the truth,…
Wanting Radiance: A Novel
Set in the backdrop of the Appalachian landscape, Karen Salyer McElmurray’s novel, Wanting Radiance, is the extraordinary story of one woman's heroic quest to unravel the dark mysteries of her origins.
The Death of a Jaybird
Across cultural heritage, certain kinds of courage endure. One of them is at the core of Jodi M. Savage’s collection.
The Baghdad Eucharist
Iraqi novelist and poet Sinan Antoon's The Baghdad Eucharist is an unforgettable novel of memory, loss, love and diaspora. Shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2013.
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, More or Less
Geoffrey Dutton reviews this transfixing collection of "fictions" by Luke O’Neil that features animals large and small, perhaps the least interesting of which are Homo sapiens.
My Xanthi
Even the sixty-six-year-old attorney Nick Milonas, the protagonist in Stephanie Cotsirilos’ novella My Xanthi, learns over thirty years of legal practice that justice has its own terrain, and sometimes jurisprudence may not be what it should…
One Curious Doctor – A Memoir of Medicine, Migration and Mortality
Hilton Koppe opens a window into the inner world of a family practitioner through a focus on the doctor/patient relationship and deep self-reflections on the complexities and mysteries of attending to the living and the dying.
Yellowface
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang breaks open the pitfalls of a publishing industry in today's cultural economy. It is an unsettling read by a masterful storyteller.
The Writer’s Journey
Becoming a Writer to Teach History, Justice, and Peace
My story starts with a stepladder. Its stainless-steel frame and rubber-traction feature secured my footing as from it I accessed Dad’s bookshelves on the dining room wall of our Manhattan apartment in childhood. I was a voracious reader although not yet a writer, but hindsight shows the journey launched then. The Armada by…
My Writing Journey
Words have been my whole life. My mother says I read the telephone directory and newspaper at age two, a preposterous but telling story, because when I was young, there were no books.
Reading, Writing, and Finding My Place
I’m a reader. For a long time, I used to think there was a huge difference between being a reader and a writer…but not anymore.
Interviews
Patricia Pasick: “Being a writer means opening yourself to experience.”
"What I learned then was that writing would become another place for my heart and soul. I also learned it was possible to write and publish about people I know and loved and still keep a relationship with them."
Julie Benesh: “we have so much in common that connects us, and writers need to tap into that awareness.”
"Since then, in my professional life as an educator and researcher I learned more about how our nervous systems work, how our mind is in all our nerves throughout our bodies…and how, different as we all may be, we have so much in common that connects us, and writers need to tap into that awareness."
Patrick T. Reardon: “I’m not looking for peace. I’m wanting to feel all of life—”
"People want to know if, in writing so many poems that deal with David, I’m finding peace. I’m not looking for peace. I’m wanting to feel all of life — all of my share of joy and pain, all of my share of beauty and darkness."
Stephanie Cotsirilos: “the desire to read felt like thirst”
"You see, I don’t believe you should write only about what you know. You take what you know to explore the infinite territory of what you don’t know…"
Essay
Creativity is the Human Condition
Throughout the majority of humanity’s existence, creativity has been regarded as a mystical enigma. Architect and architecture critic Robert Furneaux Jordan asserted that “to comprehend [creativity] fully would be to be God. We can never comprehend God.” Thanks to this prevailing opinion, it wasn’t until the late 1940s that the study of creativity even started down the path toward…
Excavations of the Mind
Freedom Dawn’s soft sun seeps through left and right forests that defer in a letter V bow to light. I rise in shadows for a gratitude prayer that precedes the aurora’s arrival, spiritual ballast for passage through a meditation that precedes the challenges this day. Silence spawns memories, reflections, questions. Rodney and the “Ring Lady” rise in mind, he whose shunned though…
Liu Xiaobo: Tyranny, Freedom of Conscience, and the Incompleteness of the Individual
After Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, I followed the news about him—this dissident public intellectual who had given the Chinese government a major headache. Having read many books about nonviolent thought and action, I sensed that Liu Xiaobo’s life and writing could deepen my understanding further: He believed that words followed by action could change the direction of a country.
Longform
The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine
Ben Ehrenreich, on assignment for Harper’s magazine, went to Palestine’s West Bank in 2011 to report on Israel’s water war with Palestine. The Way to the Spring is based on his eye-witness account of life in the West Bank—in the village of Nabi Saleh and the cities of Hebron and Ramallah.
No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems
Liu Xiaobo is the author of hundreds of essays and seventeen books. Most of the essays in No Enemies, No Hatred are from the period between 2004 and 2008, and reflect, in the service of freedom of speech, how words followed by action can change the direction of a country.
Tiger and Clay – Syria Fragments
“There are memories for which we can live more than a life time.” —Brother of Rana Abdulfattah Photographs over the past several years have shown migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea, some of them dying as they flee war, poverty, drought, and authoritarian regimes. The headlines and photos may have made some readers immune to their plight, even angry, but they might think again if they read Tiger and Clay – Syria Fragments by the poet Rana Abdulfattah. Once engaged,…
The Serpent Papers
The Serpent Papers is about the completion of Joseph Bell’s soul. This battle is fought within and without, and the outcome determines whether his soul lives or dies.
Frottage & Even As We Speak: Two Novellas
Ingeniously crafted and each uniquely their own, the two novellas in Mona Houghton's <em>Frottage & Even As We Speak</em> transport and transfix the reader through the emotional turmoil and change of their characters. Winner of the 2012 Gold Award (Book of the Year in Literary Fiction).
From the Archive
Hitler: Ascent, 1889–1939
As the son of a WW II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, I grew up hearing stories from my Dad about his personal experiences in the war. I picked up Volker Ullrich's Hitler: Ascent, 1889–1939 because I wanted to know more about Hitler the man: his roots, his formative years, his path to Führer, the choices he made along that path. "If anything, he will emerge as even more horrific."
Two Novels that Strike Close to Home: On Finding Oneself in a Book
Geoffrey Dutton looks at the "book-within-a-book" literary device, as used in the 2015 novel Disclaimer— and his upcoming novel Her Own Devices.
An Architect Aims for Creativity and Discovers Writing
To refine her skills as an architect, Nicole Voss went searching for the meaning of creativity. What she found was writing.
How Storytelling Can Guide Us: On Toni Morrison’s “God Help the Child”
What impresses me most about the storytelling and the writing of God Help the Child is how carefully Ms. Morrison chooses when to reveal what needs to be revealed so we can begin to understand the inner motivation of the characters’ journeys.
Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II
Current events sometimes justify reviewing a book published years ago, especially if the book helps readers better understand their world today. Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children…
I Could Name God in Twelve Ways: Essays
At one point early in her new book of essays, I Could Name God in Twelve Ways, Karen Salyer McElmurray writes, “With memoir, we become accountable.” Later, she wants to be clear: “Memoir is a…
Wanting Radiance: A Novel
Set in the backdrop of the Appalachian landscape, Karen Salyer McElmurray’s novel, Wanting Radiance, is the extraordinary story of one woman's heroic quest to unravel the dark mysteries of her…
The Death of a Jaybird
Across cultural heritage, certain kinds of courage endure. One of them is at the core of Jodi M. Savage’s collection.
Interviews
Patricia Pasick: “Being a writer means opening yourself to experience.”
"What I learned then was that writing would become another place for my heart and soul. I also learned it was possible to write and publish about people I know and loved and still keep a relationship with them."
Julie Benesh: “we have so much in common that connects us, and writers need to tap into that awareness.”
"Since then, in my professional life as an educator and researcher I learned more about how our nervous systems work, how our mind is in all our nerves throughout our bodies…and how, different as we all may be, we have so much in common that connects us, and writers need to tap into that awareness."
Patrick T. Reardon: “I’m not looking for peace. I’m wanting to feel all of life—”
"People want to know if, in writing so many poems that deal with David, I’m finding peace. I’m not looking for peace. I’m wanting to feel all of life — all of my share of joy and pain, all of my share of beauty and darkness."
Stephanie Cotsirilos: “the desire to read felt like thirst”
"You see, I don’t believe you should write only about what you know. You take what you know to explore the infinite territory of what you don’t know…"
The Writer’s Journey
Glimpses, as if with peripheral vision
Patrick T. Reardon's poetry and writing are deeply rooted in his experience growing up in the Catholic church, his reading of great works, and his grief of tragic loss.
This, Too, Is Literacy
Stephanie Cotsirilos' writers' journey challenges a traditional notion of "literacy" and argues that culture, art, and experience are this, too.
Writing About the Chaqwa
Sandro Piedrahita's return to Peru at age 22, at the height of Shining Path terrorist activity, framed a lifetime of writing about the characters and stories in the Shining Path war.
Essay
Document 14
Michael McQuillan exhorts Americans to heed Orwell's prophetic work 1984, and through the poem "Document 14," Michael draws attention to the breakdown of society as we know it today.
Creativity is the Human Condition
Throughout the majority of humanity’s existence, creativity has been regarded as a mystical enigma. Architect and architecture critic Robert Furneaux Jordan asserted that “to comprehend…
Parts of Me: Reflections on Reviewing The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
In this Writer's Journey essay, Carol Ann Wilson shares how, in reading and reviewing The 1619 Project, she also uncovers "parts of a bigger me to be discovered and explored."
Longform reviews
The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine
Ben Ehrenreich, on assignment for Harper’s magazine, went to Palestine’s West Bank in 2011 to report on Israel’s water war with Palestine. The Way to the Spring is based on his eye-witness…
No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems
Liu Xiaobo is the author of hundreds of essays and seventeen books. Most of the essays in No Enemies, No Hatred are from the period between 2004 and 2008, and reflect, in the service of…
Tiger and Clay – Syria Fragments
“There are memories for which we can live more than a life time.” —Brother of Rana Abdulfattah Photographs over the past several years have shown migrants and refugees crossing the…
The Serpent Papers
The Serpent Papers is about the completion of Joseph Bell’s soul. This battle is fought within and without, and the outcome determines whether his soul lives or dies.
Longform reviews
The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine
Ben Ehrenreich, on assignment for Harper’s magazine, went to Palestine’s West Bank in 2011 to report on Israel’s water war with Palestine. The Way to the Spring is based on his eye-witness…
No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems
Liu Xiaobo is the author of hundreds of essays and seventeen books. Most of the essays in No Enemies, No Hatred are from the period between 2004 and 2008, and reflect, in the service of…
Tiger and Clay – Syria Fragments
“There are memories for which we can live more than a life time.” —Brother of Rana Abdulfattah Photographs over the past several years have shown migrants and refugees crossing the…
The Serpent Papers
The Serpent Papers is about the completion of Joseph Bell’s soul. This battle is fought within and without, and the outcome determines whether his soul lives or dies.
From the Archive
Hitler: Ascent, 1889–1939
As the son of a WW II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, I grew up hearing stories from my Dad about his personal experiences in the war. I picked up Volker Ullrich's Hitler: Ascent, 1889–1939 because I wanted to know more about Hitler the man: his roots, his formative years, his path to Führer, the choices he made along that path. "If anything, he will emerge as even more horrific."
Two Novels that Strike Close to Home: On Finding Oneself in a Book
Geoffrey Dutton looks at the "book-within-a-book" literary device, as used in the 2015 novel Disclaimer— and his upcoming novel Her Own Devices.
An Architect Aims for Creativity and Discovers Writing
To refine her skills as an architect, Nicole Voss went searching for the meaning of creativity. What she found was writing.
How Storytelling Can Guide Us: On Toni Morrison’s “God Help the Child”
What impresses me most about the storytelling and the writing of God Help the Child is how carefully Ms. Morrison chooses when to reveal what needs to be revealed so we can begin to understand the inner motivation of the characters’ journeys.