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Relationship Rescue! Courting Your Long-Lost Writing

First, a confession: I’m lousy at prioritizing fiction writing. I let everything else in my life take precedence. I even let other writing take precedence—articles, book reviews, syllabi, comments on student work, status updates, replies to all. And yet, good things have happened to the fiction I’ve written. I know a lot about fiction and…

photograph of the exposed bricks of a destroyed wall, overgrown with ivy

“The Word River Doesn’t Know Edges”: A Playlist for Patricia Smith’s Blood Dazzler

Patricia Smith’s Blood Dazzler, a 2008 poetry collection inspired by Hurricane Katrina, reads like a broken heart.  It is open and honest and raw.  The voices of those who survived Katrina, and those who did not, are both unspeakably sad and incredulous.  “Louisiana,” says one nursing home resident in the poem “34,” “goddamn. You lied to…

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An Interview with Reese Okyong Kwon

Reese Okyong Kwon’s writing has appeared in the Believer, Kenyon Review, Southern Review, and elsewhere. She has been named one of Narrative’s “30 Below 30” writers, and has received scholarships and fellowships from Yaddo, Ledig House, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. After her story “Victoria Falls Hotel” appeared in the Winter 2012-2013 issue of…

an "order of service" for "The Lame Reading" lists out a series of four items: "1. invite author 2. coax suckers to attend 3. read some words out loud 4. benediction by The Right Reverend No one Will Remember" on "Saturday April 2nd, 1966 at 7:30 pm"

So… Readings. What’s the point?

If you’re a writer, you’ve likely subjected yourself to awkward, lifeless Readings enough times to wonder whether there’s still a purpose for these mysterious liturgies. We probably don’t need an old time tent revival (I hope not!)… But asking, “what’s the point?” may be long overdue. What I mean is: perhaps who/whatever began the institution of the Public Reading regarded…

cover of the literary magazine Ninth Letter

The Best Story I Read in a Lit Mag This Week: “Mort Naturelle” by Ricardo Nuila

For most of us, our bodies can be mysteries, but in Ricardo Nuila’s story “Mort Naturelle,” we find them painfully explained. Here’s what happens to a spleen when a parachute doesn’t deploy; here’s how a jaw disappears when it’s been blasted with birdshot; here’s the sinewy tendons from a neck wedged in a closed elevator,…