Quote of the Day

I came across this quote from Robert Olen Butler in an interview published in Glimmer Train Stories, Winter 2007:

"I stopped writing from my head and began writing from my unconscious. This is the essence of the art form, any art form, actually, and it's the thing I find myself having to teach virtually every student who comes to me, no matter how advanced...
If you go into your unconscious and you don't avert your eyes, and you do that day after day, story after story, book after book, eventually you will break through to a place where you are neither male nor female, neither black, white, red, nor brown, neither Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, nor Jew, neither Vietnamese, American, Albanian, Serbian. You are human. You are human. And if the authenticity comes from that deep place, and if your life experiences are eclectic and broad and intensely observed on the surface levels as well, because that's important, then you can draw that universal human authenticity up through the vessels of characters, who might be, on the surface, quite different from you."

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It's a great interview especially Butler's articulation of the connection between art and the unconscious. I do have one question: how do you work from your unconscious for a long project like a novel? That is what I struggle with, the starting and stopping and trying to reconnect to that "place".

Aracelis Girmay @ Tempe Poetry in April

I was happy to see that Aracelis Girmay will be in Tempe next Wednesday, April 1 at 7pm as part of the Tempe Poetry in April reading series. Girmay is the author of a book of poetry, Teeth, that's beautiful in every way. She is also the author of a children's book, Changing, Changing that's based on Ovid's tales of metamorphoses. Aracelis is the real deal. Don't miss her reading if you're in town.

Lucille Clifton Seminar

The Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA is hosting an intensive week-long seminar this summer on the poetry of Lucille Clifton. The seminar is for high school and college teachers interested in teaching African American Poetry.

There are scholarships and professional development credits for those who participate. I often hear from high school English instructors that they wish they could teach poetry to their students. This seminar is a great way to study the work of a renowned American poet and leave with lesson plans you cn use in the classroom.

For more information go here.

Nudists, Barthelme Bio + Chablis

I once had a writing instructor whose parents were nudists, that's how she grew up. This teacher had a great sense of humor and the stories she brought to our workshop were always quirky, funny, edgy. She introduced me to the work of Donald Barthelme. The New York Times has a review of a new Barthelme biography, Hiding Man, which I want to read. I've always appreciated Barthelme stories like "Chablis" and "The Baby" which capture perfectly the bizarre nature of domestic life. There's a video of Timothy Hutton reading "Chablis" on MTV in the early 90s here.

R.I.P.

I was sorry to read the news that Sylvia Plath's son has committed suicide. Although the Plath suicides, like the David Foster Wallace death, are stories about people struggling with depression, they are sometimes spun as stories about writerly angst. Condolences to the family.

Ursula LeGuin

Check out the BBC profile of science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin. It's an audio file that includes an author interview, a snippet from Margaret Atwood about LeGuin, and excerpts of LeGuin's work read aloud. My nine-year old is deep into the Harry Potter series right now, but I can't wait to introduce him to LeGuin and Octavia Butler.

Lit Bits

Interested in what book an author took to a restaurant to read? Look here.

Paule Marshall, author of Brown Girl, Brownstones, and my fave, Praisesong for the Widow, has a new memoir.

Tayari Jones is the hardest working woman in Letters. Check the video.

Books that I spied on the metro this morning: The Life Room by Jill Bialosky and the bible.