Posts Tagged ‘Literary life’
Finding Your Literary Community
At this year’s annual gathering of the Community of Writers, I was honored to give the opening talk. Here are my remarks. *** I’m so happy to be here… to help celebrate the rollicking and generous spirit that has infused our Community all these years. How many first-timers are here today? Raise your hands… …
Read MoreGuidebooks to Sin
At opening night of the 2017 Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans, I met a librarian who also happens to be a champion ham kicker. She shimmied her way onto the stage of Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre in New Orleans in a sparkly black top and full-length skirt. Channeling the spirit of one…
Read MoreDispatches From Squaw’s Annual High-Altititude Literary Gathering
Almost a decade ago, I joined the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley for an intensive, week-long non-fiction workshop. It was a summer camp-like experience in the high Sierras. Each morning, about a dozen of us in the non-fiction workshop gathered around a table to critique each other’s manuscripts — usually discussing two submissions each…
Read MoreCall Me Ishmael: Herman Melville and the San Francisco Opera
It is one of the most memorable first sentences of a novel ever written. With three simple words, it draws us into the story, lets us know who the narrator is, and hints at dramatic transformations to come. This opening line – Call me Ishmael – was written by Herman Melville in his epic about…
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