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Life, Love, and Literature:      

Continuing the Conversation


June 2013

 

In This Issue
Dads & Grads Wish
June Calendar
Check Out Our Website
Quick Links to Our Site



 The Grateful Read

Dear Friends of Creative Writing,

 

We have winners! The drawing for copies of We Wanted to Be Writers produced these lucky recipients, listed with their favorite literary moms: Marian Evans of Wellington NZ: "Beautiful Muriel (Rukeyser), mother of everyone!" Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons of Lafayette, CA: "Mrs. Quimby, Maramee, Sharon Sedaris, the list is endless!" Harvey Freedenberg of Harrisburg, PA: "T.S. Garp's mother, Jenny Fields in The World According to Garp, by John Irving." Don't miss our kickass list of all entries in the Mom Project.

 

We were gratified by the enthusiasm with which readers and writers responded to our month of mom-themed postings. One poet paid tribute to his cinephile mom, another to the friendship she shared with hers. Geri Lipschultz introduced us to the concept of mothertime in her homage to childless Virginia Woolf, mother of books. Ross Howell's evocative "Wash Day" is the perfect blend of humor, poignancy, and gratitude.

 

Even the excerpts we ran spotlight the authors' respective mothers: the polio mom of a novella, and the long-suffering '50s era mom of a memoir-in-progress. In a nice twist, Don Wallace shared the books by his mom's bed.

 

Speaking of that popular feature, three other terrific writers--Kyle Minor, Matt Debenham, and Sally Koslow--showed us the prodigious stacks of books by their beds. If your to-be-read list isn't already prohibitively long, it will be after this!

 

Moms aren't the only significant objects of May appreciation. In honor of all who have risked their lives serving their country, we reprised our writer's Memorial Day tribute to his dad--and toilet paper and Italian opera.

 

Just in time for the social summer book launch season, and fresh from his triumphant talk for the Willamette Writers Speakers series in Eugene, Eric offers tips for finding your inner extrovert.

 

 

 

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Wishing All Dads and Grads a Terrific Month
Surrounded by Loved Ones and 
Bounteous Good Reads
   

 

swans  

 

 


June Calendar

 

 

Jun 3 -- Jennie Fields reads from The Age of Desire at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike, Nashville, TN 6:30 - 8 pm.

 

Jun 4 -- Blue Willow Bookshop hosts Jennie Fields reading, 14532 Memorial Dr., Houston, TX 7 - 8:30 pm.

 

Jun 5 -- Jennie Fields dinner and reading at Watermark Books, 4701 East Douglas, Wichita, KS 6 - 8:30 pm.

 

Jun 6 -- Jennie Fields in conversation with Laura Moriarty, author of The Chaperone, Rainy Day Books at Unity Temple Sanctuary, 707 West 47th St., Kansas City, MO 7 - 8:30 pm.

 

Jun 7 -- Book Smart hosts Jennie Fields reading, 1511 S. Delaware Place, Tulsa, OK 7 - 8 pm.

 

Jun 10 - 13 -- Joy Harjo at International Conference of Indigenous Archives, Libraries, and Museums, Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa, Santa Ana Pueblo, Albuquerque, NM.

 

Jun 16 -- Hug your or someone else's dad!

 

 

We Wanted to Be WritersAbout the Book
We Wanted to be Writers is a series of conversations among nearly 30 writers-students and their teachers-who were at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in the mid-70s. In the book, we discuss what we learned in the Workshop-and what we didn't learn-and what we learned in the decades since about life, art, the creative process, teaching, the lit biz, and more.
 
Our goal is to provide advice, counsel and analysis, maybe some inspiration, and a cautionary tale or two. Along the way, we also hope to entertain with some good yarns and a little gossip....

Among the talents that emerged in those years-writing, passionately jousting, criticizing, drinking, and debating in the classrooms and barrooms of Iowa City-were the young versions of writers who became John Irving, Jane Smiley, T.C. Boyle, Allan Gurganus, Sandra Cisneros, Joe HaldemanJayne Anne Phillips, Marvin Bell, Michelle Huneven, and many others.

The book is available from Red RoomAmazon, Barnes and Noble, and other booksellers. Booksellers please order directly from the distributor, W.W. Norton. For special sales please contact Kathryn Mennone.

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Check Out Our Website
At our website (wewantedtobewriters.com), you can find out more about our contributors, read excerpts from the book, watch the book trailer, and link to a bookseller to order a copy. We also provide links to resources for writers and teachers of writing, including links to our contributors' websites.

Special features include:
  • For Teachers:  Most of us teach writing, or have taught it. Many of us have set up creative writing programs, or have headed them, or are heading them now. In the book, we discuss teaching, best practices, and of course that question that no one seems to tire of asking: Can writing be taught? On the site, we'll expand on the conversation in the book with a variety of materials on the topic.
  • Ask the Writers:  If you have any questions about writing, the creative process, teaching writing, the lit biz, or anything else having to do with writing, please send them in and we'll weigh in.
  • Resources:  For young writers just getting started, interrupted writers returning after other pursuits, and anyone else who's ever felt the irresistible lure/tyranny of the blank page.

We hope you find this site is a useful resource. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

small book cover
We Wanted to be Writers: Life, Love, and Literature at the Iowa Writers' Workshop � by Eric Olsen and Glenn Schaeffer � A Herman Graf Book � $16.95 paperback original (Can. $21.50) North America (X) � CQ 24 � ISBN 978-1-60239-735-4 � 5 �" x 8 �" � 320 pages � 24 b/w photographs � Reference � AUGUST
 
  
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