Best American Poetry- Summer of Fruit Tarts--Cherry-maniaOh, cherries--how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. You are a small bomb of sweetness that explodes on the tongue like a day in summer. There are so many ways to take advantage of the glorious cherry. First, of course, you eat them raw like candy. I'm teaching a class on the letters of the poets next year, and I'm reading Sylvia Plath's t […]
- Double Bottom [by Lera Auerbach]Ink on Paper by Lera Auerbach When I was twelve, my parents took me camping near Lake Inyshko. Supposedly, in this lake, Yemelyan Pugachev buried his stolen treasure. The treasure was never found because Lake Inyshko has two bottoms. The first bottom appears solid, just like the floor of a lake, but it’s not – there is a deeper depth beneath it with more w […]
- A Guide to Philosophy in Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes [by Witold Gombrowicz]Who hasn’t wished for a painless way to find out what the big shots of philosophy – the Hegels and Kants, the Nietzsches and Sartres – thought of the human condition? It has never made for easy reading, the pondering of such formidable thinkers, and most explainers and textbooks tend either to get things wrong or to massacre the language. Still, the reader a […]
- The Will to Live [by David Lehman]“They say that Schopenhauer [pictured] is pessimistic. That is not saying very much. [His] is a grandiose and tragic vision which, unfortunately, coincides perfectly with reality.” – Witold Gombrowicz, A Guide to Philosophy in Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes Arthur Schopenhauer was a competitive man who felt nothing but scorn for Hegel. So he scheduled his phi […]
- Summer of Fruit Tarts--Cherry-mania
- World Literature Today
- As Popular as a Soccer Star, by Peter LaSalleTravels in Literature Mural in Cartagena / Photo by Kirk Siang / Flickr In Colombia, the popularity of Gabriel García Márquez rivals that of the country’s most famous soccer players. Could one imagine a better tribute to the value of literature itself? I learned something pretty important, I’d say, about Gabriel García Márquez when I was in Colombia a few su […]
- Jim Harrison’s Meatballs, by J. R. PattersonCulture Photo by slgckgc / Flickr Returning home to Manitoba, J. R. Patterson finds writer Jim Harrison’s meatballs are the comfort food he needs. There’s nothing quite like diving into a good meal, unless it’s a good meal with company who know what you know. The home turf is always the best place to find people who know what you know, though returning home […]
- Art as a “Catalyst for Conversations”: A Conversation with Philbrook Curator Susan Green, by Michelle JohnsonCulture Adrian Aguilera (Mexican, b. 1981) and Betelhem Makonnen (Ethiopian American, b. 1972), untitled (a flag for John Lewis or a green screen placeholder for an America that is yet to be), 2020 (installation view). Printed standard flag fabric, 144 x 240 in. Courtesy of the artists. © Adrian Aguilera and Betelhem Makonnen. From the Limitations of Now, Ph […]
- The Marx Brothers Go to a Masked Ball: César Aira’s Lugones, by Will H. CorralBook Reviews César Aira / Photo by Nina Subin / Courtesy of New Directions A canonical writer of the fantastic and foundational modernista poet, the reactionary polymath Leopoldo Lugones (1874–1938) was considered Argentina’s greatest “official” writer during his lifetime. Admired by Borges, he committed suicide at an island inn outside Buenos Aires, profess […]
- As Popular as a Soccer Star, by Peter LaSalle
Category Archives: Fiction for Young Readers
Poor Eddie
An introduction for children on the perils of the writing life. On a bitterly cold January 19 in 1809, little Edgar Poe was born into a new and troubling world. His parents were poor stage actors. When Edgar turned … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction for Young Readers, writing
Tagged biography, books, creative nonfiction, edgar allan poe, humor, poe, writing, young readers
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The Artist and Ganymede
There was an old artist with his cat named Ganymede. They sat before a window high in a tower. Below was the market, above was the sky, and a circus on rooftops where all animals could fly. In the morning … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction for Young Readers, middle grade fiction, Prose and Poetry, writing
Tagged fantasy, poetry
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Friendship at VCFA, where the magic is real
During this summer’s residency in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the Vermont College of Fine Art, I was one of six student lecturers sharing critical insights regarding picture book authorship. My presentation focused on the textual reference to … Continue reading
The Vermont Adventure – day six
Today consisted mainly of graduate lectures and readings as well as our third workshop. Tonight the students will learn who their advisors are for the next six months, so there is a lot of anticipation. The second-semester students also threw … Continue reading
