Friday Finds for Writers

Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.

  • From our pal John Griswold (“Oronte Churm”): “What’s astonishing to me is that some strange confluence of focused interest on a professional sidebar, hard work, and dumb luck will soon put me in the archives at Chekhov’s Moscow house, at his grave in Novodevichy Cemetery, and, yes, at Melikhovo, where museum administrators have graciously invited me to stay the night on the estate.” John says he’s hoping “that an essay will come of it all.” So am I! (This is a good time to mention John’s latest book, which I’m hoping dearly to get to soon.)
  • Over on the Ploughshares blog, Anca Szilagyi shares “some ways you might explore the sense of smell in your writing.”
  • In The New York Times Felicia R. Lee writes about a “New Wave of African Writers With an Internationalist Bent.”
  • From the Association of Writers & Writing Programs: “It is with regret that we announce that AWP’s decades-old dossier service will be coming to an end in March 2015. Do you have recommendation letters stored with us here at AWP? Please read on to learn more about the transition.”
  • New addition to the blogroll: NPR’s Social Media Desk, “sharing what we learn in the social space.”
  • Have a great weekend, everyone, and Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!