Friday Finds for Writers

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Writing-related resources, news, and reflections to peruse over the weekend.

  • The latest installment of Frontier Poetry‘s “Editors Talk Poetry Acceptances” column features Kristen George Bagndanov from Ruminate Magazine.
  • “Must an essay collection have a theme?” So begins Randon Billings Noble’s craft essay in the latest issue of Brevity.
  • On the Kenyon Review blog, Laura Maylene Walter writes: “In April, I traveled to Amsterdam for a week (I know, my life is so hard), where I spent an afternoon in the Van Gogh Museum. The collection inspired me not only with its images—sunflowers, wheat fields, self-portraits, cypress—but with stories surrounding Vincent van Gogh’s life and career. The more time I spent wandering the museum, in fact, the more I came to believe that the way Van Gogh lived, painted, and struggled may hold some lessons for the writers among us.” The post that follows articulates 10 of those lessons.
  • This week brought news of the death of writer Binyavanga Wainaina. In tributes, lots of people have cited his Granta piece “How to Write About Africa.”
  • And over on the My Machberet blog, there’s a fresh batch of Jewish-lit links, including a magnificent essay by Sara Lippmann on the dismantling of a Jewish library.
  • Have a wonderful weekend.

    3 thoughts on “Friday Finds for Writers

    1. MF says:

      Hi! Great blog. My only comment is that the strange fetishness of Van Gogh seems to continue unabated. No one seems to mind or care that he suffered from MENTAL ILLNESS. With all this hero worshipping going on this important fact is often obscured and treated as some sort of side note. Mental illness is not something to emulate. I feel sad that he and many of us today like him are not treated.

      Thanks
      ~MF

      1. Erika Dreifus says:

        My guess is that for many of us, his mental-health challenges make his achievements all the more impressive. That’s the case for me, at any rate.

      2. C. Venzon says:

        I agree, MF. A close reading of Walter’s essay shows that she doesn’t take his mental illness lightly either. He might have created many other, equally moving works had he not had to battle the psychologically sapping strain of depression.

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