Finds for Writers
Most Fridays the Practicing Writing blog shares writing and publishing resources, news, and reflections to peruse over the weekend. But it’s been an excruciating week for so many of us. And frankly, I’ve paid next-to-no attention to garden-variety news from the writing and publishing spheres.
On Wednesday, however, I received an email from Facing History and Ourselves, a Boston-based global nonprofit organization that I’ve admired for many years. The email introduced a “mini-lesson” titled “Processing Attacks in Israel and the Outbreak of War in the Region.”
The resource isn’t perfect. (What resource is?) But one of its segments impressed me as something that, though intended for educators and students, could be clarifying for writers as well, in our work and in the rest of our lives. It’s a section titled “Avoiding Antisemitic and Islamophobic Tropes in Discussing Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”
- First things first: The February issue of The Practicing Writer went out to subscribers this morning. As always, it’s overflowing with fee-free opportunities that pay writers for winning/published work. You can also find it posted at ErikaDreifus.substack.com.
- More on l’Affaire American Dirt: I’ve encountered a number of recommendations to spend some time with this NPR broadcast reported by Maria Hinojosa. I haven’t managed to do so yet—but I plan to.
- Have I reminded you lately to read Ron Charles’s weekly Washington Post “Book World” newsletter? This week’s edition is reliably well-done, covering a number of things I could have mentioned in today’s post (but Ron always does this work so much better).
- Here’s something happy: “The Academy of American Poets has received what is believed to be the largest grant ever made by a philanthropic institution to support poets in the United States—$4.5 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The unprecedented grant will enable the Academy of American Poets to fund its Poets Laureate Fellowship program for the next three years.” (HT Publishers Lunch)
- And there’s another batch of Jewish-lit links up on the My Machberet blog—including a link to a new bookish piece from yours truly.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
