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.”

- “A [poetic] form called the Golden Shovel honors the poet Gwendolyn Brooks, and you just need a newspaper to get started.” Fabulous column by Leah Umansky for The New York Times.
- Speaking of poetry: a great roundup of #NationalPoetryMonth info from the National Writing Project.
- Via Cincinnati Review: some thoughts on “building writing community in the digital age.”
- ICYMI: the April newsletter, filled with fee-free/paying opportunities for writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, went out to subscribers on Wednesday.
- And of course, you can find a fresh set of Jewish-lit links over on the My Machberet blog. Included this week: news of a new prize that may interest writers.
Have a wonderful weekend!
