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.”
- With thanks to M.A. Orthofer for summarizing: “Yet another minor book-reviewing-in-our-times brouhaha of sorts: the Editors at n+1 recently published a piece on Critical Attrition: What’s the matter with book reviews ? — and then Christian Lorentzen responded, at Gawker, with The Intellectuals Are Having a Situation (who: “found the points it made about book reviewing mostly irrelevant, distracting, and ultimately anti-intellectual”).
- In which Sangeeta Mehta asks literary agents Michelle Brower and Jennifer Chen Tran to demystify the process of publishing with a small press.
- Via email, the Library of America has reminded me that its series of online programs launched just over a year ago. “The LOA Live archives have something for everyone—programs on poetry, history and politics, the natural world, music and theater, and more. Details about all past LOA Live programs are available, along with videos, at www.loa.org/events.”
- From Allison K. Williams: “Some thoughts on how to make the most of attending a writing conference,” whether in-person or online. (Also: Massive congrats to Allison on this recent, richly-deserved award.)
- And you’ll find some new flash fiction by Peter Orner, and lots more, collected in the latest Jewish-lit links on the My Machberet blog.
Have a good, safe weekend, everyone.
