As the lighting of the first Chanukah candle approaches, the Academy of American Poets provides Poems for Chanukah. For those who celebrate it, Happy Chanukah. For everyone, have a great weekend and see you back here on Monday.
If you’re one of those writers who yearns to attend the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference but who, for whatever reason, has never quite made it to Vermont, you may be especially glad to know that you can download readings and lectures presented at the Conference. Free! Without traveling! (Hat tip to Celeste Ng/the FWR blog for reminding me that this resource is available.)
Jane Friedman has compiled a list of “Twitter Tips for Writers.” Which will come in handy, no doubt, once I cave in and launch a Twitter account/feed of my own. (See also Robert Lee Brewer’s Twitter Cheat Sheet for Writers.)
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I may be behind the times insofar as Twitter is concerned, but after witnessing David Pogue present at a conference last week, I definitely know where to go to learn more about technology more broadly. For example, this video has taught me something about e-readers–while making me smile.
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And speaking of e-readers, did you hear the news that The Atlantic has begun publishing stories exclusively on the Kindle? (For some good commentary on this, see Midge Raymond’s post here.)
“Every writer is faced with the same question: do you write about what you know or what you don’t know? Some of my writing students, particularly my undergraduates, err to one extreme or the other. They write simply what they know, which is a transcript of Friday night’s keg party, or simply what they don’t know, which is Martians. What they need to do—and here I’m quoting a former writing teacher of mine—is write what they know about what they don’t know or what they don’t know about what they know.”
Source: Joshua Henkin, “Risk,” Glimmer Train Bulletin #35
So, now that I know my way to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, I’m even more interested in the programs offered there this winter.
Here’s one January event that looks especially interesting:
PANEL DISCUSSION
Sunday, January 24, 1:30 p.m.
How to Write Our Parents’ Wars
Panel discussion and memoir writing workshop with Judith Greenberg (Cypora’s Echo), Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer (Ghosts of Home), Irene Kacandes (Daddy’s War: Greek American Stories), Nancy Kricorian (Zabelle), and Gabriele Schwab (Haunting Legacies); moderated by Nancy K. Miller (Bequest and Betrayal: Memoirs of a Parent’s Death)
Writers and critics in history and literary studies will discuss the challenges we face in bringing the complicated narratives of the past into the present. Following the discussion, audience members can participate in a memoir writing workshop in small groups led by individual panelists. Pre-registration for the workshop is required.
$10, $7 students/seniors, $5 members
For more information, click here.