Category Archives: On Writing
Unexplained Fevers and Burn This House—Blisteringly good poetry
We know the story: A beauty at the mercy of a mean stepmother or wicked witch is trapped in a tower or glass coffin awaiting rescue by a huntsman or a prince. Beauty, youth, passivity are the salient female characteristics … Continue reading
Posted in On Writing, People
An Interview with Jaina Sanga
I met Jaina Sanga in 2009 when we were both associate artists at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. I remember hearing her read her work and being struck by how clearly I could visual … Continue reading
Posted in On Writing, People
An Interview with Deborah Miranda
Deborah Miranda’s book Bad Indians (Heyday) is a powerful collage of oral histories, personal narrative, poems, newspaper clippings and haunting photographs. Reading Deborah’s personal story within the larger story of her California Indian ancestors is sobering, unsettling, and absorbing. Deborah … Continue reading
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The Next Big Thing—Skinny, awkward brown girl
Wendy Call, author of No Word for Welcome (winner of the Grub Street 2011 National Book Prize in Non-Fiction), tagged me in the Internet chain game in which writers answer a set of questions about their next writing project. You … Continue reading
Posted in Events, On Writing, People
An Interview with Poet Annette Spaulding-Convy
“Annette Spaulding-Convy was a nun and she is a poet.” This simple sentence by Hilda Raz encapsulates for me the beauty of Annette Spaulding-Convy’s book of poems In Broken Latin. There are the contrasting verb tenses that demarcate past from … Continue reading
Posted in On Writing, People
Creating a Scene with Charles Baxter
One of my favorite sections in Charles Baxter’s The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot is “Creating a Scene.” Baxter points out that “In daily life, a writer may practice conflict-avoidance, but in fiction a writer must welcome conflict and walk … Continue reading
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The Big Picture, Loose Ends, and the Dream Deferred at the L.A. Times Festival of Books
At the L.A. Times Festival of Books held April 21 and 22 on the USC campus, I was at the author table at the Philippine Expressions Bookshop booth for two hours each on Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the … Continue reading
Posted in Events, On Writing, People, Places
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Small Presses, Big Pleasures
While there are exceptions, it’s rare that short story collections are published by the large presses. Thank goodness for small presses, without which readers would not have the vast pleasure of short story collections such as the ones I’ll mention … Continue reading
Posted in On Writing
About Cheryl Strayed’s WILD
I don’t often read memoir. I’m primarily a reader of fiction, drawn to imagined characters whose stories, when artfully told, hit you in the gut with your own fears, desires, and missteps. (Brief digression to laud the most recent work … Continue reading
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Reading and Writing in San Diego
When I was in San Diego last month to participate in the Kartika Review reading and fundraiser (which, by the way, was a total blast), I decided to attend the San Diego State University Writers’ Conference happening that weekend. It’s … Continue reading
Posted in Events, On Writing
