My essay travels from early childhood experiences with writing and literature, family influences, and my journey with poetry, in relation to my connection with community, activism, the “natural” world, and ultimately the “sacred space” of writing -- spirituality.
The author describes his origins of becoming a writer and the inspirations that sustained his career over many years. He will also describe his approach to being a nimble writer in the technological era in which the world currently finds itself.
JP Howard's essay discusses her circuitous path from public interest lawyer to poet, writer, and educator, with particular emphasis on her work as an outspoken black queer poet, literary activist, and curator of a New York-based community literary organization. She pays homage to black lesbian ancestor poet activists Pat Parker and Audre Lorde, who greatly influenced Howard's literary path. She also shares the significance of contemporary black women poets and friends who have motivated and continue to inspire her. Howard talks about growing up in Sugar Hill, Harlem and how she was energized learning about the rich literary history of Harlem when growing up. We learn about the author's unique and inspiring path from successful public interest lawyer to dynamic poet and literary community builder through her Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon. Ultimately, Howard shows us there is no one “right” path to becoming a writer.
Formative experiences that shaped Hrag Vartanian career as a writer, including a meeting with Armenian-Canadian writer Ara Baliozian, and the legacy of his grandfather who survived the Armenian Genocide.
A summary of my experience of being a science writer: why I became one, how I go about it, what I've learned along the way, who helped me, why I still do it.
Part of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books, edited by Sharon Louden, Artists as Writers offers first-person narratives that explore the day-to-day lives of individuals who use writing as both a creative practice and a means of sustaining their daily lives.
This collection features thirty-two chapters where writers share their insights, offering pathways for others to follow. They delve into how they balance multiple roles, the choices they made, the challenges they faced, and the successes they achieved.
Contributors include writers from Ethiopia, Jamaica, Guatemala, Nigeria, Palestine, Poland, Sweden, and the United States , who vividly recount the circuitous journeys that brought them to where they are today. Through richly detailed stories, they reveal how writing became a central force in their lives and how it continues to sustain them emotionally, creatively, and financially.
My essay traces my development as a writer. I was born in Guatemala in 1950 and when I was four years of age, my family emigrated to the United States. This transition––from a Central American country to Hialeah, Florida––was particularly painful because I needed to learn a new language and take part in a very different culture.
“There once was a popular soap opera called The Village Headmaster. It aired weekly on television sets all over Nigeria in the late 1970s. It made millions howl with laughter. It was appointment viewing in those heady days just before and after FESTAC '77, before Nigerian movies made in Nollywood exploded and sucked up all the onscreen entertainment in Africa. I quite recall sitting on the floor to watch a small black and white television in our living room at 27 Lugard Avenue, in Ikoyi. Back then Ikoyi was mostly residential. And bucolic. And, compared to now, it seemed sparse. There was little traffic on its narrow streets and the large trees provided shade to pedestrians.”
On making a life as a poet and writer by putting oneself in the way to catch the inspiration all around one like a net, while filtering out and through the difficult obstacles of life.
It was only after receiving my Master of Arts in jazz that I stumbled upon an opportunity to write about Black history. In 1999, a consortium of New York professionals working on a project called the Strivers Center Project—to revitalize 135th Street in Harlem—invited me to conduct secondary research on Harlem's rich Black history. I was longing for this opportunity! I dived in with complete abandon, reading every book on the subject that I could get my hands on. I knew that this opportunity could possibly open doors for me beyond being a singer and musician, to become an historian and a writer, something I privately longed for. I produced a paper titled “What Made Harlem Famous” and the finalized Strivers Center Project resulted in a Harlem Walk of Fame, installed on West 135th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.”
“To describe the new dynamism of public relations, criticism, and creative practice,adding to the many art world -isms, the essay discusses PR-ism: public relations as a tool to navigate the art world, that will be part of the archive. This perspective opens up possibilities for increasing not only intentionality and experimentation in art, but also potential world-building, by allowing the accumulated material to become an extension of the artistic practice it supports. In addition, using Cultbytes, an online art publication, as a case study, the essay discusses the state of art criticism and independent media in the United States.”
This is an essay about memory and time as it relates to the creative process. In it, Maaza Mengiste shares her thoughts on how a writer grapples with time both on the page and in life.
“What is professional writing?” As a professional writer, a qualitative researcher, and a teacher of professional writing, Dr. Kristine Rodriguez Kerr explores 20 years of answering this question and the importance of recognizing and supporting the writing that individuals are contributing to the modern, working world.
