With all the driving I’ve done the last couple weeks, I’ve been drafting poems aloud again & recording them on voice memo. I haven’t yet typed them up but I have transcribed them in my notebook. I’m waiting for the page, at least for a little bit. I will be writing about composing aloud for my next Ploughshares post, and I hope to draw on the experiences of other writers and make connections between craft choices and the method of composition.
Discussion on Parity and Decolonization in Literary Editing & Publishing
Before my Literary Editing & Publishing class yesterday, my students completed the following reading assignments:
Read “Self-Portrait of the Artist as Ungrateful Black Writer” by Saeed Jones and “They Pretend to Be Us While Pretending We Don’t Exist” by Jenny Zhang on Buzzfeed; “Sherman Alexie Speaks Out on the Best American Poetry 2015” on The Best American Poetry blog; “Have They Run Out of Provinces Yet?” by Calvin Trillin in The New Yorker; “Have They Run Out of White Poets Yet?” and “regarding the yellowface poet” by Franny Choi; “Diversity in Book Publishing Isn’t Just About Writers — Marketing Matters, Too” by Jean Ho, “Decolonize, Not Diversify” by Kavita Bhanot on Moodle; “Cate Marvin Discusses the VIDA Count: An Interview” (pgs. 279–284) and “Counting Bodies: Notes for Further Consideration” (285–286) by Marcelle Heath in Paper Dreams.
In class, they discussed editorial responsibilities toward the parity and decolonization of publishing. They broke down the semantic differences between “diversity” and “decolonization,” and they discussed the impact on writers of editorial biases through first-hand accounts and poetic responses by Saeed Jones and Franny Choi. In addition to the articles and works above, we read excerpts from “On Pandering” by Claire Vaye Watkins, and I charged my students with interrogating their own implicit and explicit biases. We discussed again the idea that there’s no one literary tradition, that there’s many literary traditions and the “canon” is just one of those traditions. We considered appropriation’s history within western literary culture and the ongoing negative impact it has on creative work. We also talked about how, ideally, all editors should frequently interrogate their own tastes, aesthetics, and biases so that they don’t become lazy in their work. This was one of the most important classes that I think I’ve ever facilitated, and my students had a great deal of insight, questions, and concerns to contribute during the discussion. Many of them were horrified to find out about these issues in publishing and how these implicit biases were sometimes ignored by editors.
“Imitation” Exercise for Poetry Workshop
In this exercise, my Poetry Workshop students are introduced to poetic imitations by imitating the poems from the October 2016 issue of Poetry they chose to present in class.
“Debate” Writing Exercise for Craft of Prose
In the “Debate” writing exercise, students are asked to create two characters—political candidates—with unique syntax and diction in order to debate a phony issue, like whether muffins should actually be called cake, for example. In doing so, they learn how to format dialogue; to progress action through dialogue; and how to demonstrate a character’s values, motivations, and background through dialogue.
Handout for “Walk the Line: The Tension Between Line and Syntax”
The handout for “Walk the Line: The Tension Between Line and Syntax,” tomorrow’s course at the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center, is now available on my Google Drive.
Excerpt from reading for Thursday’s Literary Editing & Publishing course
Jayne Marek on the genderedness of modernism, anthologized in PAPER DREAMS, for my Lit Editing & Publishing course:
Field Trip to See Jenny Johnson and Joy Williams Reading at Princeton, 9/21
Next Wednesday, September 21st, my Poetry Workshop is traveling to Princeton to see Jenny Johnson and Joy Williams read at the Berlin Theatre at 4:30 pm. Information about the event can be found at “Award-winning writers Jenny Johnson and Joy Williams open 2016–17 Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading Series.”
Writing Exercise: “View-master” for Online Prose Workshop
Last week, in ENG 2016OL: Online Prose Workshop, my students read “One Week in Liberia” and “Speaking in Tongues” (pgs. 110–148) of Zadie Smith’s Changing My Mind. Read “Damn Cold in February: Buddy Holly, View-master, and the A-Bomb” by Joni Tevis and Creative Nonfiction Primer on Moodle. They then completed the following writing exercise on a discussion forum.
Writing Exercise: “View-master”
Free-write 250 words about a trip you took to some place that interested you. It could be as dramatic as Liberia (a la Zadie Smith) or as local as your post office.
Introduction of Literary Publication History in Literary Editing & Publishing
Thanks to David Gants at Florida State University for posting some of his course material, including a “Book History Timeline,” from his 2007/2011 ENG 5933: History of the Book, as it proved to be incredibly useful in my ENG 3099: Literary Editing & Publishing course at Centenary University. Yesterday, I gave a brief presentation on the history of the book in order to ask the question, where should we begin our investigation into the history of literary publications, including the focus of our course, literary magazines. I linked to Gants’s timeline on my Moodle for students to read, and, throughout the presentation, we discussed the history of writing, texts, and books in broad strokes, from cuneiform to the little magazines (The Dial, The Little Magazine, and Poetry) of the early 20th century. Students arrived in the lecture having read selections on the history of the literary magazine from Paper Dreams: Writers and Editors on the American Literary Magazine.
“Reasons for Creating a New Literary Magazine” Assignment for Literary Editing & Publishing Class
My students read a number of excerpts from the text Paper Dreams: Writers and Editors on the American Literary Magazine (Atticus Books, 2014) in preparation for today’s class, and one of those excerpts was of Jill Allyn Rosser’s “Reasons for Creating a New Literary Magazine.” In class, I’m asking students to come up with their own reasons for creating a literary magazine in the “Reasons for Creating a New Literary Magazine” in-class writing assignment, and I’m giving them the freedom of being sincere or tongue-in-cheek in their tone.
