When I was a girl, my literary idols were Anne Shirley, Jo March, and Lyra Belacqua. They were imaginative. They flouted convention. They were lovably outspoken. They always stood up for what they believed in, even when their convictions were…
The busy holiday season will steal your writing time. Sure, there’s a post-it note reminder on your calendar, or a big chunk of time blocked off on your Google calendar, but those are easily looked over when visiting Aunt Nancy…
Centered around what happens to one family during the summer of 1948, Elizabeth Poliner’s first novel, As Close to Us as Breathing, is a story of loss—whether sudden or creeping—and of memories layered in time. Narrator Molly sifts through mid-life…
I’m looking forward to getting together with family and stuffing myself on Thanksgiving but at the same I’m worried about political conversations and that this year I will say something I regret. I guess I’ll just hope for the best…
Every morning, before I open my eyes and sit up, I steel myself. This will be the day. Today I am going to open my eyes and they will work. I will see. I lost my eyesight so young I’m…
We write about the other with varying degrees of rigor and success. Homer’s default was narrow (white, male, hetero, warrior), but even that long ago he tasked himself with imagining his way into immortals. Chaucer wrote in the voice of…