Posts by author
Claire Burgess
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Dear Diary
…while autobiography and memoir have gained ground as legitimate and canonical literary modes, the diary retains an association with inappropriate, overly personal, or pejoratively “private” discourse. At Huffington Post, Kylie Cardell examines the diary’s transition into public art form, from…
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A New Kind of Superhero
Not your average comic, Priya’s Shakti is a new graphic novel out of India created to combat gender-based violence and fight the patriarchy. The hero, Priya, is a rape survivor who empowers women with help from the Hindu goddess Parvati…
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Not-So-Young Adults
Good news! Early reports show that book sales are up 4.9 percent in 2014. Who can we thank for this Christmas miracle? Adults who read e-book versions of YA novels, that’s who. Sales are up by a dramatic 53 percent…
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Prison Rehabilitation
We’ve been thoroughly trained to not have empathy for people who’ve been convicted of violent offenses—even though that could mean many things, and I believe all of us have the capacity to do violence. People have also been trained to…
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Good Victims
We couldn’t remember his name. We couldn’t remember what he looked like. We couldn’t remember how many there were. We changed our story as we began to remember more details. We changed our story into something we could live with.…
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Melville House to Publish Torture Report
Melville House will publish the Senate Torture Report in paperback and e-book on December 30th. The report, released Tuesday, is currently available to read online, but Melville House hopes that publishing it in print form will reach a wider audience.…
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How to Be a Writer and Also Have a 401K
At The Morning News, seven writers with full-time jobs talk about how they fit (or attempt to fit) writing time into their work weeks, and the general conclusion is: There isn’t an elegant solution to cramming a writing life into…
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Mirrors and Windows
Jacqueline Woodson responds to Daniel Handler’s racist watermelon joke at the National Book Awards with a moving and direct piece in the New York Times. She neither condemns nor forgives Handler, but instead focuses on her personal history with the…
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Ursula K. Le Guin’s Prophetic Speech Wins the NBAs
In her speech at the National Book Awards on Wednesday, Ursula K. Le Guin shares her Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters with “all the writers who were excluded from literature for so long,” blasts the commercialization of literature…
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Margaret Atwood, Eternal Optimist
You’re assuming that first of all you’ll finish the book, which is a big assumption, and then that somebody will publish it — even more optimistic — that somebody will read it — better still — and that they will…
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Famous Authors: They’re Just Like Us!
For T Magazine, seven authors reflect on the experience of revisiting and annotating their early works for an upcoming PEN American Center fundraiser. George Saunders thinks his style in CivilWarLand in Bad Decline was “manic and abrupt.” Jennifer Egan still…
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Popularity Contest
Traditionally, the Unlikeable Character in fiction is created with authorial intention. You, as the reader, recognize the cues that the person you’re reading about is alienating or reprehensible, and it’s clear that such characterization is part of author’s aesthetic project……