Ignore This Advice
Policy Mic has a fun post about the four worst things people tell young writers about writing. Perhaps the most important of these to disregard is “Good writers always write…
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Lauren O'Neal
914 posts
Lauren O'Neal is an MFA student at San Francisco State University. Her writing has appeared in publications like Slate, The New Inquiry, and The Hairpin. You can follow her on Twitter at @laureneoneal.
Who Needs Food, Anyway?
If you’re feeling fed up with recent political events, here’s one more straw to place very gently on your camel’s back. (If you need a break from outrage instead, here are…
Mavis Gallant and Monsieur Le Verbe
Alors, Mademoiselle, have you noticed how we French, unlike our Anglo-Saxon friends, use all the muscles in our face and mouth when speaking? Raise your upper lip toward your nose.…
Down with Women’s Stories, Up with Stories about Women
I am not tired of stories about women’s lives, stories that tell me something real about how a particular woman thinks or works or loves. But I am tired of…
2013 PEN Award Shortlists
PEN America has released the shortlists for its 2013 prizes, which you can check out here. There are ten prizes in categories ranging from debut fiction to literary science writing…
Last City I Loved:…Fresno?
At Poets & Writers, Michael Medrano shows some love for a California city usually forgotten by the West Coast literary establishment: Fresno. Fresno’s Tower District, he writes, …lies just east of the…
These Words All Have Neoflects Coming Off Them
Did you know that, like aglets for the end of a shoelace or tittle for the dot atop an i, there’s a whole delightful host of terms for the visual cues used in…
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Brilliant Take on the Zimmerman Verdict
Not to overload anyone on political coverage, but Ta-Nehisi Coates’s reaction to the George Zimmerman trial is an absolute must-read. In it, he looks at the actual legal text involved in…
Caine Prize Controversy Continues
Prominent Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie sparked outrage in the African literary community last week with comments she made about the Caine Prize, a prestigious annual award for African writers.…
Mystery Solved: Galbraith is Actually Rowling
If you read Robert Galbraith’s debut novel, a detective thriller called The Cuckoo’s Clock, and thought it was remarkably well constructed for a first-timer, you weren’t alone. Nor were you incorrect:…
The Secret Songs of Plants
Sometime in 2011, Bartholomäus Traubeck noticed a certain similarity between tree rings and grooves on a vinyl record. Being a multimedia artist, he rigged up a turntable that could play…
Staving-off-Despair Roundup
When there’s an injustice as great a man walking free after killing an unarmed teenager, at least we have writing to turn to. Our essays editor Roxane Gay has done…