What to Read When

What reliably got me out of that slump was writing more and reading literature that lifted me out of my immediate crisis (I can’t go on!) and into the world (and yet we must!).

Throughout history, the marauding aristocracy has torn away people from their land and community, most recently in the formation of the modern industrial nation.

One thing I always tell my students is, "your story matters," because I want them to believe their observations about themselves and the world around them are worth writing about.

When I was six months pregnant, I became obsessed with the Cascadia earthquake.

I would love to see more literature courses used to bring canonical books into conversation with other authors, taking another writer’s point of view to expand and critique the lens offered by the canon.

What is lost so that a book may live? What is shoveled so that a memoir may memorialize?

Writing is a solitary venture that can get very lonely. I like having the presence of other writers around and just thinking about writing can generate a spark.