What to Read When You Want to Read an “Uncomfortable” Book
Authors whose works have been challenged or banned give recommendations on other "uncomfortable" books that will make you a better person for having read them.
Posts by tag
Maya Angelou
26 posts
Reinventing Motherhood and Re-Dreaming Reality: Talking with Ariel Gore
Ariel Gore discusses her new novel We Were Witches, why capitalism and the banking system are the real enemies, and finding the limits between memoir and fiction.
The Rumpus Interview with Naomi Jackson
Naomi Jackson discusses her debut novel, The Star Side of Bird Hill, how she approached writing about mental illness and its affects on a family, and choosing to to tell a story from multiple perspectives.
David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: Against Hatred
We poets do not believe the world belongs to us. Our existence is a miracle, and yet we know our world is limited.
VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Tara Betts
Tara Betts discusses her newest collection, Break the Habit, the burden placed on black women artists to be both artist and activist, and why writing is rooted in identity.
The Conversation: Jeremy Clark and Thiahera Nurse
I’m thinking about the difference between “I stay somewhere” and “I live somewhere.”
The Rumpus Interview with Mary Karr
Mary Karr talks about her new book The Art of Memoir, the perception of memoir from a "trashy" form, the virtues of poetry, and the complexity of truth-telling.
The USPS Doesn’t Know Its Angelou Quotes
After the United States Postal Service misattributed a quote to Maya Angelou on a commemorative stamp, many suggested that the Postal Service “had simply believed too readily what they read on…
Grandma Loved It
As if we needed any more evidence that Maya Angelou was both a goddess of verse and the chill best friend you wish you had (sorry JLaw), Billboard has revealed…
The Rumpus Interview with Maya Angelou
In February 2013, just over a year before her death, Maya Angelou spoke to Whitney Mackman about her writing process, her influences, and the act of looking for joy.
In Command of Her Craft
On Wednesday, the writing world (and the world at large) lost literary luminary Maya Angelou. In this 1990 interview with the Paris Review, the beloved American author and poet discussed her deep appreciation for…
Lisa’s Book Round-Up
I wouldn’t be much of a book columnist if I didn’t celebrate Alice Munro and her much deserved Nobel Prize for Literature. It surprises me, the number of people who…