Debra Silva Rivera is our guest blogger today. In 2015 she was selected by the Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation/Voices Writing Workshop in Miami to work with novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright Chris Abani. Rivera lives in Ithaca and is working on a middle-grade novel. Cornell University’s Creative Writing Program invited Chris Abani to speak on campus November 3 as part of the… [Read More]
This week Rowman & Littlefield releases Compassionate Critical Thinking: How Mindfulness, Creativity, Empathy and Socratic Questioning Can Transform Teaching by Ira Rabois. In his new book, Ira demonstrates how to use mindfulness with instructional effectiveness to increase student participation and decrease classroom stress, and it turns the act of teaching into a transformational practice. Many books teach mindfulness, but few provide a model for teaching… [Read More]
Q&A with Mauro Marinelli Samantha Kolb Mauro Marinelli is an artist, photographer, author, contractor, and one-time novitiate based in New York. Kehrer Verlag publishes his second book of art photography, Under Old Stars: Wanderings in Italian Hill Towns in the fall, and an exhibition with prints from the book will open on September 22 at the American Italian Cultural Center in New Orleans. I had… [Read More]
The launch of Green Bay author Melissa Gorzelanczyk’s debut Young Adult novel ARROWS (Delacorte Press, 2016) is one example of how social media can play an important role in author success. Melissa’s novel ARROWS is a modern cupid story set in present-day Wisconsin combining the fantastical elements of Greek mythology with the contemporary drama of MTV’s Teen Mom,” according to Melissa’s website. Her novel also has… [Read More]
Blame Aristotle. Blame classical Greek culture. Blame all of Western Civilization. But every story must have a beginning, middle, and end. And more than that. Without narrative structure, non-fiction writing is just a boring recitation of one thing after another. You may think because it is based on your experiences, historical events, scientific experimentation, or natural observations that you don’t need a story to write… [Read More]
On Saturday morning at 9 a.m. at the Atlas Coffee Mill, three dozen Fox Cities writers filled a meeting room for a workshop with Will Schwalbe, author of End-of-Your-Life Book Club (Knopf, 2012) and editor at Macmillan. Friday afternoon there were two readings to packed houses as part of the Fox Cities Book Festival. I listened to him at UW Fox Valley where the audience spilled… [Read More]
When I met Mariam Raqib at her Boston office at Simmons College, where she teaches Political Science, she welcomed me in with a warm, calming presence. From her gentle demeanor, one would never anticipate the weight of Mariam life’s story nor the power of her life’s mission. When she speaks about her organization and her work in Eastern Afghanistan, though, she does so with great… [Read More]
President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan. Bowe Bergdahl was released. And Mariam Raqib arrived in Kabul on a return peace mission. This is a critical moment in the history of US-Afghan relations in many respects. Peace proves elusive. In a recent article for The Christian Science Monitor, Cathryn Prince interviewed Mariam Raqib, who left Afghanistan with her family as a child in the… [Read More]
Jill Swenson: Cathryn Prince, this is your fourth book of historical non-fiction. Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff is a featured selection for the Military History Book Club this spring, advance reviews are positive and Amazon sales rankings impressive.. How does your experience working towards publication on this fourth book compare to a decade ago with your first, Shot from… [Read More]
Last month, I reviewed a graphic novel/interactive documentary called KENK: A Graphic Portrait. This journalistic comic was the first release for Toronto-based multimedia production and publishing company Pop Sandbox, and it was met with a hoard of accolades and reviews within its first three months of release. I was lucky enough to snag an interview with Alex Jansen, the owner and operator of Pop Sandbox,… [Read More]
