Prose, Poetry, and Art since 1956
Artist Joan Huiner Ranzini is an abstract painter living and working in Virginia. Her work process and product have a structure and intensity of feeling shaped by a background in drawing, architectural design and travel in Japan, expressed using a non-derivative palette and imagery. Ms. Ranzini received her BA with High Honors from the College of William and Mary, Fine Arts, emphasis architecture. She received…
In the first chapter of her instructional text Steering the Craft, Ursula K. Le Guin observes that “getting an act or an idea across isn’t all a story does. A story is made out of language, and language can and does express delight in itself just as music does. Poetry isn’t the only kind of writing that can sound gorgeous.” Many good writers of fiction and creative nonfiction employ…
“A Muslim is speaking at the Democratic Convention! Musa, come down!” my mother yelled over the noisy TV speakers. I left the comfort of my room and trudged down the carpeted stairs to meet my entire family relaxing on the beige sofas in front of the lit television. Next to the CNN logo, commonplace on my TV screen in the past year of contentious campaigning,…
our boards echo under sodium streetlight…
In a few weeks, Portland will play host to an expected 12,000-or-so literary-minded visitors — editors, publishers, agents, teachers, and yes, lots and lots of writers — all gathering for the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, otherwise known as AWP. For both uninitiated and veteran attendees, the many lists of events, readings, offsite readings, panel discussions, and sponsored happy hours can feel…