For A.M.-C. “The bud stands for all things, even those things that don't flower, for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness” From Galway Kinnell, “St. Francis and the Sow” I was a small girl in Brooklyn, between broken English and broken hearts, whispered Yiddish,… Continue reading Trusting Our Own Vision, or: The Late Bloomers’ Club
Category: Voice
Why won’t Devil-girl just go away? Why now, the re-release of The Stories of Devil-girl?
On a simple level, here is an opportunity to support good literature at a time when The Market is often powerful at blocking quality and truth. And, in this case, this is an opportunity to help support organizations that are proven to be effective and bold and devoted to working to improve the lives of some of the… Continue reading Why won’t Devil-girl just go away? Why now, the re-release of The Stories of Devil-girl?
The Return of Devil-girl! or, The Stories of Devil-girl, a novella
The Stories of Devil-girl is a novella which I recorded on a double CD set and released shortly before the war in Iraq broke out in 2003. It works at the crossroads of poetry and prose, and of autobiography and fiction, perhaps also of the brutal and the magical. I began writing it in 1989,… Continue reading The Return of Devil-girl! or, The Stories of Devil-girl, a novella
Memories of Censorship; Beyond the World of Your Story; and Who the Heck is in Charge Around Here, Anyway?
So, I am back from teaching, and learning, at Skidmore, the site of the 30th annual writers' conference of The International Women's Writing Guild, attended by hundreds of women doing every kind of writing imaginable, and an extraordinarily large number of gifted and devoted teachers, in an atmosphere unusually democratic and creatively fertile. I will… Continue reading Memories of Censorship; Beyond the World of Your Story; and Who the Heck is in Charge Around Here, Anyway?
Lyrical voice / narrative voice / character’s voice: Hints from Turkish music, one actress, and the power of travel
I have been listening to Turkish music after my sojourn in Turkey, and because of its very specific kind of driving energy, I realize again that the energy of different musics is part of what we deal with as writers, that one of the crucial elements often left out when we are "taught" to write,… Continue reading Lyrical voice / narrative voice / character’s voice: Hints from Turkish music, one actress, and the power of travel
Anya Achtenberg 