Category: Self-taught MFA

Creativity: On the Page and At the Launch – guest blog post by Elizabeth Jorgensen, Nancy Jorgensen

Poets and writers are creative. On paper, we concoct characters and emotions. We invent forms and structure. We imagine people and places. We use the latest technology to research our work and appeal to readers. We write, edit and revise so no verse or phrase or word is […]

Balancing ‘The Bell Jar’: How Sylvia Plath Led to a New Appreciation for Poetry – guest blog post by Jessica Stilling

I don't know what it was about The Bell Jar that made me want to write about it but from the second I put the book down I knew there had to be more to Sylvia Plath and her character, Esther Greenwood's, story. When I learned that Plath […]

Balancing 'The Bell Jar': How Sylvia Plath Led to a New Appreciation for Poetry – guest blog post by Jessica Stilling

I don't know what it was about The Bell Jar that made me want to write about it but from the second I put the book down I knew there had to be more to Sylvia Plath and her character, Esther Greenwood's, story. When I learned that Plath […]

Tending the Roots in a STEM-Crazed World – guest blog post by Prartho Sereno

Excerpts from Prartho Sereno's book-in-progress, Tending the Roots in a STEM-Crazed World: Gleanings from a Curriculum in Wonder If' a child loses her natural friendship with the world of animals and trees, her sense of belonging to the realms of weather and the moon and stars' how will […]

6 Thoughts on Reviewing Poetry + tips & where to submit reviews – guest blog post by Alina Stefanescu

1. I come to reviewing as a reader, a simple lover of books. For many years, I believed that loving a book was not reason enough to review it. I believed that one needed special degrees in judgement in order to be able to speak of books with […]

Uncovering the History (and Future) of Blackout Poetry – guest blog post by Emily Ramser

The first time I asked to study blackout poetry, I was an undergrad at Salem College. I'd asked the director of my Creative Writing program to do my honors independent study on it. I remember sitting in her office on the second floor of Main Hall, fiddling with […]

How to Write a Book Review in Ten Easy Steps (just kidding; it's not always easy) – guest blog post by Eileen “Mish” Murphy

Wild Nights--Wild Nights! Were I with thee Wild Nights should be Our luxury! This Emily Dickinson quote was the "Hook" that started one of my favorite poetry book reviews, my review of Enter Here by Alexis Rhone Fancher, published in the Blog of the Los Angeles Review of […]

Where to Submit Book Reviews–60 Lit Mags/Journals!

The listings below are literary magazines and journal I found which do not charge submission fees and accept unsolicited submission of book reviews. A few are paying, some are print publications, some require a query before you send a review to make sure it’s not a book for […]

Got writer's block? 66 writing experiments + tons of other writing resources and prompts!

Language is a Virus is a well-organized web site of vast writing prompts, online tools, and resources for poets and writers. Each day a new writing prompt is posted on their main page, which also includes menus of unlimited writing resources . . . Writing Prompts - generate a […]

The Future Of Poetry – guest blog post by John Kaniecki

I believe strongly in poetry. It has worked before, and it will work again. It is infused in the culture of every civilization. Whether it’s the Bible, the Odyssey, or Shakespeare, poetry has been extremely popular. Today poetry lacks the prestige it once held. There are no Robert […]

Trish Hopkinson