While writing Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory and Family, the basic question was how to braid the stories of childhood, memory, and what came after for an immigrant family and in turn, what it meant to the reader. Is it a voyeuristic look at a country that’s foreign to the reader? Is it… Read more »
We’ve all been through a prolonged crisis this past year. The Coronavirus pandemic has challenged the routines of even the most disciplined writers. Aside from the pandemic, we’ve had to weather a barrage of exhausting political Sturm und Drang, and the painful, violent reality of racism in our communities. In addition to multiple crises on… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Alexandra Monir. Alexandra Monir is an Iranian-American author and recording artist who has published six popular young adult novels. Her internationally-bestselling debut, Timeless was a Barnes & Noble Bestseller and Amazon.com “Best Books of the Month.” In 2018 she published the hit sci-fi novel The Final Six and… Read more »
So, you want to write about your dysfunctional family. Well, good for you. (And if you’re one of the lucky few who wants to write about your functional family, I’m not your Huckleberry). Family dynamics are difficult enough to grasp, let alone write about. But when properly explored, they make for powerful stories. Here’s a… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Miriam Feldman. Miriam is a painter, writer, and mother originally from Los Angeles, California. After her son, Nick’s, diagnosis with Schizophrenia more than ten years ago, she began writing to document and explore the ways this new reality affected her relationship with her children,… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today I am delighted to have Yang Huang on the show! Yang is an author and former engineer. She grew up in China’s Jiangsu province where she participated in the 1989 student uprisings, and moved to the U.S. to attend Boston College. Her debut novel, Living Treasures, won the Nautilus Book… Read more »
In Hunger, Roxane Gay faces a litany of uncomfortable truths: the way we body shame, dismiss rape victims, and look to families who can sometimes increase the weight of our most private suffering when they don’t understand the entirety of the situation. Sometimes oversimplified as a memoir about gaining and losing weight, Hunger is so… Read more »
No one can argue the importance of family. Whether loving or trying, our relationships with parents, children, and siblings – or the lack of such relationships – can have a huge impact on our lives. The same goes for literary characters. Their beliefs about family can be challenged, reshaped, or reaffirmed as a result of… Read more »
Creating Youtube videos is one of the most effective ways for a writer to enhance his or her community. First, we’re going to look at what groups make up our writing community, what we give them, what we gain from them, and most importantly, what we should not expect to get from them. Then, we’ll… Read more »
