April 18th, 2019

What We're Reading at 

Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop

​compiled by Cressida Richards

"I'd encourage folks to not get too caught up in 'what it is' you're writing. Think instead of the story that must be told, honoring its truth, and then use whatever tools within your toolbox that can best give your story its unique life.​"
- Sarah Jane Cody, on what she's learning from T. Kira Madden's Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

JOY BAGLIO
(Fiction writer, Founder/Director of PVWW, Instructor, Manuscript Consultant)
 
The Municipalists, by Seth Fried
 
THE READING:
 
I first encountered Seth Fried in Issue 74 of Tin House (his story "Mendelssohn" is not to be missed!) and his debut novel, The Municipalists, is everything I was hoping for: a  fast-paced yet thoughtful speculative/literary adventure set in the future city of Metropolis, that also examines issues of friendship, the complex role of artificial intelligence in our human future, and the essence of the American city. Fried is a highly imaginative and playful writer, and he embraces both humor and a philosophical depth that I don't often see, from the sentence-level to the larger ideas. 
 
THE LESSON:
 
Keep things moving! Fried's inciting incident in the first chapters (a mysterious cyber attack, with a strange message in Esperanto) hooks us with all of the requisite elements: gritty, specific details; mystery/suspense; scene/summary balance; character emotion and reaction; a plot that moves readily along. He's also a master of vibrant and visual storytelling and paints with quick, confident brushstrokes that anchor us firmly in the physical world. 

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SARAH JANE CODY
(Fiction writer, Director of Advertising, Instructor, Manuscript Consultant)

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, by T Kira Madden
 
THE READING:
 
This book will crack you open and make you breathless at the same time, it’s that good. I got this on preorder (I’m terribly ashamed to say from Amazon––I do generally try to support independent booksellers.) What do I love about Madden’s book? Well, gosh there is so much to love, too much to say here, but one thing my students will know is that I’m a sucker for language, and boy does Madden deliver. There’s a fantastic heartbeat to her prose, and its quickening or slowing caught my own heart. Also, the story Madden tells is just a great one.
 

THE LESSON:
 
Madden began as a fiction writer, and she has spoken about how the tools of fiction (story arc, character, dialogue, etc.) gave her a unique perspective when it came to writing her memoir. I think any reader can see that this book has its core (from a craft perspective) in purely skilled storytelling. So, one lesson here is that the separation of genres is mostly a false dichotomy––what makes good writing makes good writing. I’d encourage folks to not get too caught up in “what it is” you're writing. Think instead of the story that must be told, honoring its truth, and then use whatever tools within your toolbox that can best give your story its unique life.​

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GAIL THOMAS
(Poet, Instructor)

Buffalo Dance: The Journal of York, by Frank X. Walker

THE READING:

I’m drawn to themed poetry collections that evoke a historical moment, either from the point of view of one voice or multiple voices. Having read my way through quite a few titles, I’m savoring Buffalo Dance: The Journal of York by Frank X.  Walker. These poems tell the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition from the point of view of Clark’s slave, York.  Forced to leave his wife behind on the plantation, York makes the physically and spiritually demanding journey to the Northwest. Walker’s linked poems are vividly beautiful while incorporating the humiliation and racism inherent in this much-revered American journey.
 
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THE LESSON:

Poetry can be a mixture of fiction and history, and it can produce lyrical storytelling. If you are drawn to a specific time or place in history, do some research and incorporate this into a poem.  Use headlines, obits, songs, snippets of dialogue to inspire work that digs underneath what lives in a textbook.  Use your 21st century sensibility to reflect on a person or event from the past.
​

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​ADAM GRABOWSKI 
(Poet, Instructor)
 
Why Poetry, by Matthew Zapruder
 
THE READING:
 
Oh!  I just started reading Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder.  It’s a book I must have seen a thousand times and never thought to get near. I think I was turned off by the largeness of the theme.  I was wrong as usual, it’s actually quite intimate.  I tend to buy books on impulse, which means I got it from Amazon.
 
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THE LESSON:
 
In interviews Zapruder has often said that poetry is taught wrong in this country.  I agree with him.  Far too often, a poem is presented as something to be understood rather than simply experienced.  I often teach youth workshops for young poets, and I want to keep that fresh in my mind.  Not that I don’t believe in craft—I want kids to explore the how of a poem, but from a place of personal connection.  This is especially true when we practice our own writing.  

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CRESSIDA RICHARDS 
(Poet, Intern)

Ka-Ching!, by Denise Duhamel 

THE READING:

I picked up a copy of Ka-Ching! by Denise Duhamel on whim at Amherst Books. This is a collection of poems that all, in some way, examine America’s relationship with capital in the midst of the financial crisis. While this may sound like a dry concept, this collection is a veritable kaleidoscope of form (we’re talking villanelles, sestinas, sonnets, prose poems) and emotion. All in all, I found Duhamel’s work to be stylistically and tonally fearless, a well-worthwhile read.

THE LESSON:

Experiment! Try strange combinations of form and subject matter. If Duhamel can write a sonnet-crown about eBay and a sestina about Sean Penn, the sky’s the limit. Bear in mind: Duhamel does not consider herself a formal poet; this was new territory for her, and I really admire that. Perhaps for all of you postmodern folks out there, this is old hat, but I was really excited by it. 
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Discussion: What are you reading this week? What's it about? What is it (so far) teaching you about writing, stories, craft, life, or anything else?