A Writer's Moment: 'expanding on the power of narrative'

A Writer's Moment: 'expanding on the power of narrative':   “As a writer and as a reader, I really believe in the power of narrative to allow us ways to experience life beyond our own; ways to refle...

'expanding on the power of narrative'

 

“As a writer and as a reader, I really believe in the power of narrative to allow us ways to experience life beyond our own; ways to reflect on things that have happened to us and a chance to engage with the world in ways that transcend time and gender and all sorts of things.” – Kim Edwards

 

Born on this date in 1959, Edwards is the author of the bestselling novels The Memory Keeper's Daughter, now translated into 38 languages, and The Lake of Dreams, and the short story collection The Secrets of a Fire King.   Her writing honors include the Whiting Award, the British Book Award, and USA Today's Book of the Year (for Memory Keeper’s Daughter).

 

A graduate of Colgate University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, she has taught widely in the US and Asia and now makes her teaching home at the University of Kentucky.     

 

In her teaching, Edwards says she often reflects on people’s desire to share stories as one of the things “that make us human.”   “I don’t think we’ll ever lose the desire for people to tell stories or to hear stories or to be entrapped in a beautiful story,” she said.  "It’s simply a part of the human condition."

A Writer's Moment: 'Showing itself as a poem'

A Writer's Moment: 'Showing itself as a poem':   “I just discovered when I was, oh, 12 or 13, that I was very interested in language - and this showed itself as poetry. There was no looki...

'Showing itself as a poem'

 

“I just discovered when I was, oh, 12 or 13, that I was very interested in language - and this showed itself as poetry. There was no looking back.” – Edwin Morgan

 

Born in Scotland on April 27, 1920 Morgan was widely recognized as one of the foremost poets of the 20th century, honored in 1999 as the first “Scottish National Poet.”  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Morgan’s,                    

                                    My shadow

I woke to a wind swirling the curtains light and dark
and the birds twittering on the roofs, I lay cold
in the early light in my room high over London.
What fear was it that made the wind sound like a fire
so that I got up and looked out half-asleep
at the calm rows of street-lights fading far below?
Without fire
Only the wind blew.
But in the dream I woke from, you
came running through the traffic, tugging me, clinging
to my elbow, your eyes spoke
what I could not grasp --
Nothing, if you were here!

The wind of the early quiet
merges slowly now with a thousand rolling wheels.
The lights are out, the air is loud.
It is an ordinary January day.
My shadow, do you hear the streets?
Are you at my heels? Are you here?
And I throw back the sheets.

A Writer's Moment: It's what composes 'a stealth philosophy'

A Writer's Moment: It's what composes 'a stealth philosophy':   “Fantasy allows you to bend the world and the situation to more clearly focus on the moral aspects of what's happening. In fantasy you...

It's what composes 'a stealth philosophy'

 

“Fantasy allows you to bend the world and the situation to more clearly focus on the moral aspects of what's happening. In fantasy you can distill life down to the essence of your story. “ – Terry Goodkind 

 

Born in Omaha in 1948, Goodkind is best known for his epic Fantasy series The Sword of Truth and his  contemporary suspense novel The Law of Nines. The Sword of Truth series has been translated into 20 languages, selling over 25 million copies worldwide.

 

Initially a violin maker and marine and wildlife artist, Goodkind decided to try his hand at Fantasy writing in 1994.  The end result was Wizard’s First Rule, an immediate hit that changed his career trajectory.   Writing almost steadily from that point on, he produced 32 bestselling novels and one novella before his death in late 2020.  His final book, The Children of D’Hara, wrapping up his 6-book D’Hara series (the other 5 were released in 2019 and 2020), was published posthumously in 2021. 

 

Goodkind said Fantasy allowed him to better tell his stories and convey the human themes and emotions he desired to share. 

 

“I've always said Fantasy is sort of 'stealth philosophy',” he said shortly before his death.  “It allows you to say things that sound very dramatic and get away with it. If you had characters in modern fiction say the same things as they're driving down the street in an Oldsmobile, they'd sound ludicrous!”

A Writer's Moment: 'And then what happens?'

A Writer's Moment: 'And then what happens?':   “There's a village in my computer - friends, fans, readers, and colleagues. It's a populous, sometimes chaotic little burg always ...