60 http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/iTunesRSS/ en-us The authors featured in this recording have granted the University of Iowa permission to utilize this recording for educational purposes. The University of Iowa does not claim copyright ownership of this content. Podcast from The Writing University at the University of Iowa University of Iowa Recordings of author interviews, readings, and discussions at the University of Iowa test The Writing University @ The University of Iowa writinguniversity@gmail.com VillatoroIn this Writing University podcast, Marcos M. Villatoro discusses the advantages of writing without waiting for the elusive “muse” to strike. Villatoro claims that inspiration springs from a writer’s own work ethic, the physical act of writing, and the work itself. Villatoro also offers advice on using criticism to one’s advantage and how to decipher the inevitable rejection letter, suggesting that “inspiration can come from rejection.” Listen: Marcos M. Villatoro: "Finding Inspiration from the Work Itself"Marcos M. Villatoro (M.F.A., The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop) is the author of the Romilia Chacón crime novels. The Los Angeles Times listed his Home Killings as a Best Book of 2001. The other Romilia novels include Minos and A Venom Beneath the Skin. His autobiographical novel The Holy Spirit of My Uncle’s Cojones was an Independent Publishers Book Award Finalist and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His other books include his two poetry collections They Say that I am Two and On Tuesday, When the Homeless Disappeared, as well as his novel A Fire in the Earth, and the memoir Walking to La Milpa: Living in Guatemala with Armies, Demons, Abrazos, and Death. Villatoro is a regular commentator for NPR and has appeared on numerous television programs, including CBS "Sunday Morning". He is a columnist for the Los Angeles magazine Tu Ciudad. He holds the Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair in Writing at Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/marcos_m_villatoro_finding_inspiraion_from_the_work_iteslf/ Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:41:00 CDT 58:59 FordIn this podcast, poet Katie Ford examines the usefulness of employing the “ghosts” of classical forms in crafting contemporary poetry. Ford advises writers to look to the sonnet and listen for the “inherent music” of popular and tested literary techniques. Ford also demonstrates how a poet may apply similar tools while “reinvigorating the form” with the modern language and images of one’s “rhetorical intuition.” Listen: Katie Ford: "Ghost Forms: Using Traditional Form in Free Verse"Katie Ford (M.Div., Harvard University; M.F.A., The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop) is the author of Deposition, (Graywolf Press) and a chapbook, Storm (Marick Press, 2007). Her poems have been published in the American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, the Partisan Review, the Seneca Review, Poets & Writers and on-line on Verse Daily and Poetry Daily. Katie is Poetry Editor of the New Orleans Review and currently teaches at Reed College. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/katie_ford/ Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:23:01 CDT 54:47 Lon OttoIn this podcast, Lon Otto leads a discussion on how to avoid “literary thin ice”- the insecurities resulting from insufficient originality, tension or authority in a work. Otto suggests strategies for dealing with problematic pieces when one hears “those cracking sounds” that indicate unstable writing territory. Otto offers ways for writers to sustain the reader’s (and their own) belief and interest without “breaking through.” Listen: Lon Otto: "Avoiding Literary Thin Ice" Lon Otto (Ph.D., Indiana University) has published two collections of stories — A Nest of Hooks (University of Iowa Press), and Cover Me (Coffee House Press). Magazines and anthologies with his writing include Prairie Schooner, Great River Review, American Fiction, Flash Fiction, Townships, and Flash Fiction Forward. He has lived in Costa Rica, taught in Mexico, Spain, and Portugal, and is now a Professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/len_otto_avoiding_literary_thin_ice/ Mon, 6 Aug 2007 17:20:00 CDT 59:22 Hope Edelman discusses the difficulty of incorporating real characters and events into fiction and non-fiction. Edelman exposes the “legal aspects and ethical dilemmas” which writers meet with when attempting to create fictional worlds or true accounts out of actual relationships. Edelman advises writers how to interact with potential subjects in order to fully consider each person’s “different relationship with the truth.” Listen: Hope Edelman: "The Law and Ethics of Writing about Real People" Hope Edelman (M.A.W., The University of Iowa) is the author of four nonfiction books, including the bestsellers Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss and Motherless Mothers. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Child, Self, Parade, and Real Simple, as well as in the anthologies, The Bitch in the House, Toddler, and Blindsided By a Diaper. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize for creative nonfiction and teaches at Antioch University in Los Angeles. This is her eighth year with the Festival. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/hope_edelman_the_law_and_ethics_of_writing_about_real_people/ Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:43:01 CDT 1:00:00 In his exploration of the writer’s voice, Carl H. Klaus asks the question “How often do we listen to ourselves on paper?” Klaus uses his own experience with the autobiographical essay to examine how a writer's conscious style choices and unforeseen circumstances inform one’s voice. Klaus maintains that the lesson of self-reflective writing is that “a voice can give rise to life, invoke life, embody a life, particularly when it is animated by the deepest convictions in one’s life.” Listen: Carl H. Klaus presents at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival Carl H. Klaus, a retired Professor of English at the University of Iowa, is the founder and former director of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program and the NEH/Iowa Institute on Writing. A widely published essayist on style, voice, and the personal essay, Klaus is the author or editor of several textbooks on writing and books about the teaching of writing. His most recent books include three works of literary non-fiction: My Vegetable Love: A Journal of a Growing Season (Houghton Mifflin, 1996), Weathering Winter: A Gardener's Daybook (University of Iowa Press, 1997), and Taking Retirement: A Beginner's Diary (Beacon Press, 1999). His next work, now in progress, is "The Chameleon "I": Versions and Evocations of Self in Personal Essays. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/carl_h_klaus_at_the_iowa_summer_writing_festivals_elevenses_podcast/ Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:34:00 CDT 1:03:33 This audio recording of a 2006 reading at Prairie Lights Books features Mark Leidner, Véronique Tadjo, and Doris Kareva. Mark Leidner reads selections from his recent work, Véronique Tadjo reads from her novels As the Crow Flies and The Shadow of Imana: Travels at the Heart of Rwanda, and Doris Kareva reads a selection of her poetry, including the poem " What Did I See in Estonia". Listen: Mark Leidner, Véronique Tadjo, and Doris KarevaAbout the Writers: Mark Leidner Mark Leidner was born in Tifton, GA. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Georgia, and in 2007 he graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His poems have appeared in Skein and La Petite Zine. He lives in Iowa City. Véronique Tadjo Véronique Tadjo, a 2006 participant in the UI's International Writing Program, is a poet, author, illustrator and painter from the Ivory Coast. She has published work in fiction and poetry, as well as many volumes of children’s literature. Her most recent work includes As The Crow Flies (2001) and The Shadow of Imana, Travels in the heart of Rwanda (2002), published by Heinemann in London, as well as her latest novel, Reine Pokou, published by Actes Sud in Paris. Doris Kareva Doris Kareva, a 2006 participant in the UI's International Writing Program, has published thirteen poetry collections, most recently Shape of Time (2005). Kareva has edited anthologies of Estonian poetry, and translated the work of Auden, Beckett, Dickinson, and Shakespeare. She currently serves as Secretary General of the Estonian National Commission for UNESCO. Would you like to be informed of new posts and articles on the Writing University website? Join our Mailing List or subscribe to our RSS Feed http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/mark_leidner_veronique_tadjo_doris_kareva/ Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:24:00 CDT 45:05 In this presentation Marilyn Abildskov suggests ways to deal with the unease of crafting personal stories into memoirs. Abildskov advises how to write with "narrative intelligence:" the distance necessary to find the "story underneath the story." Abildskov also offers examples of memoirs that she believes successfully combine careful prose and refined ideas. Listen: Marilyn Abildskov presents "Leap: Imagination in Nonfiction" at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, 6/28/07Marilyn Abildskov earned her M.F.A. from The University of Iowa. Her short stories, literary essays, and poems have appeared in magazines including Quarterly West, Bellingham Review, and Southern Review. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writer's Award, three Pushcart Prize nominations, and two Yaddo residencies. Kirkus Reviews calls her memoir, The Men in My Country, set in Japan, one of those travel stories "that reveals a heart as smitten with the place as the people." She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and teaches in the M.F.A. program at Saint Mary's College of California. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/marilyn_abildskov_leap_imagination_in_nonfiction/ Mon, 2 Jul 2007 14:31:00 CDT 48:32 Venise Berry offers advice on how to "bring the world into your writing." Berry advises writers to leave their own comfort zone of familiar communities and characters and purposely inject voices from a wide spectrum of experience. Berry asserts that a writer's job is to help the audience learn by making realistic, diverse characters "accountable to society." Listen: Venise Berry presents "Writing with Ethnic Diversity" at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, 6/26/07 Caryl Pagel introduces the Venise Berry's presentation. Venise Berry is an Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication and African American Studies at The University of Iowa. She is the author of three national bestselling novels, So Good, An African American Love Story (Dutton/Penguin, 1996), All of Me, A Voluptuous Tale (Dutton/Penguin, 2000) and Colored Sugar Water (Dutton/ Penguin 2002). She is currently at work on her next two novels: Pockets of Sanity and Career Women. All of Me received an Honor Book Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Berry is the recipient of an Iowa Author Award from the Public Library Foundation of Des Moines, and The Zora Neale Hurston Society has recognized her "Creative Contribution to Literature." For more information, visit Venise Berry's website at www.veniseberry.com. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/venise_berry_writing_with_ethnic_diversity/ Mon, 2 Jul 2007 13:26:00 CDT 55:40 Marc Nieson proposes the free-writing exercise as a disciplined process of seizing inspiration and later tackling revision. Nieson talks about how to reconcile the writer's often opposing mindsets of creator and editor, the journey of refining the "poetic impulse" in order to "make each word weight-bearing." Nieson also discusses the International Writing Program's literary journal, 100 Words. Listen: Marc Nielson presents "Making Words Count," at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, 6/25/07Marc Nieson (M.F.A., The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop) has lived in New York City, Italy, Iowa and Minnesota. His background includes filmmaking, children's theatre, building construction, and a season with a one-ring circus. Currently he's on the faculty of Chatham College and The Loft. An excerpt from Schoolhouse: A Memoir from the Heartland appeared in the Literary Review and short fiction in Great River Review and American Way. His filmscripts include Bottomland, The Dream Catcher, and Superheroes. Currently, he's living in Pittsburgh and finishing work on a novel, The Myth of Return. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/marc_nieson_making_words_count/ Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:38:00 CDT 57:05 Sands Hall imparts her unique perspective as novelist, playwright, director, and actor in this lecture on scene and character building. Hall discusses the differences between writing for print and the stage and shares techniques for making "the black marks on the paper jump off the page." Hall offers examples from her career of creating a theatrical or fictional world populated by recognizable and sympathetic characters. Listen: Sands Hall presents "Building Characters" at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, 6/21/07Sands Hall is a graduate of The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and holds a second M.F.A. in Acting. She is on the staff of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley and teaches for the University of California, Davis, Extension Programs, where she was recently honored with an Excellence in Teaching and Outstanding Service Award. She is the author of a book of writing essays and exercises, Tools of the Writer's Craft, and of the novel Catching Heaven, a Ballantine Reader's Circle selection and a Willa Award Finalist: Best Contemporary Fiction. Her produced plays include an adaptation of Alcott's Little Women and the comic/drama Fair Use. This is the seventeenth year Sands has taught for the Festival. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/sands_hall_on_building_characters/ Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:59:00 CDT 58:03 David Hamilton shares his thirty years of experience as editor of The Iowa Review, characterizing the unique world of literary magazines as "ephemeral" and "fugitive." Hamilton compares the mechanics of literary reviews, from local publications to larger magazines such as Harper's. Hamilton also answers audience questions about the submissions process. Listen: David Hamilton presents "A Baker's (Half) Dozen Ways of Looking at a Literary Magazine," at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, 6/20/07 Caryl Pagel introduces David Hamilton's presentation. David Hamilton edits The Iowa Review and teaches English literature at the University of Iowa. With degrees from Amherst College (AB) and the University of Virginia (PhD), he taught in Colombia and at the University of Michigan before taking his present position. In 1992, he was a Fulbright Professor in Valencia, Spain. The University of Missouri Press published Deep River (2001), a memoir embedded in local history reaching far into the archaeological record. Other works include the 2006 poetry collection Ossabaw (Salt Publishing) and the essay collection Textualities: Essays on Poetry in The United States (Valencia 2003). http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/david_hamilton_a_bakers_half_dozen_ways_of_looking_at_a_literary_magazine/ Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:38:00 CDT 1:13:42 In this podcast, recorded on 6/19/07 at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival Elevenses novelist and poet Jim Heynen discusses the relationship between content and form. Heynen advises writers to revisit thematic "obsessions" and to attempt "re-exploring the same material in different forms" in order to reach new depths of meaning from one medium to another. Heynen illustrates this concept using examples from his own experiments with both prose and poetry including selections from the award-winning novel Being Youngest. Listen: Jim Heynan presents "Same Content/Different Form," at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, 6/19/07 Caryl Pagel introduces Jim Heynan's presentation. Jim Heynen is a native of rural northwest Iowa and currently writer-in-residence at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. His most recent collection of short stories, The Boys' House, was named an Editors' Choice Book of the Year by Booklist, The Bloomsbury Review, and Newsday. His most recent novel is Cosmos Coyote and William The Nice. His 1997 novel, Being Youngest, was a Young Hoosier Book Award winner. Other recent books include Standing Naked: New and Selected Poems, and Fishing for Chickens: Stories about Rural Youth (ed.). Earlier books include The One-Room Schoolhouse and the nonfiction book One Hundred Over 100. He has frequently been featured on National Public Radio reading his own stories and has been awarded National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in both poetry and fiction. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/jim_heynan_same_content_different_form/ Wed, 20 Jun 2007 13:36:00 CDT 43:11 In her presentation, "Yikes! Elysium: Writing About Happiness," Christine Hemp tackles what she describes as a necessary tension between "sunlight" and "the underworld" in fiction and nonfiction writing. Hemp examines how mundane objects such as puzzle pieces can inspire a writer to depict a "joy leading to a new kind of truth." Hemp advises writers to avoid the sentimental in depictions of happiness in order to understand that "the backside of joy is the thing that holds it up." Listen: Christine Hemp presents "Yikes! Elysium: Writing About Happiness," at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, 6/18/07 Caryl Pagel introduces the presentation. Christine Hemp's essays and poetry are heard on NPR's Morning Edition and are published widely. One of her poems is aboard a NASA mission to monitor pre-natal stars, and her poetry program, which brokers peace between police and youth offenders, has paved new ground in Britain and the U.S. Recent awards include Harvard University Extension's Conway Award for Teaching Writing, a Washington State Artist Trust Fellowship for Literature, the Society for Professional Journalists First Prize for Radio Commentary, and an Iowa Award for Literary Nonfiction. She lives in Port Townsend, Washington. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/christine_hemp_on_writing_about_happiness/ Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:14:00 CDT 54:19 In this podcast, recorded on 6/14/07 at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival Elevenses, Katherine Min divulges the surprises and pitfalls of her first book tour, including advice on finding one's "natural audience." Min offers tips on creatively marketing oneself as a writer and answers audience questions about the experience of writing from a unique cultural perspective. Min encourages writers to actively promote themselves and ignore the idea that "most writers should be read, not seen." Listen: Katherine Min presents "What I Learned on Book Tour" at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival Caryl Pagel introduces Katherine Min's presentation. Katherine Min's novel, Secondhand World, was published by Alfred A. Knopf. Her stories have appeared in numerous publications, including TriQuarterly, Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, and Prairie Schooner, and have been widely anthologized, most recently in The Pushcart Book of Stories: The Best Short Stories from a Quarter-Century. Min has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and two fellowships from the New Hampshire Arts Council. She currently teaches at Plymouth State University. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/katherine_min_what_i_learned_on_a_book_tour_and_other_musings_of_a_debut_no/ Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:16:00 CDT 54:56 In this podcast, recorded on 6/13/07 at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival Elevenses, Sandra Scofield explores what it means to "read like a writer" and how this can aid the creative process. Scofield also offers specific narrative techniques for "cracking open a character." Scofield shares what she believes are the building blocks of a story: knowing one's "fictional world" and the characters that inhabit it. Listen: Sandra Scofield presents "Ways of Reading" at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival Caryl Pagel introduces Sandra Scofield's presentation. Sandra Scofield is the author of seven novels, including Plain Seeing, and a memoir, Occasions of Sin. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and a NEA Fellow. She has been a frequent instructor at the Summer Writing Festival, and a mentor for the low-residency M.F.A. programs at Pine Manor College and Seattle Pacific University. Her craft book for writers, The Scene Book, is a Spring 2007 publication from Penguin Books. http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/main/entry/sandra_scofield_ways_of_reading/ Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:49:00 CDT 48:37