Teaching Creative Writing with Literary Magazines

I’m a big fan of teaching creative writing with literary magazines, and have been doing it my whole my career. When I first started teaching Creative Writing, I used the textbook The Creative Process by Carol Burke and Molly Best Tinsley. It is a thin little book with chapters on poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, along withContinue reading “Teaching Creative Writing with Literary Magazines”

How I teach 4 Genres in 1 Semester, Part III

In the first parts of this series, I discussed why I teach 4 genres, how teaching 4 genres is more efficient, and how small group workshops help me juggle 4 genres in one class. That covers about the first 50-60% of a semester, but now I’d like to turn to what I do in the restContinue reading “How I teach 4 Genres in 1 Semester, Part III”

How I teach 4 Genres in 1 Semester, Part II

One question I get about my new textbook A Writer’s Craft is, how is it possible to teach poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama all in one semester? This post is a continuation of “How I teach 4 Genres in 1 Semester, Part I,” where I talk about the efficiencies of teaching 4 genres at the intro levelContinue reading “How I teach 4 Genres in 1 Semester, Part II”

Why I Support the Mississippi Arts Commission

This week we learned that there is a bill in the Mississippi Senate to close the Mississippi Arts Commission and consolidate it under the Mississippi Development Authority. The Arts Commission director was blind-sided by this news, and obviously there was no planning with the commission that led to the proposal. According to the Clarion Ledger,Continue reading “Why I Support the Mississippi Arts Commission”

20 Reasons to Write or Read a Poem (besides commemorating a life event or making a buck)

This is a follow-up to my last post, “Indeed, Why Poetry?” which was a response to Daniel Halpern’s essay, “A Few Questions for Poetry,” that began with the mother of all questions: “Why poetry?” I don’t mean to start an argument, but I thought I ought to offer a few more answers to that questionContinue reading “20 Reasons to Write or Read a Poem (besides commemorating a life event or making a buck)”

Indeed, Why Poetry?

A Response to Daniel Halpern’s “A Few Questions for Poetry” On Dec. 30, 2016, Halpern published a defense of poetry in the New York Times. As often seems to be the case with these kinds of defenses, he raises some valid points while making a few troubling claims, not the smallest of which is theContinue reading “Indeed, Why Poetry?”

Catch, Knox College Magazine

This week, I had a blast from the past, an email from Knox College asking about the times the undergraduate literary magazine, Catch, had won the CCLM national prize. The acronym is for the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines, which around 1990 changed its name to CLMP —Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. The three coversContinue reading “Catch, Knox College Magazine”