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Showing posts from September, 2010

[Interview] Bosley Gravel

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Bosley Gravel was born in the Midwest and grew up in Texas and southern New Mexico. His work includes the novels, Servant of the Mud (Shadowfire Press, 2009) and The Movie (Bewrite Books, 2009). In this interview, Bosley Gravel talks about his writing: When did you start writing? I’ve been writing stories ever since I can remember. I first sought publication in the mid-90s, but that didn't amount to much. In 2006 I took up writing again and have written close to half a million words since then. About 200,000 of those have seen publication in some form. Between 1996 and 2006 the Internet became a critical tool for writers and I’ve leveraged that in a predictable way by targeting online journals, using it for research and making cheap, efficient submissions via email. The number one thing I did to achieve the goal of publication was to write every day and study the craft of storytelling. As for the reasons for seeking publication, that is hidden in treasure chest and buried deeply

[Interview] Mary Fawcett

Mary Fawcett is an early years consultant and an evaluator for 5x5x5=creativity , an arts-based research organisation that supports the expression of children's feelings, thoughts and ideas. She has worked as a Social Work lecturer and was Director of Early Childhood Studies at the University of Bristol . Mary Fawcett edited Focus on Early Childhood: Principles and Realities (Working Together for Children, Young People, and Their Families) (Wiley-Blackwell, 2000) and Researching Children Researching the World: 5X5X5=creativity (Trentham Books Ltd, 2008). She is also the author of Learning Through Child Observation (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2009). In this interview, Mary Fawcett talks about her work: How did you become interested in Early Childhood Studies? I decided to become a teacher of young children (as a school leaver) largely because I liked the idea of sharing my enthusiasms, such as music, gardening, literature, scientific ideas, painting, making and cooking. In fact

[Interview] Nana Awere Damoah

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Nana Awere Damoah is a Ghanaian Chevening alumnus who studied in Ghana and in the United Kingdom. He keeps a blog of his articles at Excursions in my Mind . So far, he has written and published two books, Through the Gates of Thought (Athena Press, 2010) and Excursions in my Mind (Athena Press, 2008). His short stories have been featured in Ghanaian newspapers and magazines that include The Mirror and The Spectator as well as in the anthology, African Roar (Lion Press Ltd, 2010). In this interview, Nana Awere Damoah talks about his writing: When did you start writing? My very first article, published in Through the Gates of Thought , was written in 1993 -- so I trace my writing life to that year. I was 18 years old then. But my appreciation of the literary form and my involvement in things literary actually started much earlier, in preparatory school, in the early 1980s when each class had to perform a play a day before the vacation day ... Small beginnings, appreciation of the ar

[Interview] Joshua Pringle

Joshua Pringle is a novelist, singer and journalist living in New York City. He is also the web editor for the international political affairs magazine, Worldpress.org . His latest novel, Downward Facing God , is currently being reviewed by literary agents. In this interview, Joshua Pringle talks about his writing: When did you start writing? I wrote a lot of poetry in high school, then went to college and studied magazine journalism. In college I also wrote a lot of songs. It wasn't until the tail end of college that I started in on prose. I wrote a couple short stories, a screenplay, and then dove into my first novel. That was in 2002 that I started the novel. Writing has never felt like a conscious decision to me. Instead, a story finds its inception in the back of my head and asks to be let out. With each book or screenplay I've begun, I sit down at a keyboard with an opening scene in my head, start typing, and then ask myself as I go who these characters are, where they&#

University Encourages Literature for Inmates

By Tim Handorf Baylor University , located in Waco, Texas, is taking a new approach to classic literature and community service. For the first time, the Baptist school is sponsoring a program that will attempt to lower inmate recidivism through classic literature reviews provided by the Baylor students. This program, called an Engaged Learning Group (ELG), is one of several sponsored by the University that aims at providing a select group of students with an opportunity live and learn together, and to explore a challenging social issue in a new way. The Unlock the Imprisoned Mind with a Digital Key ELG was designed to allow students to give back to their communities over a three or four semester length period by educating prisoners about "great books." The program synopsis states that "studies show that recidivism among the incarcerated reduces dramatically if the prisoners become involved in literacy programs." And through essays and journal entries, Baylor stude

[Interview: Part 2 of 2] Jay Mandal

Gay romance author, Jay Mandal's work includes the novels, All About Sex (BeWrite Books, 2006) and Precipice (Bewrite Books, 2005) as well as the short story collections, The Loss of Innocence (BeWrite Books, 2003); A Different Kind of Love (BeWrite Books, 2002); and Slubberdegullion (BeWrite Books, 2001). His work has also been featured in anthologies that include Best Gay Romance 2009 (Cleis Press, 2009)and Best Gay Romance 2010 (Cleis Press, 2010). In this interview, Jay Mandal talks about how his poems, short stories and novels have been received: We had our first interview about three years ago. Have the challenges you face as a writer stayed the same or have they changed? On a personal level, my depression seems to have worsened, which means I can’t write as much as I’d like. Oddly enough, as my depression gains more of a hold, my writing seems to be becoming lighter in tone. I’m not sure whether that’s some form of escapism, if it’s normal change, if I’ve temporaril

[Interview_2] Lori Titus

In an earlier interview , Lori Titus talked, among other things, about her collection of short stories, Green Water Lullaby (Sonar4 Publications, 2010) and about the factors that drew her to paranormal/horror literature. Her latest offering, Lazarus is a novella set in the Old West which combines steam punk, magic, zombies and ghosts. She had this to say about the novella: How would you describe the new book? Lazarus is a story set in the Old West, in a town in California. A young widow named Luella Pemby comes to town, armed with a device that can detect the presence of zombies. Lazarus is known as a site of “natural reanimation”, where infrequent Risings of the dead occur. Luella seeks out the local sheriff, Benjamin Drake and the mayor of the town, Jasper Cole. She offers her help, and both men are wary of her at first. Luella comes to find that not only are the Risings occurring more frequently, but that there is more going on in the town of Lazarus than she though