The Big Reveal: Who Likes Doctor Sleep?
Note to TW Readers: This is the last newsletter in our old format. If you're a TW subscriber, you should already be receiving email versions of Talking E-News. If that's not the case, contact webmaster[at]talkingwriting.com.
What the TW Board Reads
Think of it as the Talking Writing bookshelf. At an all-day retreat in July, most of the TW advisory board chatted over lunch about the best books they'd been reading.
Their reading lists appear below and are as varied as the board itself. Looking them over is a great way to get to know us (and, yes, at least one Stephen King fan is revealed).
President and Treasurer Mark Allen listed these novels:
- The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
- Lost for Words and the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St. Aubyn
- I Pity the Poor Immigrant by Zachary Lazar
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Clerk Bianca Garcia also highlighted recent novels:
- Delicious! by Ruth Reichl
- The Vacationers by Emma Straub
- The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
Susan Cassidy included some all-time favorites in her list:
- A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
- The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
Wendy Glaas focused (mostly) on nonfiction and memoir:
- The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Surivived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
- Wild by Cheryl Strayed
- A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
- The Burn Palace by Stephen Dobyns
Editor-in-Chief Martha Nichols filled her summer break with novels and memoirs, including:
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King- The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
- Euphoria by Lily King
- When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams
William Gray wasn't present for the board's book chat, but later, he listed his own eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction:
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap by Matt Taibbi
- The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
- Titan: The Life of John D. Rockfeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
To find out more about our board, click on TW Board Members.
Introducing the TW Reading Series—and New Staff
Bringing literary work to a larger audience online is part of TW's nonprofit mission. That's why some past issues of Talking Writing have included pieces republished from small-press print magazines or book publishers.
Now, we're delighted to report that writer and teacher Wm. Anthony Connolly, on the MFA faculty at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, will be our new Reading Series Editor. He'll help scan the world of small-press print literary work for great pieces to republish in Talking Writing. Starting with Fall 2014, the TW Reading Series will feature several selections every issue.
TW also welcomes a new administrative editor, Matt Kelley, who describes himself as "a newly minted graduate of Allegheny College in Pennsylvania." He studied philosophy and political science, so it's not surprising that Matt chose a quote by Michel Foucault to accompany his bio note. Find out which one on the TW Editors page.
In addition, Alyson Conover, who's handled financial management and administration at a number of nonprofit organizations (including Harvard University), is now TW's bookkeeper. When she's not keeping the books for clients, Alyson says, she's doing yoga, training her very friendly dog Bruin, and "surfing when the wind, waves, weather, and time all manage to align just right."
To find out more about the "People Behind TW," click the links on our Masthead.
Themes for 2015
The deadline for submitting work to TW's Holiday 2014 issue—Writing and Faith—is this Monday, September 15. After that, we'll update TW's Editorial Calendar to list 2015 themes and submission deadlines. Here's a sneak peek at next year:
Winter 2015: All Flash
A TW issue devoted to short writing—flash essays and fiction, poetry forms like haiku.
Spring 2015: Nature Tech
How writing about the natural world combines (or collides) with digital technology.
Fall 2015: TW "Reader's Choice"
Theme to be chosen by the TW community. Stay tuned for details.
Holiday 2015: Writing and Faith
TW's annual theme about how writing helps make sense of Big Questions.
Photo credit: "Flash?!" © Brian Glanz; Creative Commons license.
