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Category Archives: writers
“When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.” — Dorothy Thompson
Dorothy Thompson, 1939: testifying in Congress to repeal the Neutrality Act. “They are holding every Jew in Germany as a hostage. Therefore, we who are not Jews must speak, speak our sorrow and indignation and disgust in so many voices … Continue reading
“Art is theft, art is armed robbery, art is not pleasing your mother.” — Janet Malcolm
It’s her birthday today. She died in 2021. I started out with The Silent Woman, many years ago, her book on the challenges of writing about Sylvia Plath, particularly in lieu of the draconian Plath estate, run – Shakespearean-ly – … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged essays, Janet Malcolm, nonfiction, Sylvia Plath
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“There’s a difference between writing about something and living through it. I did both.” — poet/novelist Margaret Walker
Photo by Carl Van Vechten Margaret Walker was born in 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama. Her parents were interesting accomplished people, and her childhood was filled with literature and music. Her father gave her a love of heavy-hitters like Schopenhauer, classic … Continue reading
“But man has always succeeded in rising again.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Today is the birthday of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Here is an extraordinary excerpt from Wind, Sand and Stars – a book I last read in high school, when I was in my Richard Bach-airplane-writing-soulmate-search phase. Listen to this prose. And … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Antoine de Saint-Exupery, France, nonfiction
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“I know why the caged bird sings, ah me…” — poet Paul Laurence Dunbar
It’s the birthday of poet/novelist/playwright/editor Paul Laurence Dunbar. The child of freed slaves, he was publishing poetry when he was still a teenager, and went on to be the first Black American writer who gained an international reputation. He was … Continue reading
“[Poetry is] a way of trying to come to peace with the world.” — poet Lucille Clifton
It’s her birthday today. Rita Dove said of Lucille Clifton’s body of work: In contrast to much of the poetry being written today—-intellectualized lyricism characterized by an application of inductive thought to unusual images—-Lucille Clifton’s poems are compact and self-sufficient…Her … Continue reading
“I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts.” — George Orwell
Orwell was born on this day. When Animal Farm was released in a new edition, Christopher Hitchens wrote specifically about the quote from Orwell shown in the title above. Very few people can “face unpleasant facts”. Hitchens: A commissar who … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged 1984, Animal Farm, dystopia, England, essays, George Orwell, nonfiction, politics, Russia, war
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“And the role of the fatal chorus / I agree to take on” — Anna Akhmatova
“This I pray at your liturgy After so many tormented days, So that the stormcloud over darkened Russia Might become a cloud of glorious rays.” — Anna Akhmatova, “Prayer” Anna Akhmatova – born Anna Andreyevna Gorenko on this day – … Continue reading
“You don’t want to see ‘plots’. You want to see stories develop.” — Billy Wilder
Billy and Audrey Wilder It’s his birthday today. I love him for his humor, his cynical pessimistic view of human beings – which, honestly, just feels realistic, his versatility with material (noirs, melodramas, war movies, comedies). Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, … Continue reading
“I like variety in poetry. I love how it comes in so many guises. As rock lyric, as rap, as note on a fridge.” — Paul Muldoon
“I’m very much against expressing a categorical view of the world. I hope I can continue to discover something, and not to underline or bolster up what I already know.” – Paul Muldoon It’s his birthday today. Like Seamus Heaney … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Belfast, Ireland, Irish poetry, Michael Schmidt, Paul Muldoon, poetry, Seamus Heaney
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