Tag: review:

The Stasi Poetry Circle: The Creative Writing Class That Tried to Win the Cold War by Philip Oltermann

In the early 1960s, the East German secret police—commonly known as the Stasi—gathered some of its staff to compose and share their poetry. The group called themselves the Writing Circle of Chekists, borrowing the word “cheka” from their fellow spies in Russia, and they met once a month for almost three decades. But what exactly […]

A Nun With Very Bad Habits

Sister Holiday, the protagonist of Margot Douaihy’s showstopper of a series debut SCORCHED GRACE (Gillian Flynn Books/Zando, 310 pp., $27.95) isn’t what you’d imagine a nun to be like, even in laissez-faire New Orleans. “Not that I knew what to make of a nun like me — gold tooth from a bar fight, black scarf […]

Endpapers

The following is from Jennifer Savran Kelly’s debut novel Endpapers. Kelly lives in Ithaca, New York, where she writes, binds books, and works as a production editor at Cornell University Press. Her short fiction has appeared in Hobart, Black Warrior Review, Green Mountains Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts, […]

‘Not Dead Yet’ review: Gina Rodriguez plays an obituary writer who sees ghosts

Gina Rodriguez stars as a newspaper obituary writer who sees ghosts — specifically of the people about whom she’s writing on the ABC single-camera sitcom “Not Dead Yet.” (Lara Solank/ABC) An alternate title for the ABC comedy “Not Dead Yet” could have been “I See Dead People.” Such is the case for Nell (Gina Rodriguez), […]

Review: Center Rep’s ‘Red Bike’ is liberated writing

Nowhere but America could have created the setting of “Red Bike.” Not long ago, the town was rural. The old bus driver remembers corn and wheat; driving along, he points out a part of town that “used to be happening.” Even now, a lonely water tower stands out on the skyline, and the rest of […]

Margaret Atwood MasterClass Review: Will The Handmaid’s Tale Author Help You Master Speculative Fiction?

Live training this week: learn the secrets of story structure at our free, live training this week only. Learn more and sign up for free here. One thing I love about writing as a craft is that you’re never “done.” No matter how good you get, there’s always something to learn. I’ve been writing for […]