Our cover story is a profile of Ana Castillo, whose poetry, fiction, essays, and journalism have received acclaim, and whose first children's book, My Daughter, My Son, The Eagle, The Dove, is a collection of poems based on Aztec rites of passage.
March/April 2000
Features
No Silence for This Dreamer: The Stories of Ana Castillo
A profile of Ana Castillo.
Conferences and Residencies
Hay on Wye Festival: A Writers Conference in Wales
In a tiny Welsh town of 1,300 people, thirty-four independent bookshops thrive. Could there be a more perfect setting for writers to meet their readers?
The Spirit & the Letter: Word Conversions in a Mexican Monastery
Casa Don Miguel, a restored eighteenth-century monastery in Pátzcuaro, Mexico, recently started hosting writers, but the area has a centuries-long history of supporting the arts.
Perfect Words: Celebrating Writers, New Orleans Style
Part arts festival, part birthday party, the Words and Music Festival as sponsored by the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society makes for an irresistible combination.
Getting to Work: A Writers Retreat in Vermont
In the foothills of the Green Mountain State's highest peaks, a writer embarks on a monthlong journey into his own creative mind.
News and Trends
Academy Honors Mac Low, Brooks
The Academy of American Poets awards its largest prizes to an experimental poet and a sociopolitically-minded writer.
Poetry Programs for Youths Flourish
Writing programs like Youth Speaks in New York City help young people establish their voices.
Hungry Mind Changes Its Name
Midwestern indie bookstore Hungry Mind becomes Ruminator Books after selling its name to an online university.
The Practical Writer
Gambling on Authors: West Coast Agent Sandy Dijkstra
California agent Sandra Dijkstra is interested in books that tell a story, change a culture, and have a lasting effect.
Out of the Slush Pile, Into the Canyon: What Does It Mean to Be Published?
Voluntary self-restraint on the part of poets could lead to healthier relations between poets and editors.
Amy Holman's Tough-Love Guide to Publishing: Making Conferences Work for You
Poet Amy Holman discusses creating a community of writers and building an audience of readers at conferences.
The Literary Life
Experiments in Solitude: Alaskan Poets Chadwick and Enzweiler
On Alaskan poets Jerah Chadwick and Joseph Enzweiler.
The Art of Reading Robert Frost: A Biographer's Confession
Inside the writing of Robert Frost's life.
Metromania: Ellipticism's Scramble for the New Coast
Emerging writers defy critical monikers.