The Time Is Now
Follow in the dactylic footsteps of Homer, leave everyone behind for a solo journey, or report the breaking news of your own life—three prompts to help start your writing off on a great adventure.
From the Magazine
Ampersand Extra: Jesse Browner Interview
Ampersand hosts Kevin Larimer and Melissa Faliveno sit down with Jesse Browner, the author of How Did I Get Here? Making Peace With the Road Not Taken, published this month by Harper Wave, to talk about the new book and the decisions we...
Why We Write: San Francisco 2015
Melissa Faliveno, associate editor of Poets & Writers Magazine, leads a conversation with authors Wendy Lesser, Yiyun Li, Alejandro Murguia, D. A. Powell, and Michelle Tea about the personal, political, and professional reasons we...
Art vs. Life, a Quarrel: San Francisco 2015
David Shields and Caleb Powell, authors of I Think You're Totally Wrong: A Quarrel, reignite the age-old debate about the lives of artists as they attempt to disturb preconceived divisions between reality and fiction, life and art.
The Time Is Now
Writing prompts and exercises in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction employing kindness, strange connections, and the timeless wisdom of Special Agent Dale Cooper.
Rethinking Rejection: Notes from the Slush Pile
The assistant poetry editor of Able Muse offers his thoughts on coming to terms with the inevitability—and impersonality—of rejection in the world of literary magazines.
The Moment of Truth: Eleven Authors Share Stories of Life-Changing Retreats
Melissa Febos, Jay Baron Nicorvo, and nine other authors share their stories of the major turning points they experienced.
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The Art of Reading Per Petterson: Finding Appalachia in a Norwegian Novel
Even in translation, Norwegian author Per Petterson’s prose is intensely rhythmic and lyrical, evoking something akin to the oral tradition of Appalachian storytelling.
Where We Write: Iowa
Iowa isn’t just the Writers’ Workshop. A native Iowan talks about how she learned to capture the true nature of her home state, and the stoic people who live there, in her writing.
Wonder Woman: What My First Artists Retreat Taught Me About Writing, Murder, and Myself
On her way to the Vermont Studio Center and in a moment of panic, a writer tells a lie that leads her to realize an important truth about herself—and exactly what it takes to finish her novel.