Despite boasting a population well over 70,000, Flagstaff seems to pride itself on the small town charm epitomized by its historic downtown district. There, you can find many local and sometimes quirky businesses. One of my favorite places to visit is Bright Side Bookshop, which holds the unofficial title of Flagstaff’s only independent book store. … More More than a Bookstore by Alina Gonzalez
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” — The Lorax A couple years ago, I was speaking with a writer friend about fiction’s ability to change peoples’ minds. We were both taking an environmental fiction class, and she voiced her frustrations with this premise. She said … More Exploring Cli-Fi: Can Fiction Change Your Mind? by Tianna Jordening
My mother died on her birthday 40 years ago. She died in Israel. I light the memorial candle in my kitchen in Evanston and recite the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead. I drag the box with the “fragile, handle with care” sign on it from the basement and put it on the chair … More In Memoriam by Miram Ben-Yoseph
The rise of Papohaku Beach fills with builders. Worms of shaved wood curl off stone chisels. The breeze carries the scent of koa. They are hollowing out the logs brought down by Moloka’i men from the forest at Kualapu’u. Women braid luahala that will become sails. Girls sing of my triumph, weaving their spell into … More PREPARING FOR WAR by Kirby Michael Wright
Sub/urban environmental writing is not simply blurry-eyed nostalgia for a greener past, spewing anger for a potentially bleak future, or ruminating guiltily over our less-than-conscientious, human activities. It can be humorous, charming, and contemporary. And these five, accomplished authors and activists are calling all writers to action. … More NFN2018: “Sub/urban Environmental Writing”
We were visited a couple of weeks ago by the celebrated writer and essayist, Sarah Minor, who shared with us her experiences working with texts that are not always only two-dimensional. Sarah Minor is the author of The Persistence of The Bonyleg: Annotated and the video editor at TriQuarterly Review. Her website, sarahceniaminor.com, showcases her many and … More Sarah Minor’s Thoughts on Essaying, Hybrid Texts, and Sheep
Margaret Emma Brandl is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at Texas Tech University, where she teaches classes and serves as an associate editor for Iron Horse Literary Review. She has an MFA in prose from the University of Notre Dame, and her work has appeared in Gulf Coast, Hobart, and Cartridge Lit, among others.
We honeymooned in Orlando at the Universal Studios theme park and found our way to a Jurassic Park-themed boat ride through thick trees and velociraptors—fun in an ironic, retro way. The absences and deficiencies in technology stuck out. There was a time—presumably when the ride was released in 1996—when visitors would have been scared by … More Scared by Michael Chin
Recipient of the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (2015), Ross Gay shapes language, roots fused with variegated ash, to chronicle experiences, the profane crafted sacred through simple gestures of doing and undoing, buttoning and unbuttoning, while resisting the need to dissect his artistry with “an X-Acto knife.” When asked what … More Lovingly Grateful: An Interview with Ross Gay; Interview conducted by Laine Derr
I was honored when Carl Phillips, Department of English at Washington University in St. Louis, agreed to an interview. He is a prolific author whose most recent collection Reconnaissance (2015) continues to establish him as a leading poetic voice. When asked what advice he would give to someone new to writing, Phillips succinctly responded, “Read … More A Gesture of Love: An Interview with Carl Phillips; Interview conducted by Laine Derr
