The Fun of Virtual Workshops: Taking an Online Writing Course
Busy working moms who need to write and also communicate with a writing community but are short on time and resources can turn to online writing classes. They are a convenient way to learn, share, and build new relationships with follow writers. Most, if not all courses, allow you to make your own hours. A six-week online novel writing course from Curtis Brown Creative, out of London consists of short well-produced videos and focused tasks that are then shared with other students. Each week the instructors choose the work of several students to critique. The online platform is easy to use and attractive. I am currently in this course and am surprised at the high quality of work from all of the students, as well as their friendliness and openness. Though not free, the price is reasonable and no more than a class at the local writer’s center. For people who have trouble carving out learning time from motherly and work duties, this kind of online course set-up is brilliant.
Poem in Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Anthology
So honored to have my poem “29 Men” about the Upper Big Branch mine tragedy in this eco-justice anthology. This is a broad and moving collection of work.
Ghost Fishing
An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology
Reviews
“These poems record the perspectives of Asian men and black women, newly published poets and cornerstone voices of the twentieth century, working-class Americans and women who work on their knees clearing landmines ‘In Jordan’s Northernmost Province.’ In fact, the poets represented between these covers represent far more demographic classifications than I could possibly name. The house built in this anthology is one of many interconnecting rooms.”
—Camille T. Dungy, from the foreword
Description
Ghost Fishing is the first anthology to focus solely on poetry with an eco-justice bent. A culturally diverse collection entering a field where nature poetry anthologies have historically lacked diversity, this book presents a rich terrain of contemporary environmental poetry with roots in many cultural traditions.
Eco-justice poetry is poetry born of deep cultural attachment to the land and poetry born of crisis. Aligned with environmental justice activism and thought, eco-justice poetry defines environment as “the place we work, live, play, and worship.” This is a shift from romantic notions of nature as a pristine wilderness outside ourselves toward recognition of the environment as home: a source of life, health, and livelihood.
Ghost Fishing is arranged by topic at key intersections between social justice and the environment such as exile, migration, and dispossession; war; food production; human relations to the animal world; natural resources and extraction; environmental disaster; and cultural resilience and resistance. This anthology seeks to expand our consciousness about the interrelated nature of our experiences and act as a starting point for conversation about the current state of our environment.
Contributors include Homero Aridjis, Brenda Cárdenas, Natalie Diaz, Camille T. Dungy, Martín Espada, Ross Gay, Joy Harjo, Brenda Hillman, Linda Hogan, Philip Metres, Naomi Shihab Nye, Tolu Ogunlesi, Wang Ping, Patrick Rosal, Tim Seibles, Danez Smith, Arthur Sze, Eleanor Wilner, and Javier Zamora.
Heather Lynne Davis 