Writers of Color Discussing Craft – A Compilation of Invisible Texts

“I often wonder what I’d do if there weren’t any books in the world.”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

A couple weeks ago I was thinking about how Junot Diaz often comments on the fact he’s almost never asked to speak about craft, and instead always is asked to talk about race, identity, and the immigrant experience. And it’s true — when I think about all the books on writing craft I’ve read or heard about over the years I’m struck by how few POC-authored books on writing I’ve seen.  Are they really that rare? Or are the books and essays out there, but we don’t know where to find them?

This list is an ongoing project to catalog what writing resources are out there (if you are aware of other texts, essays, and resources that should be listed, please post in the comments and I’ll add them in):

Single Authors on Craft

• Hongo, Garrett. The Mirror Diary: Selected Essays. University of Michigan Press. 2017.
• Johnson, Charles. The Way of the Writer. Scribner. 2016.
• Kingston, Maxine Hong. To Be the Poet. Harvard University Press. 2002.
• Lee, Li-Young. Breaking the Alabaster Jar: Conversations with Li-Young Lee. BOA Editions. 2006.
• Lorca, Federico Garcia. In Search of Duende. New Directions. 1998.
• Mullen, Harryette. The Cracks Between What We Are and What We Are Supposed to Be: Essays and Interviews. University of Alabama Press. 2012.
• Mura, David. A Stranger’s Journey: Race, Identity & Narrative Craft in Writing. Forthcoming.
• Paz, Octavio. The Bow and The Lyre: The Poem, The Poetic Revelation, Poetry and History. University of Texas Press. 2009.
• Paz, Octavio. The Siren and the Seashell and Other Essays on Poets and Poetry. University of Texas Press. 1991.
• Phillips, Carl. The Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Life and Art of Poetry. Graywolf. 2004.
• Phillips, Carl. The Art of Daring: Risk, Restlessness, Imagination. Graywolf. 2014.

Anthologies on Craft

• Dawes, Kwame (editor). When the Rewards Can Be So Great: Essays on Writing and the Writing Life. 1849 Editions. 2016.
• Galvan-Huynh, Amanda & Luisa A. Igloria (editors). Of Color: Poets’ Ways of Making An Anthology of Essays on Transformative Poetics. Forthcoming.
• Tabios, Eileen (editor). Black Lightning: Poetry-in-Progress. Asian American Writers Workshop. 1998.
• Quan-Lee, Sherry (editor). How Dare We Write. Forthcoming May/June 2017.

Textbooks

• Huey, Amorak and Todd Kaneko. Poetry: A Writers’ Guide and Anthology. Bloomsbury. 2018.
• Joseph, Allison (editor). (poetry instructional guide for teen girls) [title tbd]. Upper Rubber Boot Books. Forthcoming.

Essays on Craft (online)

• Diaz, Junot. “On My Way to the Novel, I Fell in Love with the Short Story,” Literary Hub (10/7/16).
• Perez, Craig Santos. “On Writing from the New Oceania,” Ottawa Poetry Newsletter (11/24/16)
• Perez, Craig Santos. “ʻfrom Organic Acts’: Tsamorita, Rosaries, and the Poem of My Grandma’s Life,” Life Writing Journal (2015), 1-6.
• Perez, Craig Santos. “from Unincorporated Poetic Territories,” The Force of What’s Possible: Accessibility and the Avant-Garde (Nightboat Books, 2015).
• Perez, Craig Santos. “from a Poetics of Continuous Presence and Erasure,” Evening Will Come: A Monthly Journal of Poetics (Issue 28, April 2013).
• Perez, Craig Santos. “The Poetics of Mapping Diaspora, Navigating Culture, and Being From,” Doveglion Literary Journal (2011).

Essays on Pedagogy (online)

• Lee, Christine Hyung-Oak. “On Workshop Strife,” Pleiades. (Dec 3, 2016)
• Salesses, Matthew. “CW Workshop & Trump: 7 Things I Teach,” Pleiades. (Nov 26, 2016).
• Salesses, Matthew. “Choosing Texts,” Pleiades (Jan 10, 2017).
• Salesses, Matthew. “Notes on Culture & Craft: Part 1,” Pleiades (Nov 7, 2016).
• Salesses, Matthew. “Notes on Culture & Craft: Part 2,” Pleiades (Jan 27, 2017).

Lectures on Craft (online)

• Barot, Rick. “Poems and the Impure.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jan 2006.

• Barot, Rick. “The First Herbert.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jan 2007.

• Barot, Rick. “The Sea and the Zebra: Visual Effects in Poems.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jan 2011.

• Barot, Rick. “The Voice in Question.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jan 2012.

• Jordan, A. Van. “The Suspension of Disbelief.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures [$5]. Jul 2012.

• Lewis, Robin Coste. “The Race Within Erasure.” Literary Arts, Portland, OR. Feb 25, 2016.

• Medina, Pablo. “Don Quixote and Huckleberry Finn: Partners in Crime.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jul 2002.

• Phillips, Carl. “Confession and the Model of George Herbert.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jan 2000.

• Shahid, Agha Ali. “The Dramatic Monologue.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jan 1999.

• Shahid, Agha Ali. “In Defense of the Canon, or, A Darkly Defense of Dead White Males.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jan 1998.

• Youn, Monica. “Nora/Laura.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jan 2014.

• Young, C. Dale. “Doubt and Uncertainty: The Interrogative Gesture as Rhetorical Strategy.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jul 2016.

• Young, C. Dale. “An Examination of Two Poems by Kenneth Koch and Frank O’Hara.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jul 2010.

• Young, C. Dale. “Anatomy of Contemporary Elegy.” Warren Wilson MFA Lectures. [$5]. Jul 2005.

On MFA vs POC

• [2014-04-30] Diaz, Junot. “MFA vs POC,” The New Yorker.
• [2014-05-05] Mura, David. “On the Response to Junot Diaz’s ‘MFA vs POC'” (blog)
• [2014-05-07] Capó-García, Paola. “Addressing the Too-White Problem: A Response to Junot Diaz’s ‘MFA vs POC’ Critique,” Remezcla.
• [2014-05-22] Peña, Daniel. “POC vs PLOT: The MFA, Chipotle Chips, and Narratives We Crave,” Ploughshares.
• [2014-05-30] Kantor, Roanne. “A reflection on Junot Diaz’s ‘MFA vs POC'” (blog)
• [2015-01-11] Joseph, Janine. “MFA vs POC Response,” Speak No Evil Forum,  Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-01-11] Hayashida, Jennifer. “MFA vs POC Response,” Speak No Evil Forum, Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-01-11] Iyer, Sreedhevi. “MFAoC,” Speak No Evil Forum, Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-01-11] Sharma, Nina. “Year One,” Speak No Evil Forum, Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-01-11] Weaver, Afaa Michael. “MFA vs POC Response,” Speak No Evil Forum, Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-01-11] Espinoza, Alex. “MFA vs POC Response,” Speak No Evil Forum, Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-01-11] Perez, Craig Santos. “MFA vs POC Response,” Speak No Evil Forum, Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-01-11] Xu Xi, “The Writing Race,” Speak No Evil Forum, Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-01-11] González, Rigoberto. “MFA vs POC Response,” Speak No Evil Forum, Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-01-11] Greenidge, Kaitlyn. “MFA vs POC Response,” Speak No Evil Forum, Asian American Literary Review.
• [2015-04-21] Mura, David. “The Student of Color in the Typical MFA Program,” Gulf Coast.
• [2015-08-19] Larson, Sonya. “Degrees of Diversity: Talking Race and the MFA,” Poets & Writers.
• [2017-04-27] Nguyen, Viet Thanh. “How Writers’ Workshops Can Be Hostile,” New York Times.

 

Other Recommended Texts

• Alexander, Meena. The Shock of Arrival: Reflections on Postcolonial Experience. South End Press. 1996.

• Paz, Octavio. The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings. Grove Press. 1985.