An Interview With Roz Kaveney

Roz Kaveney is one of the most incisive literary multi-hyphenates at work today. Whether she is writing about the cultural impact of TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Galactica or writing critically-acclaimed novels and poems or campaigning on behalf of the transgender community, where she is revered as one of its most prominent voices, Kaveney has always been a pioneer. Here she discusses her latest novel, the excellent Tiny Pieces of Skull, which is published by Team Angelica Press.

In the book there are many and varied trans characters and so transwomen's experience is centered and normalized. Was there an ideological intention there, or did it more come out of a fidelity to a real social network?

The subtitle is "A lesson in manners" which partly sets the agenda that this is going to be social comedy. It is also literally true because the way the book is written -- and this was something I felt strongly even back in the 80s -- was that the way to write about trans people was to write about trans community and never to use the word and absolutely to write in accordance with the position that trans women are women. The standard trans narrative -- especially in fiction -- is to write about trans people in isolation from each other; even in my teens, I came out by finding community and I wanted to produce a fiction that dealt with that. And yes, I was thoroughly fed up with the standard cis narrative about trans people in which we are interesting set dressing -- victims of crime or tolerance. There absolutely needed -- still needs -- to be fiction that centers on trans people and now we are getting that fiction and this book I wrote so long ago becomes publishable.

Tiny Pieces is entirely free of self-pity. As with Charles Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chinaski, was telling the tale through Annabelle a way for you to deal with certain difficult experiences?

One of the key quotations on the imaginary cork-board in my head is "The world is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel." Back when I was writing Tiny Pieces of Skull, I wanted to reject the victim narrative. Not that I was ever, exactly, Annabelle, but subsequent to the experiences that Tiny Pieces of Skull deals with, I had some inconvenient medical stuff I will write about someday; I survived that by cultivating the icy splinter in the heart of the true artist... It's also a stylistic discipline -- avoids self-sentimentalizing. That's the reason for my fascination with form.

Sarah Schulman said Tiny Pieces has the feeling of classic noir in its wit and hardboiled tone. Your other writing is often highly referential; was that an intentional nod to genre?

I grew up admiring Hammett and Chandler, and later on the wonderful Sara Paretsky and indeed Sarah Schulman herself -- noir has always been one of the best ways to write moral fiction and political fiction because that is what Hammett created it to do. I also liked the idea of combining two sorts of very cold-blooded fiction -- the English person out of their depth in a foreign country that Evelyn Waugh created in some of his better books, and the "down these mean streets" narrative. Annabelle is simultaneously hapless and capable of being a sort of hero.

Obviously I am fascinated by genre -- my critical books on science fiction and high school film are all about how playing with tropes and rules gives you freedom. My big fantasy series "Rhapsody of Blood" is a deliberate subversion of a lot of genre tropes in the interests of a queer anarcho-feminist agenda. A lot of my poetry, and especially my work with the love sonnet, is a queer reclamation of many centuries of hegemonic straightness -- I love Donne but I decided a few years ago that part of what we all need is a lot more queer love sonnets...

The book is framed by ciswoman feminist Magda's ambivalence about trans authenticity. Are we still mired in these debates or do you feel we're genuinely moving past them?

It's all still going on. I write about it so much I am not going to rehearse it here.

Was revisiting a manuscript you'd set aside thirty years ago painful or challenging?

I think I'd say "fascinating"....Here I was, a published critic, poet and novelist in my 60s looking back at the book I had written in my 30s about my 20s and feeling weirdly close to both those women while no longer entirely being the same person. Tiny Pieces of Skull was one of the first things I ever wrote and yet it didn't particularly feel that way -- I could see why I had made various structural choices and most of the time I endorsed them. I revised the manuscript thoroughly but with a very light hand -- there is only one completely new episode. A couple of scenes have been adjusted to be slightly truer to my memory of what happened -- the book talks a little bit more than it used to about dysphoria because I'd talked to friends in their 20s about it.

Tiny Pieces centers on trans sex-workers in a non-judgmental way. Have there been any negative responses to this?

Not yet. I am sure it is coming but sufficient unto the day...

Trans people are really coming forward; why do you think this upsurge is happening now?

There are a lot of amazing young trans people of all genders making their way in the world -- and the older generation have been slogging away since the Seventies to make things achievable. I wish more of those crucial women and men like Sylvia Riveir and Lou Sullivan were around to see it.

What are you working on now? What's next for Roz?

Finishing "Revelations -- the fourth volume of Rhapsody of Blood; completing my translations versions of Catullus; putting together more poetry collections. Possibly writing a sequel to Tiny Pieces of Skull about what Annabelle did in the Sex Wars of the 80s...

Tiny Pieces of Skull by Roz Kaveney (Team Angelica Press) is out now. You can connect with Kaveney on Twitter.

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Louisa Meets Bear By Lisa Gornick

Louisa Meets Bear
by Lisa Gornick

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books (June 9, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0374192081
ISBN-13: 978-0374192082

After wowing us with Tinderbox and Private Sorcery, Lisa Gornick had given us Louisa Meets Bear, ten linked stories which can stand alone, each so firmly that they have won awards, such as Distinguished Short Story in Best American Short Story anthology.

Each is a story of passion. Louisa, daughter of a geneticist, meets Bear, a plumbers son, and they plunge (no pun intended) into a stormy affair that affects their choices for years. In other stories a daughter stabs her mother when she finds out the truth about her father. A psychotherapist/wife/mother finds her teenage son in bed with a girl and a man dead on her office floor. A mother who has been separated from her son finds out that he has helped a blind woman learn to play the piano. Gornick paints each character with both unnerving truthfulness and compassion. Just as in the reruns of Law & Order that I compulsively watch, even the most minor of Gornick's characters have personality. In Instructions to Participant, a mother who studying Social Work goes to a tenement to find a woman she's supposed to interview. No one answers the bell. A boy sitting on a stoop has just blown his gum into a green bubble. "The boy darted his tongue in and out to gather the gum back into his mouth. 'Bells don't work,'" he tells her.

The stories take you around the world -- Italy, Russia, Guatemala and are grounded in world events -- Nixon's invasion of Cambodia, the killings at Kent State, the shooting a black teen by a policeman. There is danger lurking.

What's most striking is the way Gornick makes time leaps in the story and also between stories. A story can be about a relative or a lover of one of the earlier characters. As you read, you think to yourself, Hey, don't I know this guy? just as you do when you run into someone in life. Even objects, such as Adirondack chairs, will pop out at you in later chapters. You'll remember who was sitting in them.

Writers will want to study the way she describes gestures, bodily sensations. She always stretches for an image. "My head throbbed at the thought, dissolving like a drop of colored water into a pool of oil..." For a literary writer, Gornick keeps you in suspense. Each chapter ends with a quiet wham! Each of her carefully composed sentences is a unit of drama. With masterful asides, she encapsulates a chunk of back story or the dynamics of a relationship. Some of the titles are so intriguing, such as Lion Eats Cheetah Eats Mouse, that you just have to know what's going to happen. And what a sense of humor! "Despite her Arabian pants and embroidered Mexican blouse, Mahanna looked to Marnie like a girl from Short Hills who needed electrolysis."

Gornick's fiction is not only worth reading, but worth studying too. You can learn a lot about writing from her and even more about life.

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Farrar, Straus and Giroux President Pens Introspective Novel

Jonathan Galassi's debut novel reads with the exuberance of a man half his age and with intellect of a successful businessman. In the publishing industry, there is the big four comprised of Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Hachette Livre, there is the rest, constantly shrinking in number, and then there is Farrar, Straus and Giroux. FSG is by no means a powerhouse in terms of commercial sales, and has gone through its fair share of turmoil throughout its almost seventy year history, but in terms of prestige and publishing serious literature, it is arguably the best publishing house around. Twenty-two Nobel Prize winners, twenty-two Pulitzer Prize winners, and twenty-three National Book Award winners, while not churning out the amount of titles per year as other successful houses is remarkable.

For the past three decades Jonathan Galassi has been the President and Publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He has published three collections of poetry and handled numerous translations, but his first crack at novel writing came in the form of Muse. The trend of writers writing about novelists is nothing new, and the results are varied to say the least, and Galassi has produced a novel of a similar nature. What separates Galassi from these types of novels is that his vast knowledge and experience in the publishing industry provides him with chops to fully encompass the literary world from writers to editors to publishers.

Muse, at times, reads like a literary history lesson, and at others, a romance with beautiful literature and prose. The novel centers around two publishing houses with a rivalry, a revolutionary poet, and an editor who gets caught in between it all. Galassi puts his love of poetry into play, often times having bits of poems sandwiched in between the prose. He makes references to poets such as T. S. Eliot who happened to be a FSG published writer when talking about the darling of poetry, his fictitious darling of lyrical poetry, Ida Perkins.

Make no mistake, Muse is dense, but for those interested in the publishing industry, Galassi has, for all intents and purposes, fictionalized the life he has lived in with a staggering amount of detail. The job of a novelist is to make a world come alive, and by the end of Muse, many will be Googling Ida Perkins to see if she was a real poet. He even includes a bibliography of her work at the end of the novel.

The question that comes to mind is why did such a talented writer wait until his mid-sixties to publish his first novel? He has spent the better part of his life dedicating his time to writers and promoting their work. Galassi has put more depth into a novel of around 250 pages than a lot of books twice its size. He likely toiled over this novel for many years, a large amount of those spent in the brainstorming phase, whether he knew it or not.

Jonathan Galassi has a treasure trove of information about the literary world which he supplies to readers in great, and gorgeous detail. Muse is a novel that displays a love and passion for literature by one of the most decorated members of the industry. Call it a passion project, a memoir of sorts, a fictional history lesson, a love letter to beautiful writing. Jonathan Galassi has been inspired by his Muse.

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Writing She-roes

Harper Lee's book Go Set a Watchman has already become a bestseller - and it won't be released until July 14. Lee is the author of the perennial bestseller To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960 and made into a movie. To celebrate the success of Lee's previous and anticipated novels, let's discover other women authors through history. Match the woman with her accomplishment.

____ 1. Galvanized into action by the Fugitive Slave Act, her best-selling book Uncle Tom's Cabin, sold 300,000 copies in its first year of publication.
____ 2. A tireless advocate for social justice and one of the founders of the NAACP, her 1895 book A Red Record was an examination of lynching.
____ 3. A MacArthur Foundation Fellow who has been publishing for more than 40 years and whose writings reflect her Mexican-American heritage.
____ 4. A member of the Cahuilla tribe who captured language, tribal lore, sacred songs, and medicinal use of plants in books that she wrote.
____ 5. The first African-American women to publish a book; she was brought to the U.S. as a slave when she was about eight years old.

A. Phillis Wheatley
B. Harriet Beecher Stowe
C. Ida Wells-Barnett
D. Sandra Cisneros
E. Katherine Siva Saubel

Phillis Wheatley was brought to the U.S. on a slave ship in 1761, when she was about eight years old, and purchased by John Wheatley. Phillis served as a personal servant to his wife and was taught to read and write English as well as Greek and Latin, which was quite unusual for the time. She wrote poetry as well and her book, published in 1773, is titled Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. She is the first African-American woman to have a book published.

When President Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe he is rumored to have said "So, you are the little lady that started this great war." Stowe was galvanized to write Uncle Tom's Cabin after the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act. Having lost her infant son to cholera, Stowe emphasized with the grief slave women felt when their children were sold. In the first year after its publication, Uncle Tom's Cabin sold 300,000 copies, shocking the country with its frank descriptions of the harsh conditions of slavery. Stowe wrote more than 30 books. She has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

An early civil rights activist, in 1895, Ida Wells-Barnett published A Red Record - a detailed look at lynching. The daughter of slaves, Wells-Barnett fought social injustice in many aspects over her entire life. She crusaded against inequities in education for African-Americans and the justice system as well as systemic discrimination from seating on a train to exhibiting at the World's Columbian Exposition. A tireless advocate for equality, Wells-Barnett formed the National Association of Colored Women and was one of the founders of what is today called the NAACP. Ida Wells-Barnett has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

A preserver of tribal culture and language, Cahuilla Indian Katherine Siva Saubel captured tribal lore, sacred songs, medicinal use of plants, and language in books working with linguists and anthropologists. Her efforts to preserve the culture were counter to many societal pressures; when she was in school, Native American children were beaten for speaking their native language. Saubel launched the Maliki Museum in 1964, the first nonprofit museum on a reservation. She has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

MacArthur Foundation Fellow Sandra Cisneros has been writing for 45 years and publishing for more than 40 years. Her 1984 novel, The House on Mango Street, won numerous awards and has sold over two million copies. Much of her writing is inspired by her Mexican-American heritage. Cisneros has received many awards including the Texas Medal of the Arts, and her books have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Learn about more she-roes and celebrate amazing women. All of these women writers through history are profiled in the book Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America. We laud their contributions to our culture and salute their accomplishments.

(answers: 1-B, 2-C, 3-D, 4-E, 5-A)

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This is What Happened When Millions of People Read My Article

When my sister-in-law sent me a message that read, "I've seen your article in three different places today," the magnitude of the situation sank in. My article had gone viral.

Within hours of publishing "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," my 600 word list was shared hundreds of thousands of times. As my article spread across social media like wildfire, one of the places it landed was on Cheryl Snapp Conner's Facebook feed.

Cheryl, a Forbes contributor, chose to share my list--along with her commentary about the importance of mental strength in the entrepreneurial world--in an article titled "Mentally Strong People: 13 Things Mentally Avoid." Incredibly, that article also went viral. It attracted millions of readers within a matter of weeks, and ultimately garnered over 10 million views.

It's been a year and a half since that viral firestorm. Here are the top 10 ways that article changed my life:

1. I got a book deal. Within two weeks of writing my article, I received a phone call from a literary agent encouraging me to write a book. About a month later I signed a book deal with William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins.

2. Celebrities shared my work. The amount of buzz that article received from top influencers was incredible. Actors, sports figures, CEOs, musicians, and many well-known names spread the word at lightning speed.

3. My online article made offline news. Glenn Beck discussed my article on his radio show and a few days later, Rush Limbaugh shared my list with his listeners. Requests from the media poured in and I discussed mental strength on several national TV programs.

4. I received new income generating opportunities. After the article gained popularity, I was presented with lucrative writing and speaking opportunities. My articles have appeared in national magazines and I've been invited to speak to audiences ranging from athletes to executives about mental strength.

5. People shared my content in different forms. People from around the world made videos, posters, and infographics about the "13 Things." A year and a half later, it's humbling to see people still sharing my article on social media.

6. People sent me free stuff. I've received some interesting items in the mail, ranging from a bag of sugar to a forehead thermometer. Some items were perks that arrived because the flurry of social media activity increased my Klout score. Other gifts appeared when businesses and PR firms sent me their products.

7. My message reached a global audience. My article was translated into dozens of languages and I received requests to reprint my article in magazines all over the world. My book is even being translated into over 20 languages.

8. People shared their stories of mental strength. Some people emailed me their stories of resilience, while others approached me at speaking engagements to share how they'd overcome adversity. Hearing inspirational stories of mental strength has been one of the best parts of this entire experience.

9. I agreed to share my story. As a psychotherapist, I'm used to listening to other people talk about their stories--not sharing my own. And although millions of people read my article, few knew my list was actually a letter to myself during one of the darkest times in my life. With some encouragement however, I decided to share the personal behind my article in my book. And now I'm glad I did.

10. My book hit the shelves. Exactly 13 months after writing my article, my book, also called 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do, went on sale. Seeing it sold in bookstores, big box stores, and airports has been a surreal experience. I never imagined one article could change my life in so many ways.

Content Remains King

I have no way of knowing how many people actually read my article, but some people have estimated the number is well over 20 million. In addition to my own blog and Forbes, my list has appeared on popular websites such as Psychology Today, Lifehack, Thought Catalog and Huffington Post. It's also been reprinted in several national magazines.

People often ask me for the 'secret' to creating a viral blog post. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that there isn't a magic formula that guarantees millions of views.

I certainly never intended to create a viral message. I didn't worry about SEO tactics and I didn't pay attention to the day or time that I posted it. Instead, I focused on communicating a message I felt passionate about sharing.

I hope my story gives hope to bloggers everywhere that it is possible to create content that will rise to the top of our overcrowded newsfeeds. Take care with each and every article you write, because you never which article might go viral.

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, keynote speaker, and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do, a best-selling book that is being translated into more than 20 languages.

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Breaking Taboos With Our Pens: Afghan Women Shine in New Anthology

"I talked about taboos and I broke them with my pen."
-Pari, writer and Dari translator for Washing the Dust From Our Hearts

If you've wanted to hear directly from Afghan women, unfiltered by journalists and uncensored by male relatives, and do so in English, the best place to go since 2009 has been the Afghan Women's Writing Project (AWWP) online magazine. Twice a week AWWP posts new work that include fresh takes on Afghan current events, as well as personal essays and poems.

Now we are proud to announce that Grayson Books has published our second anthology Washing the Dust from Our Hearts. ($18). Featuring 29 Afghan women writers who wrote in AWWP online workshops, their works are presented both in their original English and in Dari (Afghan Persian) translation.

The women write candidly about their hopes, fears, and obstacles to self-determination. In "My Wild Imagination," M. imagines a world where men and women can live their lives free of a judgment that not only hurts but kills:

My Wild Imagination
By M.

I am one of those women with a wild imagination,
who yearns to see equality of Afghan men and women
in action and law. I want lovers to walk
in the streets of Kabul, Heart, Mazar,
holding hands, sharing hugs,
free of harassment and harsh looks aimed at them like bullets.
I want women to drive cars, taxies, and buses--
I long to see Afghan women working with confidence, with strength.
I am one of those women with a wild imagination.
I want to see women running in the park,
unburdened by worries that someone may judge them,
women running for health, for leadership,
for president, enjoying and changing society.
I am one of those women with a wild imagination.
I imagine justice and I imagine peace.

In her introduction to the anthology, writer and Dari translator Pari tells us what writing means to her:

"Writing began for me as an escape from my burqa, an escape from my most painful moments. With my pen and notebook, I had a secret place where I gave myself freedoms that were forbidden to me. I expressed my thoughts, a woman whispering on the page, and described the needs I saw in Afghan society."

Pari also tells us about her writing life prior to joining AWWP:

"I wrote in Dari, and my only readers were one or two of my close friends who were not interested. Reading my words to them was like reading to the walls. One of them told me to stop writing because women's writing was not worthy and would never be respected. Afghan literature has been dominated by men who have written about Afghan women while they decide our destiny, control us, and guard us from expressing our own thoughts and feelings."

Founded in 2009 by American journalist Masha Hamilton, the Afghan Women's Writing Project strives to give women the basic human right to tell their own stories - a right that has too often been denied. Through online writing workshops led by international writers, educators, and journalists, AWWP empowers women in seven of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. For more information about the Afghan Women's Writing Project please visit www.awwproject.org.

For more information about Grayson Books please visit http://ift.tt/1eh3YQ3.

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Malta is about to become the hot setting for America's latest crime bestsellers

The tiny Mediterranean archipelago spent a week wooing three popular thriller writers in hopes that they’ll use it as a setting to promote the islands in the US

It’s possible that more people in America have heard of bestselling authors Chris Kuzneski, Boyd Morrison and Graham Brown, than have ever heard of Malta.

But all that might be about to change now after the tiny Mediterranean archipelago successfully spent the last week wooing the three hugely popular thriller writers, in what must rank as one of the most unusual and canny tourist initiatives ever.

Continue reading...

Malta is about to become the hot setting for America's latest crime bestsellers

The tiny Mediterranean archipelago spent a week wooing three popular thriller writers in hopes that they’ll use it as a setting to promote the islands in the US

It’s possible that more people in America have heard of bestselling authors Chris Kuzneski, Boyd Morrison and Graham Brown, than have ever heard of Malta.

But all that might be about to change now after the tiny Mediterranean archipelago successfully spent the last week wooing the three hugely popular thriller writers, in what must rank as one of the most unusual and canny tourist initiatives ever.

Continue reading...

It's About Love by Steven Camden – review

‘In my opinion it is the perfect post-exam novel’

This book was quite a fun and a quick read. I really enjoyed bolting through this book.

This is the story of Luke who meets a girl named Leia, just like in Star Wars. They’re in the same class and Luke’s life revolves around films. They have some things in common as soon as they meet. This is the point where the reader would expect a fairytale relationship of how Luke and Leia were destined to be together.

Continue reading...

The end of the pseudonym: why I’m killing off thriller writer Sam Bourne

For the past 10 years, Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland has used the alter ego to publish a series of hit novels, so why is his sixth story appearing under his own name?

I am about to say goodbye to a person who has been exceptionally close to me, even though he doesn’t quite exist. He is my alter ego, my alias, the man who has taken credit for the last five novels I have written. He is Sam Bourne, who has loyally served as the pseudonym for my life in fiction – until now.

This week, a new novel is published. But The 3rd Woman won’t be like my previous five. This time, the name on the cover is mine. Sam has had to retreat to the inside pages, making do with a fleeting mention in the “about the author” blurb.

Continue reading...

Spider-Woman shown heavily pregnant in new comic

‘Parent by day. Hero by night,’ Jessica Drew is set to combine superheroics with child-rearing

Marvel Comics’ Spider-Woman has put up with a lot since her creation in 1977 – but nothing beats having to go out and fight crime while eight months pregnant.

That seems to be the case for Jessica Drew, who appears on the cover of a forthcoming edition of her comic with a very third-trimester-looking bump beneath her red costume.

Continue reading...

Why I Became a Writer

"Go to the pain," many writing professionals say.

I began writing in solitude, after enduring years of ups and downs as a young musician and wanderer in Oregon, California and Baja Norte, Mexico. A variety of experiences out West broadened my Bronx Puerto Rican working-class perspective, but navigating the shark-filled waters between my private and familial lives was an oppressive burden I'd endure for many years after coming out at age 21 -- a terrifying and tricky tightrope walk.

The first devastating blow was losing my father forever upon telling him. He demanded that I never contact him again. I didn't see much of him after my parents split when I was 11, but he was the only father I had, and his refusal to speak to me was disastrous. He took that rejection of me with him to his grave, and like a lot of young people who find themselves paralyzed by similar growing pains, I immersed myself in toxic distractions to escape.

I dated a talented (although troubled) artist when I was 25; a year-long romance with a white HIV-positive heroin addict with a knack for shoplifting and petty crime to finance his habit. Growing up on the streets of the Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s had instilled a taste for danger in me and I leapt into "love" without a parachute at full speed just to see how I'd come out of it. Watching him suffer from HIV-related health issues was strenuous and I often felt powerless when it came to helping him.

Things didn't end well -- as you might imagine -- and I came home one day to a goodbye letter explaining that he was off to the jungles of Hawaii to get clean. Then he committed suicide a few years later, unable to endure his agonies any longer. I began writing about it, to make sense of it, with the shadow of my father's addiction and psychological abuse still lingering to haunt me. Fictionalizing these dramas under self-critical light forced me to establish new limits.

I looked into the online author survey Why Writers Write and the results weren't so surprising: 15% claimed they wrote for "expression," to entertain others with their creativity. The next two categories, at 13% each, were "because I have to" and "to help others." These top three reasons revealed that -- insofar as this survey was concerned -- expressing oneself and assisting others to do the same is a primary drive for many who must do it.

In 2011, the San Juan-based author Mayra Santos-Febres hired me to coordinate programs in New York for Festival de la Palabra of Puerto Rico. This experience broadened my knowledge of contemporary and classical Puerto Rican fiction and poetry, and in 2013 I was sent to a very poor middle school in Sabana Grande, in the west of the island. And that was where it happened: I encouraged the eager youngsters in attendance to write about their challenges, and one gay teenager sent me his first book of heartbreaking poetry a few months later.

A Pace University LGBTQ student panel presentation I participated in shortly after required that the panelists engage the youth in writing exercises focused on their queer identity. Not having had any previous experience with facilitating workshops, I invented two writing exercises involving stunning photographs from National Geographic. Two of the students who participated told me afterward that they had never enjoyed creative writing until that point and something began to materialize in the haze. I could almost see it.

I was hired as the Director of the Bronx Writers Center, the literary wing of the Bronx Council on the Arts, in January 2014, where I found myself engaging some of the poorest people in the United States with literary expression. Programs we'd launch, such as Bronx Memoir Project, would put me in touch with a diverse community of people who turned to the written word as a vehicle for self-expression--from poetry to memoir. A dream come true.



The author with host Rhina Valentín on BronxNet's "Open" in 2014.

I started writing to help myself in the years I was far from my family and people and I find myself assisting others to do the same for themselves nowadays. What began as a personal journey of dealing with life's setbacks has transformed into a way of life, and it's an honor to be able to commit myself, to share my knowledge and techniques, with writers from across Bronx County and elsewhere. Creative writing provides catharsis for many who have no other means with which to alleviate life's burdens, and all it takes to make it happen are a pen and paper.

Writing about pain helps formulate solutions to existing troubles, while providing new wisdoms that prevent similar catastrophes from entering our lives after we've learned something. My path as a queer writer began as a solitary process, as I endured the complex initiation rites of the underground gay scene far from home, where I had to employ new strategies to contend with problems that contrasted drastically with those I'd left behind in the Bronx.

I still write in solitude as a working-class Puerto Rican author, but that threatening "no man's land" that once existed between my private and family life has vanished. I've grown. My family has grown. And much of that growth can be attributed to writing, the art-form that takes me out of myself and transports me to other places, where I bring back images and sentences to stick together, to make sense of the good and the bad. Diving into the pain exposes our truest humanity and that is what readers, who we cannot hope to exist without, seek.

To heal from the other side of our art.

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13 Places From Your Favorite Books That You Can Actually Visit

Whether we’re catching a London train to the magic wizarding world, experiencing the running of the bulls in Pamplona, or dining across from an enchanting vampire in Washington, our literary adventures feel very real. Books have the uncanny ability to transport us to the places we’ve never been, introducing us to exotic characters we’d never otherwise encounter.

Travel literally accomplishes the same, so this summer, why not merge these two great escapes? For those who love their leisure time to involve a little (or a lot of) literature, we partnered with Kindle Paperwhite to round up the places featured in your favorite novels that you can actually visit IRL.

1.Voodoo Doughnut
Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (2011 &#8211 2012) by E.L. James


Portland, Oregon
From The Book: “I grin indulgently at him. ‘I’ll get you a doughnut or two. We’ll go to Voodoo.’”
IRL: Of course, Anastasia Steele is in the know about this quirky local staple. Voodoo Doughnuts is a must-try attraction on any West Coast jaunt, with doughnuts ranging from the strange (Bacon Maple Bar) to the seductive (Dirty Snowballs). Christian Grey approves.

2. Plaza Fernández de Madrid, aka "Park of the Evangels"
Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) by Gabriel García Márquez


Cartagena, Colombia
From The Book: “From seven o'clock in the morning, he sat on the most hidden bench in the little park, pretending to read a book of verse in the shade of the almond trees, until he saw the impossible maiden walk by.”
IRL: It is easy to recognize the beautiful old city of Cartagena in Márquez’s magical realism. Although he introduces the Plaza as the “Park of the Evangels” in his epic love story, you wouldn’t need much imagination to conjure the imagery this real-life destination inspires if you rest for a moment on one of the park benches.

3. Bella Italia Restaurant
Twilight (2005) by Stephenie Meyer


Port Angeles, Washington
From The Book: “He parallel-parked against the curb in a space I would have thought much too small for the Volvo, but he slid in effortlessly in one try. I looked out the window to see the lights of La Bella Italia, and Jess and Angela just leaving, pacing anxiously away from us.”
IRL: Appropriately named, Bella Italia is where Edward Cullen and Bella Swan have their first date. The restaurant serves up classic Italian fare, and you can even order Bella’s mushroom ravioli.

4. Sobrino de Botin Restaurant
The Sun Also Rises (1926) by Ernest Hemingway


Madrid, Spain
From The Book: “We lunched upstairs at Botin’s. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta. Brett did not eat much. She never ate much. I ate a very big meal and drank three bottles of rioja alta.”
IRL: Not surprisingly, a Hemingway character appreciates a place where one can drink three bottles of delicious wine. The roast suckling pig Jake and Brett share is the restaurant’s specialty, and it must be good -- Sobrino de Botin is said to be the oldest restaurant still running in the world.

5. Tannen’s Magic Shop
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000) by Michael Chabon


New York, New York
From The Book: “It had not been long before he discovered Louis Tannen's. The greatest supplier of tricks and supplies on the Eastern seaboard, it was, in 1953, still the unofficial capital of professional conjuring in America, a kind of informal magicians' club where generations of silk-hat men, passing through town on their way north, south, or west to the vaudeville and burlesque houses, the nightclubs and variety theaters of the nation, had met to exchange information.”
IRL: Louis Tannen’s Magic Shop is the oldest operating magic store in New York City. It is no wonder then that this is where Sammy Klayman buys his son the “Ultimate Demon Wonder Box” for his birthday. Stop by in Midtown, and search for one of your very own!

6. The Pond in Central Park
Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger


New York, New York
From The Book: “’Hey, listen,’ I said. ‘You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?’ I realized it was only one chance in a million.”
IRL: Who can forget Holden Caulfield or his obsessive inquiries about the ducks during winter? The iconic Pond is one of Central Park’s seven bodies of water; wander by and let introspection wash over you as you do some duck-watching of your own.

7. The Mauritshuis
The Goldfinch (2013) by Donna Tartt


The Hague, Netherlands
From The Book: “If a painting really works down in your heart and changes the way you see, and think, and feel, you don’t think, ‘oh, I love this picture because it’s universal.’ ‘I love this painting because it speaks to all mankind.’ That’s not the reason anyone loves a piece of art. It’s a secret whisper from an alleyway. Psst, you. Hey kid. Yes you.”
IRL: Although the actual Mauritshuis museum does not figure into The Goldfinch, it does house the painting from which the novel draws its title and central themes of love and loss. Go and seek out the painting in person to see if you’re similarly touched.

8. Union Station
The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald


Chicago, Illinois
From The Book: “One of my most vivid memories is of coming back West from prep school and later from college at Christmas time. Those who went farther than Chicago would gather in the old dim Union Station at six o'clock of a December evening, with a few Chicago friends, already caught up into their own holiday gayeties, to bid them a hasty good-by.”
IRL: Although Manhattan and Long Island feature prominently in Jay Gatsby’s world, narrator Nick Carraway remarks that it is really “a story of the West” -- since Tom, Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan and he all hail from the region. Stop by Union Station and linger for a moment to consider these larger-than-life characters before they embarked on their fateful journeys East.

9. King’s Cross Station
The Harry Potter series (1997 &#8211 2007) by J.K. Rowling


London, England
From The Book: "Er -- I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to -- to go to Hogwarts."
IRL: The epic Harry Potter series begins with a memorable account of the elusive Platform 9 ¾ in King’s Cross Station. This destination is personally significant to Rowling -- her parents met on a train departing from this main railway post. Now, it is personally significant to Potter fans worldwide, who can visit Platform 9 ¾ after, in this case, life imitated art.

10. Davy Byrne’s Pub
Ulysses (1922) by James Joyce


Dublin, Ireland
From The Book: “He entered Davy Byrne’s. Moral pub. He doesn't chat. Stands a drink now and then.”
IRL: Hailed as Dublin’s most famous literary watering hole, Davy Byrne’s Pub is a popular haunt for Joyce fans, especially on Bloomsday. Follow in the footsteps of Leopold Bloom and order your own gorgonzola cheese sandwich with a glass of Burgundy.

11. The Stanley Hotel, aka "Overlook Hotel"
The Shining (1977) by Stephen King


Estes Park, Colorado
From The Book: “Every big hotel has got a ghost. Why? Hell, people come and go. Sometimes one of ’em will pop off in his room, heart attack or stroke or something like that. Hotels are superstitious places.”
IRL: King was so spooked after his visit to the Stanley Hotel that it inspired his famous horror novel and cult classic, which in turn inspired the haunting Stanley Kubrick film. Paranormal activity still plagues the site, and longtime staff will testify to at least four otherworldly guests: Lucy, Paul, Eddie and Elizabeth.

12. McDougal’s Cave, aka "Mark Twain Cave"
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) by Mark Twain


Hannibal, Missouri
From The Book: “For McDougal’s cave was but a labyrinth of crooked aisles that ran into each other and out again and led nowhere. It was said that one might wander days and nights together through its intricate tangle of rifts and chasms, and never find the end of the cave.”
IRL: Twain’s landmark novel truly made this little-known cave famous. Although he remarks on its infinite bounds, chock it up to youthful hyperbole -- a lantern tour takes an hour and a half.

13. IKEA
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy (2005 &#8211 2007) by Steig Larsson


Kungens Kurva, Sweden
From The Book: “She drove to IKEA at Kungens Kurva and spent three hours browsing through the merchandise, writing down the item numbers she needed. She made a few quick decisions.”
IRL: When it comes to furnishing a new apartment, no one can resist IKEA -- not even the girl with the dragon tattoo. Lisbeth Salander notably makes a journey to this large flagship in the second installment of the series. You can not only browse the actual store on your next Euro-trip but also shop the same items.

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