I made my annual pilgrimage to Key West last weekend for the 33rd Annual Key West Literary Seminar “How The Light Gets In: Literature of the Spirit.” Amongst the many highlights of the long weekend was a discussion held on the final morning of the seminar by authors Pico Iyer and Barry Lopez on the topic of “Wonder: Entering and Exiting the Great Mystery.” Both men have made careers out of travel and write about what they’ve discovered in […]
Posts categorized: Literature
When I was a middle school Humanities teacher in New York City, poetry was my favorite unit to teach. I loved it mostly because of how much my students loved it. All of a sudden, my most problematic and reluctant students were letting their guards down and opening up to creativity and self-expression. I made it fun for them. I acknowledged that they didn’t have to understand every word or what the poet was trying to say, but just to […]
I’ve been back from Key West for a week since my 11 day trip to work on the event staff of the 32nd Annual Key West Literary Seminar. It’s my sixth year contributing to the seminar and it’s such a beautiful and invigorating way to start the New Year. The joy comes from being apart of this incredibly intimate and special weekend filled with panel discussions, lectures and readings from the top writers in their field. They range from Nobel […]
Oct 10
2013
2013
I Kinda Want To Be Elizabeth Gilbert
Last night Elizabeth Gilbert spoke at Miami Dade College as a stop on her book tour for her new novel The Signature of All Things. An established journalist, essayist, and novelist, she shot to fame in 2006 with her memoir Eat Pray Love, detailing her year of travel and self discovery through Italy, India, and Indonesia post-divorce. I came across the book in 2007 at a time when I was first seriously contemplating the idea of writing as a career, […]
May 22
2013
2013
Daily Dose: Books & Books, Miami
I love perusing the shelves of a nice independent bookstore. In a world where they’re becoming increasingly harder to find, we’re lucky to have Books & Books in Miami. With its original location founded in Coral Gables in 1982, there are also outposts in South Beach on Lincoln Road, inside Bal Harbour Shops, and at Miami International Airport, as well as locations in Fort Lauderdale, Grand Cayman, and Westhampton Beach. It’s so much more than a bookstore. It’s an intellectual gathering […]
Apr 30
2013
2013
‘The art of losing isn’t hard to master’
Today is the last day of April and National Poetry Month. I meant to blog about my love for poetry and I meant to tweet the poem in my pocket on April 18. I forgot to do both. Earlier this month, I thought I lost something very dear to me. Turns out, I found it. Nevertheless, this is one of my very favorite poems. It’s by Elizabeth Bishop, a woman who traveled the world, charted her own course, and happened […]
Jan 17
2013
2013
Key West Literary Seminar–Round 2
The Second Session of the 31st Annual Key West Literary Seminar begins tonight with Colm ToÃbÃn delivering the John Hersey Memorial Address at the San Carlos Institute on Duval Street. Follow along on Twitter at @KeyWestLiterary and #KWLS and find highlights on Facebook at Facebook.com/KeyWestLiterarySeminar. For more stories and event coverage, including a piece I wrote on Paul Hendrickson’s reading from “Hemingway’s Boat”, visit the Seminar’s online publication Littoral. Image courtesy Nick Doll Photography.
Jan 10
2013
2013
Key West Literary Seminar Starts Tonight
I’m thrilled to be back in Key West as the 31st Annual Key West Literary Seminar kicks off tonight at the San Carlos Institute on Duval Street. As a member of the event staff for the last five years, it’s an absolute highlight on my calendar. This year’s theme is “Writers on Writers,” and we’ll explore the life and works of beloved literary icons as told by some of the most provocative contemporary writers and scholars today, such as James Atlas, Blake Bailey, Billy […]
