I’ve come to believe over the years that there is a core similarity that connects the lives of all women. I think it is our ability to adapt.
Blog Posts on Writing and Authors
Bounty
The soft, slow ending of the summer here brings much needed rain, coolness, and the coming to fruition of many fruits and vegetables.
Her Pact With the Devil
The habit of forming pacts to shape her chosen life began when Karen Blixen was standing on a granite boulder at Folehave with her younger brother Thomas, then fourteen.
Colors of the World
We are rounding the curve and coming into the homestretch—as we often do, both as individuals and as a culture—in the race toward what I’ll call SUPERSENSITIVITY rather than its usual and somewhat discredited name, Political Correctness.
The Vanguard
I am looking forward to the rare opportunity that will be offered me, and I’m looking forward with even more interest to the fascinating variety of presentations that will make up the program.
The Way It Was
We all want to forget our history, especially when it is shameful, and for this reason I am particularly grateful for a just-published biography of my peers.
Smashing the Canon
We are still engaged—and will probably always be engaged—in smashing the canon.
Those Soft Kentucky Voices
We stopped yesterday in the middle of my class on writing memoir to listen to the verdict in Minneapolis that will send the policeman who murdered George Floyd to jail on all three counts.
Father and Dame Ivy
During a vacation trip to England years ago, I became aware, to my surprise, of my father’s fascination with two British writers: Sylvia Townsend Warner and Ivy Compton-Burnett.
Jump Start
Tillie Olsen, for me, is a startlingly loud call to continue to work, no excuses allowed.