The Writing University Podcast
By The Writing University
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Podcast Description
The Writing University podcast offers recordings of writing events associated with the University of Iowa. Such event include the Iowa Summer Writing Festival's "Elevenses" lectures, as well as readings from the International Writing Program and other department on campus.
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
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1 |
BK Loren: "Process is Practice: Making Your Writing Matter" | Very few people take singing lessons with the aim of cutting a record or singing on Broadway. The same is true of dance or sculpture. But for some reason, as soon as a person puts pen to paper, they begin thinking about publishing, most times to the detriment of the quality of the writing. Learning to make writing a practice as a goal in and of itself will, paradoxically, increase one’s chances of publishing. In this interactive lecture, BK Loren will discuss the process of writing as opposed to the product of writing. We’ll talk about how to let the publishing aspect of writing drift to the back of your mind—and we’ll also discuss why NOT focusing on publishing is often the only way a writer can rise to the occasion of her own best writing. | 6/16/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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2 |
Dara Wier: "Chance, Risk, and 'Getting Away With It'" | Risk taking, risk evaluation, risk avoidance are all leaned up against when one decides to become a writer and decides how to write what one writes. We hear writers say to one another all the time: how did you get away with that?! Or, I can’t believe you got away with that! We admire how writers “get away” with things in writing. Why is this? What attracts us to this? Obviously, at least partly, because in that expression is implicitly also unsaid: Hmmmmm, I don’t know if I could have let myself do that. Courage, recklessness, intention, all big things writers concern themselves with on a word-by-word basis. We will also expand our conversation into areas that involve Chance, Chance Operations, Generative Procedures, Erasure, Treated Texts, Ouilipian and other contingent constraints and why these are experiencing a renewed popularity. We will also talk about issues of agency and accountability. | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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3 |
Lon Otto: "Touchstones, Templates, & The Train Tracks Your Mule's On" | No one writes who hasn't read, and we all know, at least vaguely, that reading as a writer is a distinctive as well as essential part of the writing life. This Elevenses tries to sort out some of the very different, even contradictory things that are involved in reading as a writer. | 6/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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4 |
Eric Goodman: Transforming Life Into Art | Through what alchemy do writers take lived life and transform it into art? We all have stories to tell, something from our own life or the life of a loved one, which we believe would make a great short story or novel. All too often, however, when we try to write it down, it’s reduced to an anecdote which lies there on the page, lifeless as an empty glass. In this Elevenses, using failed and successful attempts from his own career, Eric Goodman will discuss techniques for breathing life into life as it becomes art. | 8/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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5 |
Tim Bascom: "Picture That: Creative Nonfiction For The Visual Learner | Tim Bascom, using only lines and circles and an array of strange doodles, will attempt to describe the amazing structural options available within the genre of creative nonfiction. No, he won't work blindfolded. However, he will attempt to be entertaining, and perhaps even a bit enlightening. If you like thinking in pictures, not just words, this may be a blessed break from all the verbiage of the week! | 6/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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6 |
Mary Helen Stefaniak: On Research & The Novel: Finding The Most Fascinating Facts (A Story In Itself) And Blazing A Narrative T | The Internet is wonderful, but sometimes, to create a world on the page, you have to visit the world in person. I was almost finished with The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia, when a final "detailing" visit to Sapelo Island and other key locations in Georgia brought to light amazing information I didn't even know I was looking for. After that trip, I had to jettison a lot of hard-won pages and fascinating facts to make room for a deeper, truer, more compelling story. Bio: Mary Helen Stefaniak is the author of two novels—The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia, and The Turk and My Mother—and the collection Self Storage and Other Stories. She teaches at Creighton University. Visit www.maryhelenstefaniak.com and www.baghdadbazaarGA.com for details. | 6/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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7 |
David Hamilton: “A Baker’s (Half) Dozen Ways of Looking at a Literary Magazine” | David Hamilton shares his thirty years of experience as editor of The Iowa Review, characterizing the unique world of literary magazines as "ephemeral" and "fugitive." Hamilton compares the mechanics of literary reviews, from local publications to larger magazines such as Harper's. Hamilton also answers audience questions about the submissions process. | 8/31/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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8 |
Christine Hemp on Writing About Happiness | In her presentation, "Yikes! Elysium: Writing About Happiness," Christine Hemp tackles what she describes as a necessary tension between "sunlight" and "the underworld" in fiction and nonfiction writing. Hemp examines how mundane objects such as puzzle pieces can inspire a writer to depict a "joy leading to a new kind of truth." Hemp advises writers to avoid the sentimental in depictions of happiness in order to understand that "the backside of joy is the thing that holds it up." | 8/31/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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9 |
Carl H. Klaus: "Days into Daybooks, a Voice for all Seasons" | In his exploration of the writer’s voice, Carl H. Klaus asks the question “How often do we listen to ourselves on paper?” Klaus uses his own experience with the autobiographical essay to examine how a writer's conscious style choices and unforeseen circumstances inform one’s voice. Klaus maintains that the lesson of self-reflective writing is that “a voice can give rise to life, invoke life, embody a life, particularly when it is animated by the deepest convictions in one’s life.” | 8/31/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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10 |
Marc Nieson: "Making Words Count" | -- | 8/31/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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11 |
Bridget Talone, John Nkengasong and Tarek Eltayeb readings | This Sunday night reading at Prairie Lights Bookstore includes 2 IWP participants and one reader from the Writer's Workshop. | 9/14/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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12 |
Mary Allen:"Bending the Spoon: Writing as a Path to Mindfulness and Other Spiritual Practices" | In this Writing University podcast, Mary Allen discusses "the mysterious thing" that happens when one sits down to write. She describes her process of finding inspiration and suggests ways to break free of strict "ideas" about writing. She presents examples and ideas on how writers can nurture and cultivate their writing process. Caryl Pagel introduces Mary Allen in this edition of the Iowa Summer Writing Festival lecture series "Elevenses." | 6/9/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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13 |
David Bouchier: “The Word Diet - Avoiding Verbosity” | In this Writing University podcast, David Bouchier addresses the struggle of a word-loving writer to be concise. Bouchier discourages "flabby writing" and suggests instead going on a "word diet" to avoid verbosity. Bouchier also advocates a habit of "writing long and cutting ferociously" and editing from the perspective of a potential reader. | 7/25/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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14 |
Marcos M. Villatoro: “Finding Inspiration from the Work Itself” | In this Writing University podcast, Marcos M. Villatoro discusses the advantages of writing without waiting for the elusive "muse" to strike. Villatoro claims that inspiration springs from a writer's own work ethic, the physical act of writing, and the work itself. Villatoro also offers advice on using criticism to one's advantage and how to decipher the inevitable rejection letter, suggesting that "inspiration can come from rejection." | 7/23/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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15 |
Katie Ford: "Ghost Forms: Using Traditional Form in Free Verse" | In this podcast, poet Katie Ford examines the usefulness of employing the "ghosts" of classical forms in crafting contemporary poetry. Ford advises writers to look to the sonnet and listen for the "inherent music" of popular and tested literary techniques. Ford also demonstrates how a poet may apply similar tools while "reinvigorating the form" with the modern language and images of one's "rhetorical intuition." | 7/17/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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16 |
Lon Otto: "Avoiding Literary Thin Ice" | In this podcast, Lon Otto leads a discussion on how to avoid "literary thin ice"- the insecurities resulting from insufficient originality, tension or authority in a work. Otto suggests strategies for dealing with problematic pieces when one hears "those cracking sounds" that indicate unstable writing territory. Otto offers ways for writers to sustain the reader's (and their own) belief and interest without "breaking through." | 7/16/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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17 |
Marilyn Abildskov: "Leap: Imagination in Nonfiction" | -- | 6/28/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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18 |
Venise Berry: "Writing with Ethnic Diversity" | Venise Berry offers advice on how to "bring the world into your writing." Berry advises writers to leave their own comfort zone of familiar communities and characters and purposely inject voices from a wide spectrum of experience. Berry asserts that a writer's job is to help the audience learn by making realistic, diverse characters "accountable to society." | 6/26/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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19 |
Sands Hall: Building Characters | Sands Hall imparts her unique perspective as novelist, playwright, director, and actor in this lecture on scene and character building. Hall discusses the differences between writing for print and the stage and shares techniques for making "the black marks on the paper jump off the page." Hall offers examples from her career of creating a theatrical or fictional world populated by recognizable and sympathetic characters. | 6/21/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 19 Episodes |
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