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The Write Room September 19, 2009

In this issue

FICTION

Anthony Bromberg
She Had Always Been a Dog Person

Jane Hertenstein
Bitter Fruit

J. Eric Miller
The Cell

INTERVIEWS

Jennifer Escalona
Writing on the Edge of Controversy: An Interview with J. Eric Miller

Sean Patrick Leary
Peter Mclaren Captures the Faces of North Vietnam

Dallas Woodburn
“Renaissance Writer”An Interview with Steve Almond

NON FICTION MEMOIR

Diane Cameron
Iambic Pentameter and the Meter of War

Jeanne Grant
 The Woman At The Gate

POETRY

Neil Carpathios
This Is Not a Poem, Damn It
What Happens Under the Overpass
The Function of Sadness
Sweetness
Questions

Cameron Conaway
Fighting In Phone Booths

Tomer Konowiecki
To All Ephemera
The Nodding Seamen
He Must Have Known
We’re Not Stopping Here
Believe Science

Patrick Pomeroy
Losing You
Temporal

Sean Rogers
Light Hearted
Heavy Hearted

Askold Skalsky
Colloque Aux Folies Bergere
The Persistence Of Summer
Les Adieux
Gorgo*
Elephant Herds
Testing Time
Cows 

Allison Whittenberg
Water’s Wine
Life Slips 

 

PHOTOGRAPHY

Peter Mclaren
Faces in Time: North Vietnam

Introduction

This issue of The Write Room was inspired by The American Library Association’s Banned and Challenged Books week, which is September 26- October 3. After reading the ALA’s list of frequently challenged and banned classics, I began to ask myself how we, as writers and publishers, deal with controversial subject matter. What do we hope to accomplish when writing about emotionally charged subject matter?

I believe the goal is simply to advance a conversation, even if it is our own internal dialogue. Whatever the issue, writers want to challenge the reader to think about what they have just read. Regrettably, independent thought can be a frightening proposition to those who seek to control the minds of others by controlling their access to written material.

Not all the work in this issue of The Write Room deals with controversial topics, but all, I hope, are thought- provoking. Among the more challenging pieces in this issue are works that address war, homelessness, terrorism, as well as race and class relations.

In this issue, author J Eric Miller’s fiction piece, The Cell, places the reader in the mind of a young Lebanese terrorist as he goes through his last hours prior to fulfilling his mission. In the accompanying interview, contributing writer JenniferDunn speaks with J Eric Miller on the topic of Writing On the Edge of Controversy.

Poet Neil Carthpathios expands our understanding of homelessness as he channels the experiences of a dispossessed man in What Goes On Under the Overpass.

Woman At the Gate, by author Jeanne Grant, reveals the invisible apartheid and the suffocating paranoia of a privately patrolled South African community.

Diane Cameron explores the mystery and motivation of a murder committed by her stepfather, a World War II veteran, in Iambic Pentameter and the Meter of War, as Cameron seeks answers in the recollections of other WWII veterans.

For his photo essay, Faces in Time, photographer Peter Mclaren traveled to the Sa Pa valley of North Vietnam to capture the serene faces of the Hmong people, visages starkly different from those commongly associated with Vietnam and its turbulent history.  Writer and poet Sean Patrick Leary profiles the project in his piece, Peter Mclaren Captures the Faces of North Vietnam.

Enjoy,

Joellen Kubiak-Woodall
Publisher

Awards, Contests, and Competitions

for November 2009 updated 10/5/09 (more)

Awards, Contests, and Competitions

for September 2009

Bad Poetry Contest:  presented by Shakespeare’s Tavern Atlanta, Georgia

We Need Your Bad Poems and You Need the Free Stuff We’re Going to Give You! (read more)..

Awards, Contests, and Competitions

for October 2009

American Poetry Review Honickman First Book Prize. A prize of $3,000 and publication by American Poetry Review is given annually for (read more)…

Grants, Fellowships, Scholarships and Residencies

for September and October 2009

Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship. $50,000 to the winning poet to (read more)…

Literary Events

Announcement

The Write Room presents an open mic evening of Poetry, Prose and Music titled The Play Pen the first Tuesday of every month. The Play Pen is held from 7:30 pm to 10 pm in Johnnie MacCracken’s Celtic Pub, located 15 Atlanta St. SE Marietta, GA 30060. We look forward to seeing you.

About Us

Editorial Calendar 2009 – 2010

Editorial Board

Guidelines and Submissions

Copyrights and Disclaimers

Our Room: the photograph

The Sentinel Interview with the Write Room’s Developer

Contact us: thewriteroom@live.com


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