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Loading... How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skillby Jericho Brown
None No current Talk conversations about this book.  pomo58 | Jul 5, 2023 |  no reviews | add a review
Notable Lists
"More than 30 acclaimed writers--including diverse voices such as Nikki Giovanni, David Omotosho Black, Natasha Trethewey, Barry Jenkins, Jacqueline Woodson, Tayari Jones, and Angela Flournoy--reflect on their experience and expertise in this unique book on the craft of writing that focuses on the Black creative spirit. How We Do It is an anthology curated by Black writers for the creation and proliferation of Black thought. While a creator's ethnicity does not solely define them, it is inherently part of who they are and how they interpret the world. For centuries, Black creators have utilized oral and written storytelling traditions in crafting their art. But how does one begin the process of constructing a poem or story or character? How do Black writers, when faced with questions of "authenticity," dive deep into the essence of their lives and work to find the inherent truth? How We Do It addresses these profound questions. Not a traditional "how to" writing handbook, it seeks to guide rather than dictate and to validate the complexity and range of styles--and even how one thinks about craft itself. An outstanding list of contributors offer their insights on a range of important topics. Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown explores the lives personified in poetry, while Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey explores decolonizing enduring metaphors. National Book Award finalist Angela Flournoy illuminates the pain of grief in all forms and how it can be revealed in the act of creation, and iconoclast Nikki Giovanni offers an elegiac declaration on language. New and previously published essays and interviews provide encouragement, examples, and templates, and offer lessons on everything from poetic form and plotting a story to the lessons inherent in the act of writing, trial & error, and finding inspiration in the works of others, including those of Toni Morrison, Shakespeare, and Edward P. Jones. A handbook and a reference tool, How We Do It is a thoughtful and welcome tool that offers direction to help Black artists establish their own creative practice while celebrating and widening the scope of the Black writer's role in art, history, and culture. Contributors include Daniel Omotosho Black, Jericho Brown, Breena Clark, Rita Dove, Camille T. Dungy, W. Ralph Eubanks, Curdella Forbes, Angela Flournoy, Ernest Gaines, Nikki Giovanni, Marita Golden, Ravi Howard, Terrance Hayes, Mitchell S. Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Charles Johnson, Tayari Jones, Jamaica Kincaid, Tony Medina, E. Ethelbert Miller, Elizabeth Nunez, Carl Phillips, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Rion Amilcar Scott, Evie Shockley, Natasha Trethewey, Frank X Walker, Afaa M. Weaver, Crystal Wilkinson, Jacqueline Woodson, Tiphanie Yanique."--Amazon.com. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)808.02Literature By Topic Rhetoric and anthologies Rhetoric and anthologies Authorship techniques, plagiarism, editorial techniquesLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (5)
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Wikipedia in English
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This will be a valuable addition to any writer's library, especially those of color or, frankly, any other writer who feels they are or have been marginalized. This is about finding how best to express oneself, not in a lock step approach but in one that looks inward as much as backward to already published writers. Knowing what to do is great, knowing how to adapt that knowledge to what you want to express is even better. And that is where this book makes its largest contribution.
If you're not a writer, or if, like me, you write mostly for yourself, this is still a useful book since it helps readers better understand what goes into a writer's choices. Knowing that allows a reader to better do their part in making the story both the writer's and the reader's.
I enjoyed every essay in the book, but the one I think really spoke to me was Curdella Forbes' essay on kinship. While definitely speaking to the craft of writing, and by extension reading, it also touches on our everyday interactions in the world. I found it to be both a wonderful expression of an empowering perspective and a more open-minded and -hearted way to understand people in general.
Highly recommended for both writers as well as readers who want to be more active in their engagement with books, from novels to poetry and memoirs.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. (