How I Write

"From 1968 through 2002, Albert Gelpi taught American literature, particularly American poetry, from its Puritan beginnings to the present day. Gelpi’s books include Emily Dickinson: The Mind of the Poet and The Tenth Muse: The Psyche of the American Poet,which centers on American Romantic poetry; its sequel, A Coherent Splendor: The American Poetic Renaissance, 1910–1950,continues the historical argument by relating American Modernist poetry to its Romantic antecedents. He is also the author ofLiving in Time: The Poetry of C. Day Lewis and has edited The Poet in America 1650 to the Present; Wallace Stevens: The Poetics of Modernism; Denise Levertov: Selected Criticism; and (with Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi) Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose. With Robert Bertholf he edited The Letters of Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov. His latest book is American Poetry After Modernism: The Power of the Word, and his next project is the selected prose of C. Day Lewis, The Golden Bridle. Join Hilton Obenzinger, an accomplished fiction and nonfiction writer and lecturer in the Stanford Department of English, American Studies Program, and Stanford Continuing Studies, as he engages Gelpi in conversation, focusing on the techniques, quirks, and joys of writing."

"Harriet Scott Chessman is the author most recently of the acclaimed novel ""The Beauty of Ordinary Things"", the story of the unexpected love between a young Vietnam veteran and a Benedictine nun. Her other books include the novels ""Someone Not Really Her Mother"", ""Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper"", and ""Ohio Angels"" as well as ""The Public Is Invited to Dance"", a book about Gertrude Stein. Her fiction has been translated into ten languages. She has taught literature and writing at Yale, the Bread Loaf School of English, and Stanford Continuing Studies. She received a PhD from Yale. Join Hilton Obenzinger, an accomplished fiction and nonfiction writer and lecturer in the Stanford Department of English, American Studies Program, and Stanford Continuing Studies, as he engages Harriet Scott Chessman in conversation, focusing on the techniques, quirks, and joys of writing. This program is co-sponsored by Stanford Continuing Studies and the Hume Center for Writing and Speaking."

Join Hilton Obenzinger, an accomplished fiction and nonfiction writer and lecturer in the Stanford Department of English, the American Studies Program, and Stanford Continuing Studies, as he engages Ian Morris in conversation, focusing on the techniques, quirks, and joys of writing.

Marilyn Yalom is the author of numerous books and articles on literature and women's history, including Maternity, Mortality ,and the Literature of Madness; Blood Sisters: The French Revolution in Women's Memory; A History of the Breast.

Feminist Beat poet Diane di Prima was born in Brooklyn, New York, a second-generation American of Italian descent. She began writing at the age of seven, and at the age of fourteen, decided to live her life as a poet. After attending Swarthmore College for two years, she moved to Greenwich Village, becoming a writer in the emerging Beat movement. She co-founded the Poets Press and the New York Poets Theatre and founded Eidolon Editions and the Poets Institute. After joining Timothy Leary's international community in upstate New York, she moved to San Francisco in 1968. Di Prima has published more than forty books. Her poetry collections include 'This Kind of Bird Flies Backwards', 'Revolutionary Letters', the long poem 'Loba', 'Seminary Poems', and 'Pieces of a Song: Selected Poems'. She is also the author of the short story collection 'Dinners and Nightmares', the semi-autobiographical 'Memoirs of a Beatnik', and the memoir ' Recollections of My Life as a Woman: The New York Years'. In this special event, Diane di Prima will read some of her poems and join Hilton Obenzinger in a "How I Write" conversation.

Hilton Obenzinger sits down with Dr. Terry Root, Senior fellow at Woods Institute for the Environment and professor of Biological Sciences to talk about her writing process.

Eavan Boland talks about how she writes in her work as a poet.

John Rickford, professor of linguistics and humanities at Stanford University and author of The Story of Black English, shares his perspective on writing.

Hilton Obenzinger talks with Terry Karl, Ph.D about writing in her field of Political Science

Renato Rosaldo shares his perspective on he writing process as a cultural anthropologist.

Shelly Fisher Fishkin, Professor of English and Humanities talks about herself as a writer at Stanford.

Paula Moya talks about her writing process as an Author in the Department of English at Stanford University.

Anne Firth Murray talks about her writing and how she has used it throughout her career.

Irvin Yalom talks about his life as a psychotherapist and how that has influence his writing of both textbooks and novels. (January 30, 2013)

Adam Johnson discusses his writing process specifically regarding his last book "The Orphan's Master's Son" and his experience of writing a story based in North Korea. (October 23, 2012)

Tom Hare talks about what inspires him to write, how he organizes his thoughts and ideas, and what his future projects will entail. (May 14, 2012)

Shelly Fisher Fishkin explains her writing and editing processes, her inspiration from Mark Twain, the benefits of collaboration, and how to make non-fiction prose accessible to readers. (May 12, 2005)

Biology Professor and Primatologist Robert Sapolsky discusses how his writing skills developed while he was doing field work in Africa. Sapolsky recounts specifically how he generates his ideas for articles. (April 3, 2009)

Estelle Freedman talks about what inspires her to write, how she organizes her thoughts and work, and what her future projects will entail. (October 29, 2003)

Hazel Markus, sits down to discuss the work that she has done. She has focused much of her efforts on how gender, ethnicity, religion, social class, or region can influence thought and feeling. (November 8, 2005)

Scotty McLennan discusses his role as a source of religious energy on the Stanford campus and how this affects his writing and writing style. He offers an interesting perspective on thought and writing mentality. (February 26, 2003)

Amy Freed discusses how she got interested in writing plays and how she channels her own self to produce her art form. She discusses some of the difficulties that come with this specific form of writing. (October 25, 2006)

Emerita English Professor and Author Diane Middlebrook discusses how her writing skills developed as a biography author. Middlebrook shares how there is "no straight line" in any kind of writing and it requires enthusiasm and diligence. (October 15, 2002)

George Fredrickson sits down for a conversation about how he writes. He is one of the the most eminent historians of the United States and has done remarkable comparative studies on racism and racial identity in the US and South Africa. (May 8, 2003)

Comparative Literature Professor and Philosopher Richard Rorty discusses how his writing skills developed as a social commentator. (November 9, 2004)

President and Author John Hennessy discusses how his writing skills developed as a Computer Scientist and entrepreneur. Hennessy shares how he has approached diverse writing tasks in the realms of science and business. (April 13, 2004)

Susan Krieger discusses the work that she has done, how it relates to writing, and her recent works and challenges. (April 25, 2012)

Bill Guttentag, screenwriter as well as professor in the Graduate School of Business, discusses his experiences and feelings about writing. He is a two time Oscar winning screenwriter who has written and directed many films. (February 9, 2012)

Abbas Milani talks about his experiences as an author who writes in both Persian and in English as well as his experience living in two different cultures. (October 26, 2011)

Author and Physician Abraham Verghese speaks on techniques, quirks, and joys of writing history and biography. Verghese has written three books titled My Own Country, The Tennis Partner, and most recently, Cutting For Stone. (May 4, 2011)

Author Nancy Packer gives a presentation on her writing style and the course of her career as an author. She discusses the things that motivated her path as a writer and the moments in her life that inspired her writing. (February 3, 2011)

Author Peter Stansky addresses the group on his writing. He gives background to his life and talks about how he writes. He discusses his thought processes, inspirations, and "voyage of discovery", when it comes to writing. (November 9, 2010)

Celebrated celebrated playwrite and screenwriter David Henry Hwang graduated Stanford in 1979. Most of his plays have focused on Asian American themes, such as his acclaimed play M. Butterfly. (February 13, 2007)

Rebecca Solnit, an author, essayist and activist, discusses her lifetime of writing on various topics like landscape, politics, and photographic culture. (April 29, 2010)

Five-time Grammy award winning bass guitarist and author Victor Wooten offers insights on writing and making music in a conversation with Hilton Obenzinger and gives a short demonstration on the bass guitar. (May 13, 2010)

Gwyneth Lewis, Stanford Arts Practitioner/Writer Fellow 2009-2010, discusses the inspiration and philosophy behind her writing methodology. (March 8, 2010)

Philip Taubman, Consulting Professor at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), discusses his experiences and methods on researching and writing as a journalist covering international politics. (November 11, 2009)

David Dunaway, Professor at the University of New Mexico, discusses the joys, challenges, and techniques of oral history and audio documentary. (April 20, 2009)

Stanford Law School Professor Richard Thompson Ford discusses his experiences writing for many different genres, from law journals to popular magazines. (April 16, 2009)

Rob Reisch, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Ethics in Society Program at Stanford, discusses how he develops ideas for his writing, his writing style, the evolution of his writing strategies. (April 9, 2009)

Stanford Professor of English, Terry Castle, discusses her development as a writer from indecipherably miniscule handwritten notes to sitting at a computer typing her work sentence by sentence. (February 11, 2009)

Stanford Professor of Science and Technology, Rebecca Slayton, discusses various forms of writing that she has performed and how they have evolved from her academic life to her professional career. (January 21, 2009)

Guest speaker Nancy Etchemendy, published writer of Fantasy Horror Fiction for Children and Adults, speaks for Stanford How I Write lecture about the processes she undergoes when coming up with, writing, and editing her stories. (November 5, 2008)

Four journalists from the Stanford Daily discuss the different writing techniques and styles used in mass media productions such as newspapers, including communication, organization, and prioritizing. (January 23, 2008)

Ramón Saldívar holds the Hoagland Family Chair in the School of Humanities and Sciences, is the Milligan Family Fellow in Undergraduate Studies, and is currently Chair of the Department of English at Stanford University. (November 14, 2007)

JoAnne Akailitis, one of the founders of Mabou Mines, and Jim Leverett, the dramateur for Mabou Mines, discuss the process behind writing a new theater production. (November 1, 2007)

Liisa Malkki (Stanford University Anthropology Department), Richard Roberts (Stanford University History Department), and Carol Shloss (Stanford University English Department) discuss what it means to imaginatively inhabit the lives of their peers.

Richard Zare, the Marguerite Wilbur Professor in Natural Science at Stanford University, discusses writing in the context of science. Zare discusses how writing is used to communicate ideas and concepts in science. (October 14, 2008)

Marjorie Perloff writes on contemporary and avant-garde poetry and poetics, as well as on intermedia and the visual arts. (May 3, 2006)

David Kennedy is the Donald J. McLachian Professor of History. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. (October 26, 2005)