Podcasts about Why I Write

My office rehab is done and I am THRILLED! I've discovered my intuition led me to solidify this aspect of my creative life while on hiatus. Also: Why We Write. Musings on having a creative career and balancing love and business.STRANGE FAMILIAR is live! https://www.jeffekennedy.com/strange-familiar You can preorder MAGIC REBORN at https://www.jeffekennedy.com/magic-rebornRELUCTANT WIZARD is out now and the audiobook is live!! https://www.jeffekennedy.com/reluctant-wizardThe posture-correcting sports bra I love almost more than life itself is here https://forme.therave.co/37FY6Z5MTJAUKQGAJoin my Patreon and Discord for mentoring, coaching, and conversation with me! Find it at https://www.patreon.com/JeffesClosetYou can always buy print copies of my books from my local indie, Beastly Books! https://www.beastlybooks.com/If you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).Sign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)You can watch this podcast on video via YouTube https://youtu.be/WGRlQIuBgTkSupport the showContact Jeffe!Find me on Threads Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.comFollow me on Amazon or BookBubSign up for my Newsletter!Find me on Instagram and TikTok!Thanks for listening!

Why do memoir writers need to get vulnerable? And how do you actually do it without oversharing? In this episode, we explore why vulnerability is the key to powerful memoir writing. Drawing wisdom from Brené Brown, Mary Karr, Joan Didion, and examples from Selma Blair's powerful memoir Mean Baby, we break down how to transform your challenging experiences into compelling narrative. You'll learn:• Why vulnerability creates instant connection with readers• The difference between raw and crafted vulnerability• Practical techniques to write difficult scenes• How to balance emotional truth with personal boundaries Perfect for memoir writers, personal essayists, or anyone looking to add emotional depth to their writing.

For this week's “Best of The Literary Life” series episode, we revisit a conversation about George Orwell's essay “Why I Write.” Angelina and Cindy kick off the discussion about how much they each identify with Orwell's description of his childhood. In his story of learning to write, we see many aspects of a good education, even his inclination to imitate other authors. An important point Angelina brings up is Orwell's own struggle against the calling he felt to write, in contrast to having an ambition to do so. Angelina brings up a related story about musician Gregory Alan Isakov, and Cindy reiterates the idea of why we need leisure in order to find our vocation. Cindy and Angelina also bring out some of the qualities Orwell possessed that make a good writer. Maturity as a human being and as a master of a craft are crucial to certain forms of writing, as Orwell points out about his own work. Other topics of conversation include truth-telling in writing, the motives for writing according to Orwell, and the growing process of writers. If you want to find replays of the 2019 Back to School online conference referenced in this episode, you can purchase them in Cindy's shop at MorningTimeforMoms.com. For replays of the How to Love Poetry webinar with Thomas, you can find those at HouseofHumaneLetters.com. Check out the schedule for the podcast's summer episodes on our Upcoming Events page. Commonplace Quotes: Never had she seen it so clearly as on this evening — what destiny had demanded of her and what it had given her in return with her seven sons. Over and over again joy had quickened the beat of her heart; fear on their behalf had rent it in two. They were her children, these big sons with their lean, bony, boy's bodies, just as they had been when they were small and so plump that they barely hurt themselves when they tumbled down on their way between the bench and her knee. They were hers, just as they had been back when she lifted them out of the cradle to her milk-filled breast and had to support their heads, which wobbled on their frail necks the way a bluebell nods on its stalk. Wherever they ended in the world, wherever they journeyed, forgetting their mother– she thought that for her, their lives would be like a current in her own life; they would be one with her, just as they had been when she alone on this earth knew about the new life hidden inside, drinking from her blood and making her cheeks pale. Sigrid Undset, from Kristen Lavransdatter Orwell was a poet who happened to find his medium in prose, a poet not so much in his means of expression as in the nature of his vision, which could strip the sprawling tangle of the world around him down to its core with the simplicity of a timeless flash of intuition. C. M. Wodehouse, from the introduction to Animal Farm Veni, Creator Spiritus by John Dryden Creator Spirit, by whose aid The world's foundations first were laid, Come, visit ev'ry pious mind; Come, pour thy joys on human kind; From sin, and sorrow set us free; And make thy temples worthy Thee. O, Source of uncreated Light,  The Father's promis'd Paraclete!  Thrice Holy Fount, thrice Holy Fire,  Our hearts with heav'nly love inspire;  Come, and thy Sacred Unction bring  To sanctify us, while we sing!  Plenteous of grace, descend from high,  Rich in thy sev'n-fold energy!  Thou strength of his Almighty Hand,  Whose pow'r does heav'n and earth command:  Proceeding Spirit, our Defence,  Who do'st the gift of tongues dispence,  And crown'st thy gift with eloquence!  Refine and purge our earthly parts;  But, oh, inflame and fire our hearts!  Our frailties help, our vice control;  Submit the senses to the soul;  And when rebellious they are grown,  Then, lay thy hand, and hold 'em down.  Chase from our minds th' Infernal Foe;  And peace, the fruit of love, bestow;  And, lest our feet should step astray,  Protect, and guide us in the way.  Make us Eternal Truths receive,  And practise, all that we believe:  Give us thy self, that we may see  The Father and the Son, by thee.  Immortal honour, endless fame,  Attend th' Almighty Father's name:  The Saviour Son be glorified,  Who for lost Man's redemption died:  And equal adoration be,  Eternal Paraclete, to thee. Book List: Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset Animal Farm by George Orwell P. G. Wodehouse The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings by Philip and Carol Zaleski Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at morningtimeformoms.com, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CindyRollinsWriter. Check out Cindy's own Patreon page also! Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let's get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: "Why I Write" by George Orwell (1946), published by Arjun Panickssery on April 25, 2024 on LessWrong. People have been posting great essays so that they're "fed through the standard LessWrong algorithm." This essay is in the public domain in the UK but not the US. From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books. I was the middle child of three, but there was a gap of five years on either side, and I barely saw my father before I was eight. For this and other reasons I was somewhat lonely, and I soon developed disagreeable mannerisms which made me unpopular throughout my schooldays. I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued. I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure in everyday life. Nevertheless the volume of serious - i.e. seriously intended - writing which I produced all through my childhood and boyhood would not amount to half a dozen pages. I wrote my first poem at the age of four or five, my mother taking it down to dictation. I cannot remember anything about it except that it was about a tiger and the tiger had 'chair-like teeth' - a good enough phrase, but I fancy the poem was a plagiarism of Blake's 'Tiger, Tiger'. At eleven, when the war or 1914-18 broke out, I wrote a patriotic poem which was printed in the local newspaper, as was another, two years later, on the death of Kitchener. From time to time, when I was a bit older, I wrote bad and usually unfinished 'nature poems' in the Georgian style. I also, about twice, attempted a short story which was a ghastly failure. That was the total of the would-be serious work that I actually set down on paper during all those years. However, throughout this time I did in a sense engage in literary activities. To begin with there was the made-to-order stuff which I produced quickly, easily and without much pleasure to myself. Apart from school work, I wrote vers d'occasion, semi-comic poems which I could turn out at what now seems to me astonishing speed - at fourteen I wrote a whole rhyming play, in imitation of Aristophanes, in about a week - and helped to edit school magazines, both printed and in manuscript. These magazines were the most pitiful burlesque stuff that you could imagine, and I took far less trouble with them than I now would with the cheapest journalism. But side by side with all this, for fifteen years or more, I was carrying out a literary exercise of a quite different kind: this was the making up of a continuous "story" about myself, a sort of diary existing only in the mind. I believe this is a common habit of children and adolescents. As a very small child I used to imagine that I was, say, Robin Hood, and picture myself as the hero of thrilling adventures, but quite soon my "story" ceased to be narcissistic in a crude way and became more and more a mere description of what I was doing and the things I saw. For minutes at a time this kind of thing would be running through my head: 'He pushed the door open and entered the room. A yellow beam of sunlight, filtering through the muslin curtains, slanted on to the table, where a matchbox, half-open, lay beside the inkpot. With his right hand in his pocket he moved across to the window. Down in the street a tortoiseshell cat was chasing a dead leaf,' etc., etc. Thi...

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: "Why I Write" by George Orwell (1946), published by Arjun Panickssery on April 25, 2024 on LessWrong. People have been posting great essays so that they're "fed through the standard LessWrong algorithm." This essay is in the public domain in the UK but not the US. From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books. I was the middle child of three, but there was a gap of five years on either side, and I barely saw my father before I was eight. For this and other reasons I was somewhat lonely, and I soon developed disagreeable mannerisms which made me unpopular throughout my schooldays. I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued. I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure in everyday life. Nevertheless the volume of serious - i.e. seriously intended - writing which I produced all through my childhood and boyhood would not amount to half a dozen pages. I wrote my first poem at the age of four or five, my mother taking it down to dictation. I cannot remember anything about it except that it was about a tiger and the tiger had 'chair-like teeth' - a good enough phrase, but I fancy the poem was a plagiarism of Blake's 'Tiger, Tiger'. At eleven, when the war or 1914-18 broke out, I wrote a patriotic poem which was printed in the local newspaper, as was another, two years later, on the death of Kitchener. From time to time, when I was a bit older, I wrote bad and usually unfinished 'nature poems' in the Georgian style. I also, about twice, attempted a short story which was a ghastly failure. That was the total of the would-be serious work that I actually set down on paper during all those years. However, throughout this time I did in a sense engage in literary activities. To begin with there was the made-to-order stuff which I produced quickly, easily and without much pleasure to myself. Apart from school work, I wrote vers d'occasion, semi-comic poems which I could turn out at what now seems to me astonishing speed - at fourteen I wrote a whole rhyming play, in imitation of Aristophanes, in about a week - and helped to edit school magazines, both printed and in manuscript. These magazines were the most pitiful burlesque stuff that you could imagine, and I took far less trouble with them than I now would with the cheapest journalism. But side by side with all this, for fifteen years or more, I was carrying out a literary exercise of a quite different kind: this was the making up of a continuous "story" about myself, a sort of diary existing only in the mind. I believe this is a common habit of children and adolescents. As a very small child I used to imagine that I was, say, Robin Hood, and picture myself as the hero of thrilling adventures, but quite soon my "story" ceased to be narcissistic in a crude way and became more and more a mere description of what I was doing and the things I saw. For minutes at a time this kind of thing would be running through my head: 'He pushed the door open and entered the room. A yellow beam of sunlight, filtering through the muslin curtains, slanted on to the table, where a matchbox, half-open, lay beside the inkpot. With his right hand in his pocket he moved across to the window. Down in the street a tortoiseshell cat was chasing a dead leaf,' etc., etc. Thi...

In our December episode we will be chatting about...What brought us joy this monthWhat we're currently reading2023 Favourites*Jenn's Etsy Shop… https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheBookRefuge?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1516681723Follow us on Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/the_sassyromancechatpodcast/Jenn's YouTube… https://www.youtube.com/@TheBookRefugeJenn's Instagram… https://www.instagram.com/thebookrefuge18/Tara's YouTube… https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqXn3p_ycTnd0g41X0kyh5ATara's Instagram… https://www.instagram.com/cozy.core.craft/Things Mentioned:Hoarded By The Dragon… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75424169-hoarded-by-the-dragon P.S. You're Intolerable… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/193349012-p-s-you-re-intolerable Why I Write… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9644.Why_I_WriteSecond Duke's The Charm… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127280018-second-duke-s-the-charm?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=OKPZSauTlR&rank=12 Fights… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59154297-2-fights?ref=nav_sb_ss_3_8Brothers… https://archiveofourown.org/works/24089239/chapters/57981010Anointed… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42631752-anointedManacled… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52122096-manacledCarissa Broadbent… https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16170636.Carissa_BroadbentForever Your Rogue… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62959414-forever-your-rogue?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RH5qjTwDNS&rank=1In Silence And Submission… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/181551049-in-silence-and-submissionContempt… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60097882-contempt?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_13 Scandal In Spring… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/105574.Scandal_in_SpringLayla Fae… https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20890126.Layla_FaeRegine Able… https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16289162.Regine_AbelThe Right Move… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84943172-the-right-move?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_15

STRONG Life Podcast ep 406  RAW QnA brought to you By: Zach's Newsletter - HERE  The Encyclopedia of Underground Strength - HERE The Underground Strength Coach Cert - HERE Topics covered: Why I Write in the Mornings Athletic "Older" Men & what exercises are best to stay athletic as we age ALL Bodyweight Workout "Advices" in a hotel or at home Recommended Resources: http://ZachStrength.com - BEST FREE STRENGTH COURSES    http://SSPCoach.com - SSPC (Strength & Sports Performance Coach) CERTIFICATION    https://zacheven-esh.com/store/ - STORE / PRODUCTS    https://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com - The Underground Strength Academy for Strength Athletes & ALL Coaches   RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTS: https://www.thorne.com/u/PR092217     AMAZON Books - https://amazon.com/author/zach    IRON JOURNEYS BOOK - https://amzn.to/46YFTJ0   

D. J. Taylor, literary critic, novelist and Whitbread Prize-winning author of the definitive Orwell: The Life and its highly acclaimed sequel The New Life, and Masha Karp, Orwell scholar, former Russian features editor at the BBC World Service and author of George Orwell and Russia, join the Slightly Foxed team at the kitchen table in Hoxton Square to take a fresh and deeply personal look at the life and work of George Orwell.  The man who wrote Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four defies categorization. In this quarter's literary podcast David and Masha sift through newly discovered stashes of letters written by Orwell in the 1930s, and share personal recollections from his adopted son Richard and other living members of his inner circle to tease out fact from fiction and explore the legacy of Orwell's life and work.  We start with the chance discovery by a Bonham's auctioneer of nineteen letters from Orwell to a girlfriend, found in a tatty old handbag on the floor of a mouse-ridden woodshed (thrillingly packaged in a nondescript envelope labelled ‘Burn after my death'). Then we're off on a journey through the many-faceted romantic, literary, social and political aspects of Orwell's short life, from the years when he was flitting between jobs and relationships in the small coastal town of Southwold and living down and out in Paris, to his death from tuberculosis in 1950 via his life-altering experience in Spain as a Republican volunteer against Franco. David and Masha draw us deep into Orwell's world – a place of gangsters with gramophones, banned books, vanishing documents, encounters with KGB spies and yet more old girlfriends appearing out of the shadows with revelatory letters – and discuss the long reach of his influence on contemporary literature and political thinking. Books mentioned We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Jess in the Slightly Foxed office for more information. Subscribe to Slightly Foxed magazine D. J. Taylor, Orwell: A New Life (0:30) George Orwell, A Homage to Catalonia (7:27) Masha Karp, George Orwell and Russia (15:10) George Orwell, Burmese Days (31:46) George Orwell, Animal Farm (31:47) George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (31:48) George Orwell, A Clergyman's Daughter (34:04) George Orwell, Why I Write (38:22) George Orwell, ‘Confessions of a Book Reviewer', Essays (39:56) George Orwell, ‘Dickens', Essays (43:45) George Orwell, ‘Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool', Essays (44:28) Nicholas Fisk, Pig Ignorant (45:25) Joanna Rakoff, My Salinger Year (45:42) James Aldred, Goshawk Summer (49:10) Edward Chisholm, A Waiter in Paris (51:38) George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London (51:50) Emilé Zola, The Drinking Den (53:18) Claire Wilcox, Patch Work (55:11) Related Slightly Foxed articles The Nightmare of Room 101, Christopher Rush on George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Issue 69 Betrayals, Christopher Rush on George Orwell, Animal Farm, Issue 65 An Extraordinary Ordinary Bloke, Brandon Robshaw on George Orwell, Essays, Issue 56 Pox Britanica, Sue Gee on George Orwell, Burmese Days, Issue 40 All Washed Up, Christopher Robbins on George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, Issue 21 The Road to Room 101, Gordon Bowker on George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Issue 11 Other links The Slightly Foxed Calendar 2024 Readers' Day 2023  The George Orwell Foundation Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach Produced by Podcastable

Most of us do not colour code our threat levels. But nations do.Following 9/11, the Homeland Security Advisory System in America in 2002 came up with the warning system that we all know and love today in our TV shows—green, blue, yellow, orange and red, depending, obviously, on the severity of the threat.Government officials plan and practice their responses to each threat level—war games for the bureaucrats.What if the threat was not a threat in the conventional sense of some action that the nation must defend, but the threat that comes from nothing at all? One example is say, the leader of the nation passes and the administration suddenly loses its alpha and is left rudderless and the panjandrums receive no instructions on what to do next.Building an entire novel built upon this possibility as a foundational premise, is my guest today, a journalist, author, analyst, and commentator, and now, novelist. Aakar Patel, known for his extensive body of work in politics, culture, and political economics, has ventured into the world of fiction with his debut novel—After Messiah.A novel is a remarkable canvas for expressing ideas, freeing the author from the constraints of traditional media like newspapers.Newspapers, for instance, are required to simply and clearly report what happened. But sometimes as a newsperson, you get to know about things that you cannot report by the usual rules of reportage. Such as off-the-record information that might be of great importance. The edit page of the newspaper is for such things— where you might reveal or hint at something, having editorialised it.Aakar Patel's work raises essential questions about the role of the bureaucracy and the responsibilities it bears. His superior skills in prose ensure that his novel is not just thought-provoking but also an effortless—and very often funny—read. Aakar is not one to stay snugly inside the box; he busts out the whole “eager to learn and illuminate” ethic and thus, escapes the confines of convention.Today, he unveils this debut novel. While After Messiah might be his debut novel, this is not his debut appearance on The Literary City. He is my first returning guest in almost two years of this show. He joins me from his home in Bangalore, a city we share. PREVIOUS APPEARANCE: https://litcity.in/e14-sptfyABOUT AAKAR PATELHe is a syndicated columnist who has edited English and Gujarati newspapers. His books include "Why I Write", "Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here", "Price of the Modi Years" and "The Anarchist Cookbook". His work reimagining South Asia, "The Case For Akhand Bharat" is out in 2024. He is the Chair of Amnesty International India.BUY AFTER MESSIAH: https://amzn.to/3Q4Xj0qWHAT'S THAT WORD?!Co-host Pranati "Pea" Madhav joins Ramjee Chandran in "WHAT'S THAT WORD?!",  where they discuss the word  "MESSIAH"CONTACT USReach us by mail: theliterarycity@explocity.com or simply, tlc@explocity.comOr here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theliterarycity Or here: https://www.instagram.com/explocityblr/

HOST RICK WHITAKER READS A 1998 ESSAY BY JOY WILLIAMS, "WHY I WRITE" MUSIC: BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY 6 ARRANGED BY FRANZ LISZTSupport the showRead to Me, Ricky is hosted by Rick Whitaker and produced in New York City. Contact: rickawhitaker@gmail.comhttps://readtomericky.comPlease support the show if you can: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2042894/support

This week on The Literary Life podcast our hosts introduce the 2023 Reading Challenge! Angelina, Cindy and Thomas are excited to share with you about all the categories on this year's Literary Life Bingo Reading Challenge! You can download your own copy of the challenge here, as well as check out our past reading challenges. Scroll down in the show notes to see a list of the links and books mentioned in this episode. You can use the hashtag #LitLifeBingo on social media so we can all see what everyone is reading in 2023! Don't forget to shop the House of Humane Letters Christmas Sale now through the end of the year. The Literary Life Back to School online conference recordings are also on sale at Morning Time for Moms right now. Commonplace Quotes: Much that we call Victorian is known to us only because the Victorians laughed at it. George Malcolm Young, from Portrait of an Age I think that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there. Annie Dillard, from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body. Joseph Addison Thunderstorms by William H. Davies My mind has thunderstorms, That brood for heavy hours: Until they rain me words, My thoughts are drooping flowers And sulking, silent birds. Yet come, dark thunderstorms, And brood your heavy hours; For when you rain me words, My thoughts are dancing flowers And joyful singing birds. Book and Link List: Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie Episode 14: “The Adventures of a Shilling” by Joseph Addison Episode 3: The Importance of Detective Fiction Episode 16: “Why I Write” by George Orwell Reading Challenge Downloads The Letters of Jane Austen by Jane Austen Abigail Adams: Letters ed. by Edith Gelles The Letters of Dorothy Osborne to William Temple ed. by G. C. Moore Smith Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson Letters to an American Lady by C. S. Lewis Letters of C. S. Lewis by C. S. Lewis Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor ed. by Sally Fitzgerald Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman by Lord Chesterfield The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer The Aeneid by Virgil The Saga of the Volsungs by Anonymous The Vision of Sir Launfal by James Russell Lowell Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Ramayana of Valmiki ed. and trans. by Robert and Sally Goldman The Prelude by William Wordsworth Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton P. D. James Edmund Crispin Alan Bradley Patricia Moyes Peter Granger Rex Stout Sir Walter Scott The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke Mythos by Stephen Fry The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell Coming Up for Air by George Orwell P. G. Wodehouse The Last Days of Socrates by Plato The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis Champagne for the Soul by Mike Mason Edges of His Ways by Amy Carmichael The Footsteps at the Lock by Ronald Knox Queen Victoria by Lytton Strachey Jane Austen Patrick Leigh Fermor Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson Heroes by Stephen Fry Troy by Stephen Fry Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman The Mabinogion trans. by Sioned Davies The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson Cindy's List of Literature of Honor for Boys (archived webpage) Bleak House by Charles Dickens David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens The Man Who Knew Too Much by G. K. Chesterton The 39 Steps by John Buchan Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith The Well Read Poem An Experiment in Criticism by C. S. Lewis The Truth and the Beauty by Andrew Klavan The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill Jacob's Room is Full of Books by Susan Hill The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis by Jason Baxter 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at morningtimeformoms.com, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/. Check out Cindy's own Patreon page also! Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let's get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

Episode 2354 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature another story by Ron Mosbaugh, the pride of Joplin, Missouri and all Jasper County. In this episode, Ron, who has been a frequent contributor to this Podcast, will be sharing … Continue reading → The post Episode 2354 – Why I Write – by Vietnam Vet Ron Mosbaugh appeared first on .

When it feels like the world is burning down, is writing something you want to save from the fire? Get the newsletter version of this post Get the book Thanks to Dave Connis for the theme music www.sarazarr.com

Youie wants to know why Rex writes in this episode. The inspiration for this episode is Youie's re-reading of George Orwell's famous essay ‘Why I Write' (you can find the pdf easily on the web). Rex explains his younger days and shares with us at what point in his life he decided to become a writer. He shares the impact DH Lawrence had on his writing and gets deeply personal explaining how the way he was brought up influenced his career. Along the way, we learn about Pickett's Pocket Rockets, his School Principal's unhelpful feedback, birth order, Carl Jung, George Lucas and Star Wars, Joseph Campbell, atheism, agnosticism, and Freud. Youie then shares with Rex the list of reasons why George Orwell wrote according to the list and Rex responds to each in his typically open and honest style. Youie struggles to keep up with Rex in this episode as it truly is ‘Rex unleashed' and at his best. The words of the podcast are ‘via regia' and ‘diaphanous'. Remember, you'll always learn something new on these podcasts. The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie! Have you got a question to ask Rex about wine, all things Sideways (the books, the movie, or the play)? Then please write to him on wine@158.co.nz This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned. Produced by 158 Limited.

About two decades ago I offered Aakar Patel a job as editor of Explocity. And just when we were all set, the famous and reputable newspaper in Mumbai, Mid-Day, offered Aakar a job as Editor and…well, of course I understood. If he had not accepted that job I would have forced him to. But you know what they say… when one editorial door closes and another…oh the hell with the analogies… I heard that Tushita Patel, Aakar's partner, was leaving her job as Editor of The Asian Age. I called her and she hopped a flight to Bangalore and joined Explocity as Editor and totally killed. Twenty years later, I am fortunate to count them both as friends. And not principally because they make fried fish with that mustard thang. Now, anyone with even a peripheral interest in Indian politics ought to know Aakar Patel.And even though newspapers around the country have recently developed new and deeper shades of funk by not continuing to publish Aakar's anti-injustice polemic, he remains India's most prolific columnist. The context of Aakar's prose is serious, the tone often calling question to judgment, but you can sense a suppressed smile under every description.Here's an example of what I call the suppressed smile.In a socio-political comment about the inability or at least, unwillingness of the Indian to be gracious in defeat, he uses cricket. In an article titled The Banality Of The Indian Cricket Fan he wrote and I quote, “It's about nationalism, which in India is narrow and zero-sum. If they score even a little victory, a boundary, our tumescence droops.”That writing is not magic realism—whatever manner of contrivance the phrase magic realism is—but maybe I'll call this one… Cialis In Wonderland...?The reason humour lurks beneath even the most serious of Aakar's writing is because he sees the foibles of the hoi polloi as absurd theatre.  In a recent event promoting the launch of his latest book, The Price Of The Modi Years, someone in the audience asked him if saw hope in the political scenario in India, when viewed from the depressed side of the divide.“Yes,” he replied, “but maybe it will take a couple of election cycles.”“Thank you, Aakar!” The audience member cried irrationally, “thank you for saying there's hope!!!”I smiled and tried to catch Aakar's eye but I could tell that he was busy trying to figure out how not to become a prophet—although in India pundit and prophet somehow become synonymous. Today Aakar is my guest as neither prophet nor rationalist, but as a writer and I got to ask him a bunch of questions about what makes him, above all, one of the country's most compelling writers.ABOUT AAKAR PATELAakar Patel is a syndicated columnist who has edited English and Gujarati newspapers. His books include 'Why I Write', a translation of Saadat Hasan Manto's Urdu non-fiction (Tranquebar, 2014), 'Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here', a study of majoritarianism in India and Pakistan (Westland, 2020), 'Price of the Modi Years', a history of India after 2014 (Westland, 2021) and 'The Anarchist Cookbook', a guide on why and how to protest (HarperCollins, 2022). He is Chair of Amnesty International India.Buy The Price Of The Modi Years here: https://amzn.to/3DiXsVUWHAT'S THAT WORD?! - "HOI POLLOI".Co-host Pranati "Pea" Madhav joins Ramjee Chandran in the segment "What's That Word?", where they discuss the origins of the phrase hoi polloi with asides on cunning linguists.

Rhiannon watched Hamilton live and Alex has finally gleaned a recommendation that Rhiannon will actually like. Rhiannon was entranced by Martin Freeman's transformation in his thought-provoking ‘The Responder' as it explores the nuances of the penal system. Alex has been reading Levy's memoir and attempting to trace its links to Orwell's Why I Write. And finally, both Alex and Rhiannon tell stories of their experiences of sharing bodily fluids with James McAvoy. Signing off, the Best of Wives and the Best of Women, Alex and Rhiannon We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - thegrandthunk@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends. Visit our patreon www.patreon.com/thegrandthunk for bonus episodes, extra content and exclusive interviews. See below for a full list of what we discuss: Hamilton by Lin Manuel-Miranda The Crown, Unsane with Clair Foy My Son on Amazon Prime Cyrano de Bergerac with James McAvoy The Responder on ITV Game of Thrones Line of Duty Why I Write by George Orwell The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson Things I Don't Want to Know by Deborah Levy Dear Writer, Dear Actress by Anton Chekhov and Olga Knipper Useless Magic by Florence Welch @BetweenTwoBooks @VenitiaLaManna

The twenty most formative books I've read with regard to my own writing, and why. In order: 20. A History of Civilization, by Fernand Braudel 19. Why I Write, by George Orwell 18. Horace's Odes and Epodes 17. Beowulf, Seamus Heaney's Translation 16. Conquistador, by Buddy Levy 15. Bulfinch's Mythology 14. The Communist Manifesto 13. True Believer, by Eric Hoffer 12. Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli 11. La Rochefoucauld's Maxims and Self Reflections 10. A Treasury of Irish Literature, Barnes and Noble Leather Bound Edition 9. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress 8. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy the Constance Garnet Translation 7. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy 6. The Abolition of Man, by C. S. Lewis 5. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury Top 5 Influences 4. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald 3. Plato's Symposium *. Freud's Psychology of Psychoanalysis 2. William Wordsworth 1. The Bible

This episode is a little different than our previous podcasts. Tyler reads a short essay that he wrote for his MFA program, titled "Why I Write." He and Keith talk about the MFA program and the inspiration and ideas that surround the writing. After the piece is read, they discuss the benefits of writing an essay laying out why you write. In doing so, you'll find the foundation as to what makes you a writer and why you decide to put yourself through this beautiful and miserable experience. You can find the essay at https://deadreckoningco.com/blogs/read/why-i-write

In this week’s episode, we discuss a new(ish) collection of Joan Didion’s previously uncollected essays, including a few about writing, two of which we picked to focus on. Also: Elena’s cat mishap, large-text editions, why we were all born in the wrong era for making money off of writing, a Didion-themed lightning round, and more! Links to some things we mention: Didion’s new book, Let Me Tell You What I Mean: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/666038/let-me-tell-you-what-i-mean-by-joan-didion/9780593318485  Didion’s “Why I Write”: https://lithub.com/joan-didion-why-i-write/  We couldn’t find a free full online version of “Telling Stories,” but here’s an article with excerpts: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/02/19/joan-didion-telling-stories/  Tracy Daugherty’s Didion biography: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250105943  The audio galley of Justin’s new book (password: Capote): https://oregonstateuniversity-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g/personal/stgermaj_oregonstate_edu/Eaet3zFf23lMvWKhwIGjUbgBYrPpC1gPKoYCc-M48GoPeA

The Winter 2020/21 Client Letter that Vitaliy just sent to IMA clients was 27 pages long. Over the next few weeks, he'll share excerpts from the letter with you, our dear podcast listeners. These excerpts will not focus as much on individual "fish"... The post Don’t Be a Sophist, and Why I Write 27 Page Letters to Clients – Ep 109 appeared first on The Intellectual Investor.

Those who read to write will want to hear Eileen Myles talk about “For Now,” which is part of the "Why I Write" series from Yale University Press.

I bring you the essay written by Saadat Hasan Manto. It's called Why I Write.

From the pages of George Orwell's famous essay Why I Write.

I did not know Nov. 1 was National Author's Day. My family surprised me with a lovely Author's Day Tea. We enjoyed a yummy spread including homemade scones and clotted cream. Why did they do this? Well, they love me. But the main reason? I'm an author! It's been a fascinating journey, and I've learned so much. I’d like to tell you about my work. What I Do as an Author I never dreamed I'd become an author. I was busy doing other things in life. Writing wasn't on my radar. It blipped across my screen occasionally when a person Read More ... For more resources and tools that inspire and equip you to live well using God's Word in practical ways each day, visit the Alive and Active Life website.

I did not know Nov. 1 was National Author's Day. My family surprised me with a lovely Author's Day Tea. We enjoyed a yummy spread including homemade scones and clotted cream. Why did they do this? Well, they love me. Read More ...

I mention - His Truth Marching On by Jon Meacham and Why I Write by George Orwell. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Stokely Carmichael speaking to the unresolved pain of the African American in 1966. How people fall off the pedestal for me. How John Lewis continued to believe in Gandhi's philosophies of non-violence to the end. Wholeness could change the world.

Adam Phillips in conversation with Deborah Levy      Unforbidden Pleasures is the dazzling new book from Adam Phillips, author of Missing Out and Going Sane. Adam Phillips takes Oscar Wilde as a springboard for a deep dive into the meanings and importance of the Unforbidden, from the fall of our 'first parents' Adam and Eve to the work of the great twentieth-century psychoanalytic thinkers. Unforbidden pleasures, he argues, are always the ones we tend not to think about, yet when you look into it, it is probable that we get as much pleasure, if not more, from them. And we may have underestimated just how restricted our restrictiveness, in thrall to the forbidden and its rules, may make us. Adam Phillips is a psychoanalyst and the author of several previous books, all widely acclaimed, including On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored, Going Sane and Side Effects. His most recent books are On Kindness, co-written with the historian Barbara Taylor, Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life, On Balance and One Way and Another. ‘Every mind-blowing book from Adam Phillips suspends all the certainties we are most attached to and somehow makes this feel exhilarating' - Deborah Levy ‘Phillips radiates infectious charm. The brew of gaiety, compassion, exuberance and idealism is heady and disarming' - Sunday Times ‘Phillips is one of the finest prose stylists at work in the language, an Emerson for our time' - John Banville Unforbidden Pleasures is published by Hamish Hamilton (5 November 2015) Deborah Levy writes fiction, plays, and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and she is the author of highly praised books including The Unloved, Swallowing Geography, and Beautiful Mutants. Her novel Swimming Home was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In 2012 Levy adapted two of Freud's case histories, Dora and The Wolfman for BBC Radio 4. Things I Don't Want to Know is the title of Levy's sparkling response to George Orwell's essay ‘Why I Write', an autobiographical essay on writing, gender politics and philosophy. Her new novel, Hot Milk, will be published in 2016 by Hamish Hamilton.

Hello beautiful creators!  THIS IS THE 'HOLY GROUND" EPISODE. It has been RELEASED.  And it is glorious.  First and foremost, please LISTEN to "Holy Ground" (by me, Steel Maggie) which is available most anywhere you stream (maybe even on the platform where you're reading this right now), so that these next 30 minutes we spend together will be put into crystal-clear context :)  Please note, this particular podcast recording is from a Facebook Live. When I wrote this song, I still had no idea what it was like to love or value myself.  I struggled with letting go of the self-loathing alcoholic identity I built and reveled in, because at the very core, I was afraid of myself, both the darkness and the light.  I didn't know that my extremes are essential to be being the most authentic human being (and artist) I can be.  Holy Ground became a prophetic lyrical vision for the future of my most important relationship - the one I have with myself.  In this episode, you'll hear me share my emotional evolution through start to finish of writing, recording, and releasing Holy Ground.  "There's no doubt...Everywhere I go is holy ground."  May you listen now and believe for yourself.If you received value from this episode of Mind Made Wrong, please make sure you are following or are subscribed wherever you stream, and shoot me a DM or email (@steelmaggiehq or maggie@steelmaggiemusic.com) sharing an identity or thought loop you're going to let go of now, in favor of learning how to truly love and celebrate the full force of your existence.  If it moves you, please share this podcast with another beautiful creator you know.  I thank you eternally.WATCH this episode and SUBSCRIBE to Steel Maggie on YouTube - https://youtu.be/pqSiLNLW_2IFor links and more, visit https://www.steelmaggiemusic.com/podcast and check out Episode 41 - Holy GroundI AM STEEL MAGGIE"Bittersweet and bold dance pop for the minimally sane, the moderately restless, and the significantly idealistic"Listen to "Holy Ground" and follow me on Spotify

Joining us on today's episode is a close friend and mentor Ben Slater. At age 16, he witnessed his father - an entrepreneur - lose everything despite being an initially successful businessman. This destabilising event led to drug use and psychotic episodes. Ben then pursued mentorship highlighting the big questions no one had ever asked him and leading to paradigm shifts in his thinking. He successfully pursued an entrepreneurial pathway, despite his father's experiences, with a mindset informed by his studies in business and life philosophy. Geographical freedom through the internet, success despite adversity, courageous decision-making, and staying true to your purpose are today's talking points discussed in the context of Ben's rich life and business experiences and his published literature. Topics we cover: Ben's origin story Being happy today, but striving for more tomorrow How do you invest your time/energy/money and why? What is flow state and how is it achieved? The octave of life and how it all leads back to intimacy The seed of life Links: Ben's First Book: The Business Owners Guide To Profit Buckminster Fuller Dancing Shiva The seed of life - Daily Accountability System by Ben Slater Book Ben is reading: Why I Write by George Orwell Ben's Facebook page: https://business.facebook.com/BenSlatersSystems/ Ben's Website: Leadflow.ai https://www.facebook.com/groups/theinvestorlab/ End quote: “Listen within yourself and look into the infinitude of Space and Time. There can be heard the songs of the Constellations, the voices of the Numbers, and the harmonies of the Spheres. “   ~ Hermes TrismegistusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the unique parts of the NYWF are their Late night Readings where diverse, young writers get to share their words, their perspectives in what er format they like, on a range of fun and interesting topics. In this episode writers Pavan Dutta, Meleika Gesa, Roj Amedi, Laura Elvery and Cher Tan provide their answer to the question "Why I Write" through comedy, plays, poems, reflections and deeply emotional narratives. #NYWF19 #Newcastle #Writing #Diversity #Fiction #Poetry #Comedy #Podcasts #Non-Fiction SHOW NOTES: National Young Writer's Festivalwww.youngwritersfestival.orgFacebook / Twitter @NYWFPavan DuttaTwitter @PvnDuttaFacebook @pavanduttaMeleika Gesahttp://endlessyarning.comTwitter @yarningqueenRoj Amedihttp://rojamedi.comTwitter @Roj_AmeLaura Elveryhttps://lauraelvery.comTwitter @lauraelveryCher Tanhttp://jerkofalltrades.netTwitter @mxcreantListen Up Podcasting (Kel Butler)www.listenuppodcasting.com.auFacebook @kelbutler / @listenuppodcastingTwitter @KelB

The topic of today's discussion on The Literary Life is George Orwell's essay "Why I Write." Angelina and Cindy kick off the conversation about how much they each identify with Orwell's description of his childhood. In his story of learning to write, we see many aspects of a good education, even his inclination to imitate other authors. An important point Angelina brings up is Orwell's own struggle against the calling he felt to write, in contrast to having an ambition to do so. Angelina brings up a related story about musician Gregory Alan Isakov, and Cindy reiterates the idea of why we need leisure in order to find our vocation. Cindy and Angelina also bring out some of the qualities Orwell possessed that make a good writer. Maturity as a human being and as a master of a craft are crucial to certain forms of writing, as Orwell points out about his own work. Other topics of conversation include truth-telling in writing, the motives for writing according to Orwell, and the growing process of writers. Summer of the Short Story: Ep 17: "The Celestial Omnibus" by E. M. Forster Ep 18: "Vulture on War" by Samuel Johnson Live Bonus Episode on Patreon: "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flanner O'Connor on August 22, 2019 Upcoming Events: August 26-29: Back to School Webinar with Cindy Rollins, Angelina Stanford, Thomas Banks and Adrienne Freas September 22: How to Love Poetry Webinar with Thomas Banks Veni, Creator Spiritus by John Dryden Creator Spirit, by whose aid The world's foundations first were laid, Come, visit ev'ry pious mind; Come, pour thy joys on human kind; From sin, and sorrow set us free; And make thy temples worthy Thee. O, Source of uncreated Light, The Father's promis'd Paraclete! Thrice Holy Fount, thrice Holy Fire, Our hearts with heav'nly love inspire; Come, and thy Sacred Unction bring To sanctify us, while we sing! Plenteous of grace, descend from high, Rich in thy sev'n-fold energy! Thou strength of his Almighty Hand, Whose pow'r does heav'n and earth command: Proceeding Spirit, our Defence, Who do'st the gift of tongues dispence, And crown'st thy gift with eloquence! Refine and purge our earthly parts; But, oh, inflame and fire our hearts! Our frailties help, our vice control; Submit the senses to the soul; And when rebellious they are grown, Then, lay thy hand, and hold 'em down. Chase from our minds th' Infernal Foe; And peace, the fruit of love, bestow; And, lest our feet should step astray, Protect, and guide us in the way. Make us Eternal Truths receive, And practise, all that we believe: Give us thy self, that we may see The Father and the Son, by thee. Immortal honour, endless fame, Attend th' Almighty Father's name: The Saviour Son be glorified, Who for lost Man's redemption died: And equal adoration be, Eternal Paraclete, to thee. Book List: (Amazon Affiliate Links) Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset Animal Farm by George Orwell Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: Find Angelina at  https://angelinastanford.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/ Jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

On today's episode of The Literary Life, Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins discuss Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace." Also, don't forget to register for the Back to School online conference on August 26-29, 2019 with Cindy and Angelina, as well as Thomas Banks and Adrienne Freas! Before getting into the short story discussion, Cindy and Angelina chat about what a "commonplace book" is and how they each go about recording quotes and thoughts, including the QuoteBlock app. First off, Angelina gives us a little background on the author Guy de Maupassant and some information on French naturalism. Then she digs into her thoughts on how this story is a fairy tale in reverse and what that might mean in context. Cindy points out the perfection of de Maupassant's writing and his economy of style. They also bring up some of the formal elements of the story, particularly the key role the reversal takes in the plot. The main themes they find in "The Necklace" touch on common human struggles with ambition, discontentment, loss, suffering and gratitude. Summer of the Short Story: Ep 16: "Why I Write" by George Orwell Ep 17: "The Celestial Omnibus" by E. M. Forster Ep 18: "Vulture on War" by Samuel Johnson Live Bonus Episode on Patreon: "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flanner O'Connor On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer by John Keats Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star'd at the Pacific—and all his men Look'd at each other with a wild surmise— Silent, upon a peak in Darien. Book List: (Amazon Affiliate Links) Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset In This House of Brede by Rumor Godden Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: Find Angelina at  https://angelinastanford.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/ Jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

Today on The Literary Life, Cindy Rollins and Angelina Stanford are joined by a special guest, Angelina's husband, Thomas Banks! This week's selection for our summer series is Joseph Addison's "The Adventures of a Shilling." This episode is packed with book references, so scroll down for links to the titles mentioned! The conversation today kicks off with an attempt at defining the "essay" form and giving a brief history on its development. Thomas shares a little background information on Joseph Addison and his writing, as well as several other essayists who came before and after Addison. Thomas also talks about why essays are a significant part of his reading life. The conversation also spins off into a discussion of the importance of how we spend our leisure time. Finally, our hosts chat about this week's essay, which gives highlights of England's history from the perspective of a silver coin. Addison's tale is full of humor and satire, as well as layers of social commentary and pathos. Don't forget to register for the Back to School online conference coming up on August 26-29, 2019 so you don't miss out on this awesome opportunity to "repair the ruins" of your own education. Summer of the Short Story: Ep 15: "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant Ep 16: "Why I Write" by George Orwell Ep 17: "The Celestial Omnibus" by E. M. Forster Ep 18: "Vulture on War" by Samuel Johnson When I Consider How My Light Is Spent by John Milton When I consider how my light is spent,    Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,    And that one talent which is death to hide Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present    My true account, lest He returning chide;    "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need    Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best    Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,    And post o'er land and ocean without rest;    They also serve who only stand and wait." Book List: (Amazon Affiliate Links) Lives of the Poets by Samuel Johnson The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell Dove Descending by Thomas Howard Four Quartets by T. S. Elliot The Essays by Sir Frances Bacon The Essays: A Selection by Michel de Montaigne The Defendant by G. K. Chesterton The Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincy Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper Cato: A Tragedy by Joseph Addison Gulliver's Travels and The Battle of the Books by Jonathon Swift Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: Find Angelina at  https://angelinastanford.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/ Jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

This week on The Literary Life, Cindy and Angelina discuss Katherine Mansfield’s short story “The Garden Party.” Before starting today’s episode, we want to encourage you to register for the Back to School online conference coming up on August 26-29, 2019! After a great chat over their commonplace quotes, Angelina and Cindy dig into this week’s short story, “The Garden Party.” They start with how Cindy found this story and the connections she was making to Little Women. Angelina gives a brief biographical sketch of Katherine Mansfield and highlights how Mansfield’s own illness and death give us insight into how she deals with death in this story. Angelina walks us through how she looks at the use of figurative language and images, such as the Garden of Eden. They also touch on “The Garden Party” having the same structure of moving toward a moment of epiphany that we saw in “Araby.” Cindy brings up the disconnect between the world of the women at home and the working people outside the home, as well as between the classes in this story. They talk about the importance of Laura’s new hat as a symbol of one type of person she can become. Another image that Angelina and Cindy take a look at is the descent from the garden into darkness. They discuss the parallels from the beginning of the story and the end of the story, as well as Laura’s movement from innocence to experience, from blindness to sight. Summer of the Short Story: Ep 14: “Adventures of a Shilling” by Joseph Addison Ep 15: “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant Ep 16: “Why I Write” by George Orwell Ep 17: “The Celestial Omnibus” by E. M. Forster Ep 18: “Vulture on War” by Samuel Johnson The Truly Great by Stephen Spender I think continually of those who were truly great. Who, from the womb, remembered the soul’s history Through corridors of light, where the hours are suns, Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition Was that their lips, still touched with fire, Should tell of the Spirit, clothed from head to foot in song. And who hoarded from the Spring branches The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms. What is precious, is never to forget The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth. Never to deny its pleasure in the morning simple light Nor its grave evening demand for love. Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother With noise and fog, the flowering of the spirit. Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields, See how these names are fêted by the waving grass And by the streamers of white cloud And whispers of wind in the listening sky. The names of those who in their lives fought for life, Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre. Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun And left the vivid air signed with their honour. Copyright © 1955 by Stephen Spender. Source: Collected Poems 1928-1953 Book List: (Amazon affiliate links) Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: Find Angelina at  https://angelinastanford.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/ Jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

On The Literary Life podcast today, Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins discuss G. K. Chesterton’s essay “A Defence of Penny Dreadfuls.” Before diving in to today’s episode, don’t forget to register for the amazing Back to School online conference coming up on August 26-29, 2019! Angelina opens with a brief history of the Victorian era and the more prevalent availability of the novel to the masses. She also gives several examples of the “penny dreadful.” Cindy and Angelina discuss why they agree with Chesterton that people need these simple, even formulaic stories. They remind us that childhood is a time for good books, not a time to worry about reading all the “Great Books.” Another topic that Cindy and Angelina chat about is the importance of developing imagination. They talk about the truth that fiction and story-telling are necessary parts of human culture. Cindy highlights the importance of the heroic adventure stories for boys. Angelina brings out the point that the elite critic is out of touch with the masses who long for stories of good winning over evil. The penny dreadful should not be judged as art, since that was never what it was intended to be. Summer of the Short Story: Ep 13: “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield Ep 14: “Adventures of a Shilling” by Joseph Addison Ep 15: “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant Ep 16: “Why I Write” by George Orwell Ep 17: “The Celestial Omnibus” by E. M. Forster Ep 18: “Vulture on War” by Samuel Johnson Bavarian Gentians by D. H. Lawrence Not every man has gentians in his house in Soft September, at slow, Sad Michaelmas. Bavarian gentians, big and dark, only dark darkening the daytime torchlike with the smoking blueness of Pluto’s gloom, ribbed and torchlike, with their blaze of darkness spread blue down flattening into points, flattened under the sweep of white day torch-flower of the blue-smoking darkness, Pluto’s dark-blue daze, black lamps from the halls of Dis, burning dark blue, giving off darkness, blue darkness, as Demeter’s pale lamps give off light, lead me then, lead me the way. Reach me a gentian, give me a torch let me guide myself with the blue, forked torch of this flower down the darker and darker stairs, where blue is darkened on blueness. even where Persephone goes, just now, from the frosted September to the sightless realm where darkness was awake upon the dark and Persephone herself is but a voice or a darkness invisible enfolded in the deeper dark of the arms Plutonic, and pierced with the passion of dense gloom, among the splendor of torches of darkness, shedding darkness on the lost bride and groom. Book List: Towards a Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason War and Peace by Leo Tolsto The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins An Experiment in Criticism by C. S. Lewis G. A. Henty books Dave Dawson War Adventure Series Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: Find Angelina at  https://angelinastanford.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/ Jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

This week on The Literary Life, Cindy Rollins and Angelina Stanford open our Summer of the Short Story series with a discussion of “Araby” by James Joyce. Cindy and Angelina also announce an encouraging Back to School online conference coming up on August 26-29, 2019. In delving into “Araby,” Angelina talks about the history and development of the short story form. Cindy gives a little of her own background with reading James Joyce and why she loves his short stories. Angelina and Cindy also discuss the essential “Irishness” of this story and all the tales in The Dubliners. Angelina walks us through the story, highlighting the kinds of questions and things we should look for when reading closely. Themes discussed in this story include: blindness and sight, light and darkness, romanticism, religious devotion, the search for truth, money, courtly love, and the knight’s quest. Summer of the Short Story: Ep 12: “A Defence of Penny Dreadfuls” by G. K. Chesterton Ep 13: “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield Ep 14: “Adventures of a Shilling” by Joseph Addison Ep 15: “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant Ep 16: “Why I Write” by George Orwell Ep 17: “The Celestial Omnibus” by E. M. Forster Ep 18: “Vulture on War” by Samuel Johnson Huxley Hall by John Betjemen In the Garden City Cafe‚ with its murals on the wall Before a talk on “Sex and Civics” I meditated on the Fall. Deep depression settled on me under that electric glare While outside the lightsome poplars flanked the rose-beds in the square. While outside the carefree children sported in the summer haze And released their inhibitions in a hundred different ways. She who eats her greasy crumpets snugly in the inglenook Of some birch-enshrouded homestead, dropping butter on her book Can she know the deep depression of this bright, hygienic hell? And her husband, stout free-thinker, can he share in it as well? Not the folk-museum’s charting of man’s Progress out of slime Can release me from the painful seeming accident of Time. Barry smashes Shirley’s dolly, Shirley’s eyes are crossed with hate, Comrades plot a Comrade’s downfall “in the interests of the State”. Not my vegetarian dinner, not my lime-juice minus gin, Quite can drown a faint conviction that we may be born in Sin Book List: (Affiliate Links) To Pause on the Threshold by Esther de Waal The Dubliners by James Joyce Ulysses by James Joyce A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: Find Angelina at  https://angelinastanford.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/ Jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

In this episode of The Literary Life, Cindy and Angelina interview their long time friend and fellow reader, Kelly Cumbee. Kelly is a wife and homeschooling mother of seven who has given herself a highly literary education. Together they discuss how Kelly started reading at a very young age and the kinds of books she loved as a child. Kelly talks about her love for Edmund Spenser and how she began reading Spenser with her children. Angelina asks about Kelly's background and how she makes connections throughout her conversations and her reading. Another topic of conversation is how Kelly made time for books throughout the different seasons of life and how she didn't really start reading "hard books" until later in life. They wrap up the conversation discussing what Kelly is currently reading and with more encouragement to read widely and make connections. Summer of the Short Story: Ep 11: "Araby" by James Joyce Ep 12: “A Defence of Penny Dreadfuls” by G. K. Chesterton Ep 13: “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield Ep 14: “Adventures of a Shilling” by Joseph Addison Ep 15: “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant Ep 16: “Why I Write” by George Orwell Ep 17: “The Celestial Omnibus” by E. M. Forster Ep 18: “Vulture on War” by Samuel Johnson Amoretti XXIII by Edmund Spenser Penelope for her Ulisses sake, Deviz’d a Web her wooers to deceave: In which the worke that she all day did make The same at night she did again unreave: Such subtile craft my Damzell doth conceave, Th’ importune suit of my desire to shonne: For all that I in many dayes doo weave, In one short houre I find by her undonne. So when I thinke to end that I begonne, I must begin and never bring to end: For with one looke she spils that long I sponne, And with one word my whole years work doth rend. Such labour like the Spyders web I fynd, Whose fruitless worke is broken with least wynd.   Book List: (affiliate links) A White Bird Flying by Bess Streeter Aldrich Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry The Secular Scripture by Northrop Frye Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham The Space Trilogy (The Ransom Trilogy) by C. S. Lewis Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis Realm of Numbers by Isaac Asimov I, Robot by Isaac Asimov   Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: Find Angelina at  https://angelinastanford.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/ Jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

Since his untimely death in January 1950, aged 46, George Orwell has been turned into a secular saint, with his Cold War-era novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four making Orwell - a democratic socialist - a hero to anti-communists across the world, but especially in England. This week, Juliet talks to critic Fatema Ahmed and writer Owen Hatherley about how and why Orwell became so revered, whether this reverence is useful, and how his writing might be reclaimed or reassessed by the contemporary British left. SELECTED REFERENCES WORKS BY GEORGE ORWELL Animal Farm (1945) Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) Homage to Catalonia (1938) ‘The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius’ (1941) - https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/the-lion-and-the-unicorn-socialism-and-the-english-genius/ ‘My Country Right or Left’ (1940) - https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/my-country-right-or-left/ Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) ‘Politics and the English Language’ (1946) - http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit The Road to Wigan Pier (1936) ‘Why I Write’ (1946) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_I_Write Theodor W. Adorno W. H. Auden Billy Bragg Russell Brand E. H. Carr Charlie Chaplin Cyril Connolly ROBERT CONQUEST, ‘George Orwell’ (1969) - http://misa-n-torpe.blogspot.com/2011/11/robert-conquest-on-george-orwell.html ISAAC DEUTSCHER, ‘1984 – The Mysticism of Cruelty’ - https://www.marxists.org/archive/deutscher/1955/1984.htm T. S. Eliot - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/26/ts-eliot-rejection-george-orwell-animal-farm-british-library-online Michael Foot - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/mar/21/past.comment Eric Gill FRIEDRICH A. HAYEK, The Road to Serfdom (1944) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Serfdom RAYNER HEPPENSTALL, Four Absentees (1960) - http://malkintowersbookblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/four-absentees-rayner-heppenstall.html CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, Why Orwell Matters (2002) - https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/29/books/the-independent-of-london.html Christopher Isherwood Arthur Koestler Wyndham Lewis Hugh MacDiarmid Norman Ian MacKenzie Kingsley Martin - https://spartacus-educational.com/TUmartin.htm Malcolm Muggeridge @OrwellFan - https://twitter.com/Orwell_Fan Steven Poole - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/17/my-problem-with-george-orwell Anthony Powell Paul Robeson Michael Sayers - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/michael-sayers-writer-whose-career-never-recovered-from-being-blacklisted-in-the-united-states-2032080.html Stephen Spender Dylan Thomas Robert Webb - https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/nov/05/russell-brand-robert-webb-revolution RAYMOND WILLIAMS, Orwell (1971)

WELCOME TO THE NEW LOOK WRITES4WOMEN PODCAST! We are so excited to finally drop the new format and see what everyone thinks. From now on we will be bringing you a half an hour interview with a female women's fiction author and then a half hour chat with Pam and Kel about something from that interview. In this episode Pam and Kel chat to author Kim Kelly and then dissect the question of "Why I Write". This interview was so full of goodness we decided to split it into 2 parts. The second part will delve into the twisty world of Self Publishing. Listen to all of the Writes4Women podcast episodes at www.writes4women.comOR SUBSCRIBE (free and painless we promise) at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your pods. #w4wpodcast #kimkelly #writing #womensfiction #fiction #selfpublishing #women #publishing SHOWNOTES:Writes4WomenWeb - www.writes4women.comFacebook - @writes4womenTwitter / Instagram - @w4wpodcastPamela CookWeb - www.pamelacook.com.auFacebook - @pamelacookauthorTwitter - @PamelaCookAUKel ButlerFacebook / Twitter - @kelbutler & @listenuppodcastingKim Kelly Web - www.kimkellyauthor.comFacebook / Twitter - @KimKellyAuthor

We took our Why We Write project on the road with an Orange County Tour. Live events were produced throughout Orange County and featured author readings from curated essay submissions. This event was recorded live at 1888 Center in Orange, California. Produced in partnership with Brew Sessions, Anaheim Packing District and The LAB.  1888 Center programs are recorded and archived as a free educational resource on our website or with your favorite podcast app including Apple and Spotify. Each interdisciplinary episode is designed to provide a unique platform for industry innovators to share stories about art, literature, music, history, science, or technology. Producers: Trevor Allred and Kevin Staniec Audio and Video: Brew Sessions Host: Sara Guerrero Moderator: Eric Morago Guests: Fisayo Adeyeye, Shelley Armenta, Abigail Ayulo, Jonathan Donabo, Elias Fulmer, Sara Guerrero, Liz Harmer, Carla Huezo, Jose Jaimes, Rebekah LeRoux, Brian Lin, Nick Mauer, Corin Reyburn, T.J. Reynolds, Julie Schulter, and Kristy Tate. 1888 Center Podcast music composed and performed by Dan Reckard     Inspired by George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Why I Write,” we developed an introspective project to highlight our motives for writing and asked the international community to share their story and join the conversation. Over the last month, this collaborative project received submissions from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, England, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malta, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Scotland, Singapore, United Kingdom, and 33 States in America. Submit your essay for consideration.

We took our Why We Write project on the road with an Orange County Tour. Live events were produced throughout Orange County and featured author readings from curated essay submissions. This event was recorded live at Cooks Chapel, Packing House in Anaheim, California. Produced in partnership with Brew Sessions, Anaheim Packing District and The LAB.  1888 Center programs are recorded and archived as a free educational resource on our website or with your favorite podcast app including Apple and Spotify. Each interdisciplinary episode is designed to provide a unique platform for industry innovators to share stories about art, literature, music, history, science, or technology. Producers: Trevor Allred and Kevin Staniec Audio and Video: Brew Sessions Host: Michael Martin Moderator: Eric Newman Guests: Shauna Barbosa, PJ Colando, Amanda Fletcher, Ryan Gattis, Ashli Lomeli, Bridget Lyons, Michael Martin, Joanna Nelius, Toti O’Brien, Lydia Oxenham, Mai Pham, Linda Ravenswood, Cindy Rinne, Kathryn Ross, Vincent Scambray, Denise Temal, Barbara Varma, Emily Velasquez, and Nancy Lynée Woo. 1888 Center Podcast music composed and performed by Dan Reckard     Inspired by George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Why I Write,” we developed an introspective project to highlight our motives for writing and asked the international community to share their story and join the conversation. Over the last month, this collaborative project received submissions from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, England, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malta, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Scotland, Singapore, United Kingdom, and 33 States in America. Submit your essay for consideration.

We took our Why We Write project on the road with an Orange County Tour. Live events were produced throughout Orange County and featured author readings from curated essay submissions. This event was recorded live at The LAB Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa, California. Produced in partnership with Brew Sessions, Anaheim Packing District and The LAB.  1888 Center programs are recorded and archived as a free educational resource on our website or with your favorite podcast app including Apple and Spotify. Each interdisciplinary episode is designed to provide a unique platform for industry innovators to share stories about art, literature, music, history, science, or technology. Producers: Trevor Allred and Kevin Staniec Audio and Video: Brew Sessions Host and Moderator: Trevor Allred Guests: Jonathan Alexander, Peter Dingus, Gwen Goodkin, Mike Gravagno, Natalie Green, Billie Kelpin, Nancy Klann, Annie Moose, Sam Ortiz, and Elizabeth Vasquez 1888 Center Podcast music composed and performed by Dan Reckard     Inspired by George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Why I Write,” we developed an introspective project to highlight our motives for writing and asked the international community to share their story and join the conversation. Over the last month, this collaborative project received submissions from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, England, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malta, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Scotland, Singapore, United Kingdom, and 33 States in America. Submit your essay for consideration.

As part of the Summer Writing Project, an annual collaboration between Black Hill Press, JukePop, and 1888 that advocates writing and supports reading, we present a panel to discuss Why I Publish. Inspired by George Orwell’s essay Why I Write, this panel of Southern California Publishers will share their personal journeys to becoming publishers.  The discussion will also detail important motives for publishing with Colleen Bates of Prospect Park Books, Paddy Calistro of Angel City Press, and Evan Senn of Inland Empire Weekly. Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Host: Arianna Basco Guest: Colleen Bates, Paddy Calistro, and Evan Senn

C.C. Chapman is a freelance creative and marketing consultant. He is also the host (and producer) of the Why I Write podcast in conjunction with the National Council of Teachers of English. In addition to his consultation work and podcasting, C.C. is also an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and Communications at Bentley University Hear their story on this week's episode. And of course, Why Does He Social?!  Share your thoughts on this week's episode with #WhyISocial Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, or Google  Follow at @WhyISocial. Connect with C.C. on Twitter  Connect With C.C. on LinkedIn.  If you know someone who deserves their story told, let me know! Tweet me at @CBarrows or @WhyISocial using #WhyISocialGuest  Interested in being a part of the Why I Social family? Why I Social is now accepting monthly - inquire at @WhyISocial@gmail.com for additional information.   

Why I Write and Publish the Voluntaryist - EL008 Author: Carl Watner Original article location: http://voluntaryist.com/fundamentals/why-i-write-and-publish-the-voluntaryist

Welcome to The Cluttered Desk Podcast! In this episode, Colin and Andrew discuss George Orwell's 1946 essay, "Why I Write." A link to the essay is here. Here is a list of things we discuss in this episode: The coda: Pacific Wonderland Lager by Deschutes Brewery.  Andrew recommended two podcasts: With Friends Like These from Crooked Media which is available here and The Homebrewed Christianity CultureCast which is available here. Colin recommended the Netflix series Stranger Things. Please find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find Andrew on Facebook and Twitter @AndrewPatrickH1 and you can find Colin on Twitter @ColinAshleyCox. You can find the podcast on Twitter @TheCDPodcast, on Facebook and Instagram at thecluttereddeskpodcast. Don't hesitate to email us at our email address, thecluttereddeskpodcast@gmail.com. Finally, we would like to thank Daniel Couper and Meghan Groves for creating, curating, and operating our Facebook page and Instagram account. We would like to thank Test Dream for supplying The Cluttered Desk Podcast's theme music. You can find Test Dream at their website, testdream.bandcamp.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @testdream. "S5E4: A Critical Discussion of 'Why I Write' by George Orwell" is available through iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play.

Welcome to The Cluttered Desk Podcast! In this mini-episode, Colin and Andrew preview S5E4. The full episode should be ready in a few days. Here is what Andrew and Colin discuss in that episode: George Orwell's essay, "Why I Write" which is available in the public domain. Please find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find Andrew on Facebook and Twitter @AndrewPatrickH1. You can find Colin on Twitter @ColinAshleyCox. You can find the podcast on Twitter @TheCDPodcast, on Facebook and on Instagram at thecluttereddeskpodcast. Don't hesitate to email us at our email address, thecluttereddeskpodcast@gmail.com. Finally, we would like to thank Daniel Couper and Meghan Groves for creating, curating, and operating our Facebook page and Instagram account. We would like to thank Test Dream for supplying The Cluttered Desk Podcast's theme music. You can find Test Dream at their website, testdream.bandcamp.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @testdream. The Season 5 Episode 4 Preview Episode is available here through iTunes and here through Stitcher.

Today we are excited to welcome award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson to the Why I Write podcast. Our Annual Convention will be happening this November in St. Louis, and we are excited to have Jacqueline as one of our Keynote Speakers. Register today so that you don’t miss out on any of the amazing content, meetings, and happenings. Jacqueline is the bestselling author of more than two dozen award-winning books for adults, young adults, middle graders, and children. Her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming won the 2014 National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor Award, an NAACP Image Award, and the Sibert Honor Award. She rightfully scolded me for not having read it yet. But after we finished recording I bought a copy, and it is waiting for me on my Kindle to read this summer. Her most recent novel, Another Brooklyn, illuminates the formative time when childhood gives way to adulthood and renders a powerful, indelible, and fleeting friendship that united four young lives. We chatted about her writing and books, but we also discussed what her kids are reading and what advocacy means to her. She was packing for a weekend away with her family, so I’m thankful she had the time to talk to us for a little while before hitting the road. Be sure you register to see her at our Annual Convention after listening to the episode. Happy listening!

The heat of summer has rolled in. My least favorite time of year and one that I don’t mind rolling past as quickly as possible. Last week was one full of emotional swings. It started on Sunday with Dylan graduating from high school. It wasn’t as emotional as I was expecting it to be. We are so proud of him and what comes next in his life. It’ll hurt to see him go, but knowing that he is starting the next phase of his life excites me. Plus, that next phase starts with a cross-country road trip. I can’t wait for that! The end of the week had me crashing into a wall of frustration thanks to the less-than-fine folks at Hootsuite. I’m not going to go into all the details since it is still not resolved, but long story short is that after years as a happy paying customer, they’ll never see another dime of my money again. The perfect way to get rid of that stress arrived Friday night though when Dylan and I took part in GORUCK Constellation #008. Nothing like spending a night learning about and putting into practice urban survival techniques to clear your head. In the middle of all this, I continue to love the work I’m doing with the National Council of Teachers of English. They are a great team to work with and I love working on projects that matter to the greater good of our country rather than only be angered by the situation surrounding us. Plus, I published the latest episode of the Why I Write podcast I produce for them. If you need a pick me up, I suggest you listen to this episode with Brad Montague of Kid President fame. All in all, I have to say it was a good week. I’m vertical and not sick, so that is a good week in my book. This week is starting off quieter than the last. Last days of the school year on deck for Emily and then it will officially be summertime around the Chapman household. no

I’m a self-admitted geek and love technology. So when the words of Daniel Suarez’s writing entered my world, I was better for it. Daniel writes thrillers that focus on near-future technology and how it may be abused. His stories target technology that you may have read about but haven’t experienced yet. Think about an autonomous Humvee attacking in Daemon, swarms of drones in Kill Decision, and genetically modified embryos in his newest book, Change Agent. Daniel Suarez is a New York Times bestselling author who took his systems programming knowledge from working with Fortune 1000 companies and the encouragement of a college English professor to become one the most unique sci-fi writers out there today. On this episode of the Why I Write podcast, we discuss how feedback on a college assignment was a piece of his publishing puzzle, and why it was important that he thank that professor when his first book hit shelves. You may not think that writing code for years would help someone write better prose, but Daniel insists that it helps him. He equally credits years of leading campaigns in Dungeons and Dragons. Daniel has a BA in English literature from the University of Delaware and lives in Los Angeles, California. You can find out more about him and his work at TheDaemon.com.

In the days following the Inauguration, I read The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet and instantly knew that I had to have Carmen Agra Deedy as a guest on the podcast. Born in Havana, Cuba, she came to the US as a refugee in 1964. Carmen grew up in Decatur, Georgia, where she still lives today. She has been writing books for children for over two decades and shows no signs of slowing down. Over the course of her writing career, she has been nominated and won a variety of awards.  She is beloved by parents, teachers and children alike. During our conversation, we discussed a variety of topics. I loved how open, honest, and direct she was. Her passion for story and writing shines through from the very first moments and lasted throughout our conversation. After you listen to this episode of Why I Write, I encourage you to take another few minutes to watch Carmen’s TEDxCharlottesville talk Imagine a World Without Stories. You can find out about her upcoming appearances, new books, and happenings on her website.  

Happy belated St. Paddy's Day ladies and gentleman. I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful time and are recovering from you hangovers. In this episode I talk about my experience performing a stand up comedy show on St. Patrick's day eight years ago, and how I vowed never to do it again. We talk about the movie Logan and how you need to approach the stage as Wolverine. Podcast of the day is 'Why I Write'.   Topics Include: Comedy, St. Patrick's Day, St. Paddy's Day, Trump, billboard, Logan, Wolverine, Hugh Jackman, X-Men, Why I Write, Stand Up, Sacramento, Comic, Waza Jiu Jitsu, Chet Jackson, story, funny, Mike Betancourt

In this week's episode, I interview actor and author Lisa Wolpe about her one woman show, Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender, plus Mistie  Watkins reads her essay "Why I Write."

In this episode we discuss George Orwell's motivations for writing which he documented in his essay Why I Write : http://orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/english/e_wiw      Presented by Cathy Clarke, Kate Mulholland and Máire Brophy. Produced by Cathy Clarke. Music by Gavin Mulhall  

The fallacy of America's legacy of literary censorship is dissected (sans anesthetic) with a celebration of novels like Ulysses by James Joyce & Lady Chatterly's Lover by D. H. Lawrence. Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" makes a cameo (kudos to Grove Press) and a segue into Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James causes a rather memorable Freudian Slip. Sam brings the boys back to their senses with a brief discourse on the tribulations of Salman Rushdie upon the publication of The Satanic Verses. Follow @Infin8Gestation on Twitter • Visit InfiniteGestation.com Show Notes & Links "Why I Write" by George Orwell Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters & Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Animal Farm by George Orwell Lord of the Flies by William Golding Ulysses by James Joyce "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg Obscene - Awesome documentary on Grove Press & Barney Rosset Lady Chatterly's Lover by D. H. Lawrence The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the Hay festival earlier this week, five writers take George Orwell's essay title Why I Write as a starting point for their own explorations. The writers include the screenwriter, novelist and author of the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, Frank Cottrell Boyce; the editor and translator Daniel Hahn; Horatio Clare, whose first book was set on the hillsides where he grew up around Hay itself; and the Welsh poet laureate, Gillian Clarke. Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 all broadcasting from the festival.

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the Hay Festival earlier this week, five writers take George Orwell's title Why I Write as a starting point for their own explorations. The writers include the screenwriter, novelist and author of the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, Frank Cottrell Boyce; the editor and translator Daniel Hahn; Horatio Clare, whose first book was set on the hillsides where he grew up around Hay itself; and the Welsh poet laureate, Gillian Clarke.Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 all broadcasting from the festival.

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the Hay festival earlier this week, five writers take George Orwell's title Why I Write as a starting point for their own explorations. The writers include the screenwriter, novelist and author of the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, Frank Cottrell Boyce; the editor and translator Daniel Hahn; Horatio Clare, whose first book was set on the hillsides where he grew up around Hay itself; and the Welsh poet laureate, Gillian Clarke.Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 all broadcasting from the festival.

Literary journalist and writer Alex Clark has written many of our leading publications, and is a former Booker and Granta judge. She comes to Hay to ask 'Why I Write'.In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the Hay Festival earlier this week, five writers take George Orwell's title Why I Write as a starting point for their own explorations. The writers include the screenwriter, novelist and author of the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, Frank Cottrell-Boyce; the editor and translator Daniel Hahn; Horatio Clare, whose first book was set on the hillsides where he grew up around Hay itself; and the Welsh poet laureate, Gillian Clarke.Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 all broadcasting from the festival.

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the Hay festival earlier this week, five writers take George Orwell's title Why I Write as a starting point for their own explorations. The writers include the screenwriter, novelist and author of the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, Frank Cottrell Boyce; the editor and translator Daniel Hahn; Horatio Clare, whose first book was set on the hillsides where he grew up around Hay itself; and the Welsh poet laureate, Gillian Clarke.Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 all broadcasting from the festival.