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10 Writing Resource Books to Get You Started
When looking to start a new hobby, it’s always easiest if you can get guidance to get things kick started. Another helpful resource is simply just getting your foot in the door somewhere. We’ve gathered writing resource books that will be a perfect answer to those concerns and get you started!
Writing is is unique because it can be an independent expertise or group activity. What’s fun about it, is there can be rules or no rules at all. Especially when exploring the poetry world. Whether you’re writing for a passion, an outlet, or to draw inspiration, these books will give you that extra push to exceed your new writing goals!
And so your writing journey begins!
You: The Story by Ruth Sepetys
A nonfiction debut by #1 New York Times bestselling and Carnegie Medal-winning author Ruta Sepetys.You: The Story is a powerful how-to book for aspiring writers that encourages you to look inward and excavate your own memories in order to discover the authentic voices and compelling details that are waiting to be put on the page.
Don’t Read Poetry: A Book About How To Read Poems by Stephanie Burt
In Don’t Read Poetry, poet and literary critic Stephanie Burt offers an accessible introduction to the seemingly daunting task of reading, understanding, and appreciating poetry. Burt dispels preconceptions about poetry and explains how poems speak to one another–and how they can speak to our lives.
The Word Rhythm Dictionary by Timothy Polashek
This new kind of dictionary reflects the use of “rhythm rhymes” by rappers, poets, and songwriters of today. Users can look up words to find collections of words that have the same rhythm as the original and are useable in ways that are familiar to us in everything from vers libre poetry to the lyrics and music of Bob Dylan and hip hop groups.
Novelist as a Vocation by Karuki Murakami
New York Times Best Seller
A Most Anticipated Book by Esquire, Vulture, Lithub, New York Observer
Aspiring writers and readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this engaging book from the internationally best-selling author, Haruki Murakami.
Writing Poetry in the Dark by Stephanie M. Wytovich
Writing Poetry in the Dark brings together some of the most successful contemporary genre poets to discuss topics related to creating dark and fantastical poetry.
How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice and Skill by Jericho Brown
More than 30 acclaimed writers–including diverse voices such as Nikki Giovanni, David Omotosho Black, Natasha Trethewey, Barry Jenkins, Jacqueline Woodson, Tayari Jones, and Angela Flournoy–reflect on their experience and expertise in this unique book on the craft of writing that focuses on the Black creative spirit.
Poetry As Spellcasting by Tamika Beyer, Destiny Hemphill, and Lisbeth White
Poems, essays, and prompts to sing a new world into being–Queer & BIPOC perspectives on poetry as an insurgent ritual for manifesting liberation and reclaiming power.
Written for poets, spellcasters, and social justice witches, Poetry as Spellcasting reveals the ways poetry and ritual can, together, move us toward justice and transformation.
The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton
A new, mindful approach to the writing life
In a radical departure from standard advice about creative success, effort, critique, and competition, The Way of the Fearless Writer will show you that there is another way to thrive–a writing path of ease, trust, wonder, and joy.
Out of Silence, Sound. Out of Nothing, Something. A Writer’s Guide by Susan Griffin
In an elegant but contemporary voice, award-winning author Susan Griffin breaks down the creative process step-by-step. She guides the reader through a practical course in how to begin and end a work of literature, whether fiction or nonfiction, poetry, or prose
Letters to a Writer of Color
– Taymour Soomro on resisting rigid stories about who you are
– Madeleine Thien on how writing builds the room in which it can exist
– Amitava Kumar on why authenticity isn’t a license we carry in our wallets
– Tahmima Anam on giving herself permission to be funny
– Ingrid Rojas Contreras on the bodily challenge of writing about trauma
– Zeyn Joukhadar on queering English and the power of refusing to translate ourselves
– Myriam Gurba on the empowering circle of Latina writers she works within
– Kiese Laymon on hearing that no one wants to read the story that you want to write
– Mohammed Hanif on the censorship he experienced at the hands of political authorities
– Deepa Anappara on writing even through conditions that impede the creation of art
– Plus essays from Tiphanie Yanique, Xiaolu Guo, Jamil Jan Kochai, Vida Cruz-Borja, Femi Kayode, Nadifa Mohamed in conversation with Leila Aboulela, and Sharlene Teo
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