The ARTWIFE Book Club Hannah Harlee

We read it, we loved it, and now we get to obsess over it...with the author! The book is Thieves, the writer is Valerie Werder, and Valerie herself joins us on this episode to talk about the creation of this astonishing book. We get practical (what can disciplines like sculpture and curation teach us about structuring a narrative?) and we get enigmatic (what the hell is a "self" anyway?) in equal measure, and ultimately we walk away from this inspiring episode with our favorite feeling in the world: the ache to sit down and write.

Read Thieves: https://fenceportal.org/book/thieves/
Find Valerie Werder: https://www.valeriewerder.com/

ARTWIFE is back from spring break with a close look at Vinson Cunningham Is a Ritualistic Eater, a sublime essay published in Grub Street (read it here: https://www.grubstreet.com/article/vinson-cunningham-grub-street-diet.html). We articulate the work's skillful balance of technical expertise and emotional presence and ask ourselves...how the hell can we learn to write like this? Plus, the life & creative lessons from one RuPaul's Drag Race figure in here, and yep, you already guessed it: we wouldn't be The ARTWIFE Book Club without a romp into a little (double!) album by the name of The Tortured Poets Department. Get in, honey!

Annnnd we're back with the spring episode of the SHORTS edition! This time, we look at The Ice-Cream Truck, a flash essay from Souvankham Thammavongsa. (Read it here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/10/the-ice-cream-truck-souvankham-thammavongsa) Craft discussion topics include: a look at the way spacing and paragraph breaks help us manage pacing and emphasis, how to think about our written work like visual artists, and a short little addendum (AKA half the episode) about why you should definitely put what you learned in therapy into your artwork, but it functions best if you first digest it, interpret it, and make it your own.

Programming note! Team ARTWIFE will be away for parts of April, so there won't be an episode next month. Consider it the ARTWIFE Spring Break! See you back here on May 7.

Our very first venture into science-fiction-adjacent literature on the pod! In our discussion about Jacqueline Harpman's 1995 novel, we revel in a book that rejects many of the fundamental elements that make up the construct of a book in the first place. Chapters? Hard pass. Traditional plot structure? No. Characters? Barely!

We also make sure to carefully articulate all the ways in which human life is pointless and absurd! But also why that's perfectly okay and not at all nihilistic even though it seems like it should be! Join us.

TAYLOR SWIFT, EVERYBODY! In this episode, we learn from the master of storytelling *herself* about mood, manifesting a memorable atmosphere in our work, how distinct and specific imagery helps us experience even the most well-worn subject matter anew, and more. We also talk about how the structured nature of songwriting can serve as a guide when we're organizing our work in prose, so we can write stories that not only makes sense but make an impact. Here's to art and beauty in the new year and...~forevermore~.

Let's join hands and step into the peerless work of Saeed Jones, author of this 2019 memoir. This work teaches us what balance means in the craft of writing and invites us into the intersection between clarity and nuance. Topics include: remedying one of the main reasons editors reject work submitted to lit mags, why reading poets who write prose is so useful and instructive, and the characteristics of secure vs. insecure forms of interpersonal connection and how they manifest in our writing.

Have something to add to the conversation? Share your thoughts on this book here: https://www.artwifemag.com/the-podcast