From editors looking to ‘expose the false art of life’ to others taking up the cause of the marginalised, writers went anonymous to share their uncomfortable truths.
Poetry can be a way for people to come together.
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Poetry can unite people when all seems lost. The Conversation US has pulled together four articles from its archives that speak on the power of poetry.
Shakira Hussein (seated in chair) with daughter Adalya Nash Hussein. Photo by Leah Jing McIntosh.
Disabled single mother Shakira Hussein reflects on her secret weapon against adversity. Adalya, her ‘excessively mature’ daughter, appointed herself her mother’s carer and fierce protector from age 9.
Charles Chesnutt was one of the first widely read Black fiction writers in the U.S.
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Black writers like Charles Chesnutt had to contend with a dilemma writers today know all too well: give the audience and editors what they want, or wallow in obscurity.
Sylvia Plath wrote a series of 14 intensely personal letters to her psychologist that were only recently uncovered.
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Two poems that were originally excised from ‘Ariel,’ Plath’s seminal poetry collection, vividly channel the painful experience of losing an unborn child.
Anne, Emily, and Charlotte Brontë, by their brother Branwell (c. 1834).
National Portrait Gallery, London
This separation or segregation of women’s writing should be understood as part of the patriarchal control of what and who matters – and, historically, women have not.
How would a supportive outsider think about this dispute?
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Disputes are normal in romantic partnerships, but learning to see them from an outsider’s perspective, rather than your biased point of view, could be the key to cutting down on conflicts.
Any kind of writing can help.
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While writing can be a challenge, so can finding the motivation to revise one’s work. A motivation specialist explains how to overcome the reluctance to take the first draft to the next level.
Amid the trauma and boredom of war, soldiers turned to reading — often magazines they wrote themselves.
Virginia Woolf listened to a wide variety of music, including Russian ballet music which she heard when the Ballets Russes visited London in 1912.
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Our children should no longer be taught formulaic writing. Writing education should encompass skills that go beyond the capacities of artificial intelligence.