Jarek Steele

You have black friends, black family members, black co-workers, black heroes. You don't need to be told about racism or white privilege. You might think this whole movement creates more trouble than it solves. Why, you may ask, do we insist upon bringing it up time and again? Here's why.

Being Jewish is more than bagels and lox and Seinfeld. But for many Jews, especially American Jews, the concept of cultural Jewry is often delineated from Jewish law and practice.

While the classics have always had a reputation for intimidating length (Tolstoy, Dickens, I'm looking at you), we are now living in the era of an entirely new trend: the big, fat, juicy debut novel.

Writers struggle with their inner critics more than most artists, I think. But they suffer from outside criticism more than most artists, too. I get asked nearly every week some variation of this question: How do I know if my writing is good?

Few literary journals are as diverse and prolific as Fiction Southeast. The Louisiana based online journal founded by Chris Tusa and Michael Garriga publishes new content on a weekly basis

The rhyming picture book shows a sick boy watching his friends play football in the street through his bedroom window. The story progresses through how the parents try to give the boy hope and courage by connecting him with his love for football.

Patricia Zohn

A campaign by Book Soup, one of LA's last remaining independent bookstores, to put Joan Didion on the ten dollar bill reminds just how influential writers and bookstores can be.

I caught up with K.A. just before Chasing River's release to chase down some answers about her fascination with Ireland, the depth of her characters, and her dream automobile.

In my experience, encouraging a relationship with books assists in communicating to children the idea of literacy as an invitation to that exciting 'effort' and 'quest' which can also be an adventure in itself.

Take pride in your lineage? All well and fine to honor those on whose shoulders you stand. But let's not get carried away with it. As Neil DeGrasse Tyson noted, "If you need to invoke your academic pedigree or job title for people to believe what you say, then you need a better argument.

I once wrote to the legendary poet asking for a few ideas on how to write work that would sell. His hand-written note (incidentally just a few weeks before his death in 1998) featured the words: "...if you haven't written the work, of course it will never happen. The stuff has just to be written."

Just as World War II ended in 1945, the Korean War began. It's lead up caused by the recent global war that divided Korea into North and South, and also from the rising tensions of what would become the largest mind game of a war in world history, the Cold War.

Summer in America is the coldest time of the year. Women in particular suffer from the chill that pervades the land. For me, this is a season of goosebumps, blue fingers and toes, and chattering teeth.

This sharp, sensitive debut story collection introduces us to a parade of people (and one dog) grasping their ways through complex relationships with family, friends, lovers, strangers and, of course, themselves.

Numbers be damned, though. In one evening I was able to make a dozen new friends and entertain them, and was absolutely glowing inside. Write on, people.

Bertrand Demee via Getty Images

For the first twenty years of writing, I experienced mostly rejection. For the last five years, I've experienced mostly acceptance. I have reduced rejection and acceptance down to this: rejection is always an expression of effort, and acceptance is always an expression of effortlessness.