BANNED BOOKS & REBELS


I might be wrong in guessing that most writers are rebels--if not out front, open and proud, then in the closet--but I doubt it. Respecting and nurturing your inner rebel is necessary to the writing journey, which has a lot of bumps, many of them in the form of others constantly telling the writer what to do. Well-meaning friends, readers, other writers and critics will always have an opinion about your work. Whether those opinions are good or bad, encouraging or not, should not be taken to heart, but viewed like snow on your shoulder soon to dissipate. Here and there, you might take hints about what direction to go in as a writer, but the meat and potatoes, so to speak, will always be yours to conjure, develop and serve. Trust your gut first and that precious guide that is your true best friend and teacher, your inner rebel.

Speaking of rebels, I will soon be moderating a banned book club and I can't wait. First on our list is Alice Walker's classic, The Color Purple. Other banned classics on our list include Lolita, Brideshead Revisited, and Fahrenheit 451. So many banned books are LGBTQIA titles and I so look forward to revisiting them and being surprised by new books too that I haven't read. 

Would your books be on a banned book list? If so, congratulations! Happily, my books are geared toward liberal-minded literati, queers, free-spirits and rebels, so they must be dangerous too! 

#writers #readers #blogger # literati #banned #bannedbooks #rebels #LGBTQIA 

   (Arya F. Jenkins photos) 


Comments

  1. PreetiApril 8, 2022 at 6:31 AM

    Loved the sentiment "Whether those opinions are good or bad, encouraging or not, should not be taken to heart, but viewed like snow on your shoulder soon to dissipate." Sage advice. One I will definitely take.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

INTRO to Arya F. Jenkins

Image
Arya F. Jenkins is a Colombian-American poet, writer and peace and social justice activist whose poetry, fiction and CNF have been published in numerous journals and zines. Her stories have received several nominations for the Pushcart Prize, and her poetry has also been nominated for the Pushcart. In 2021, one of her short stories was nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology. She is the author of a collection of short stories,  Blue Songs in An Open Key  (Fomite, 2018), and four poetry chapbooks, Singing in the Dark (Alien Buddha Press, 2022),  Love & Poison  (Prolific Press, 2019),  Silence Has A Name  (Finishing Line Press, 2016) and  Jewel Fire  (AllBook Books, 2011). She edited  No War No More: Poems, Essays, Photos & Artwork for Peace  (Greenwood/Blue Lotus Press, 2007). Her mixed genre novel,  Punk Disco Bohemian , was released by NineStar Press in September 2021.  Poetry publications : Agave Magazine, Blue Heron Review, the Bookends Review, Dying Dahlia Review, The
Read more

KINDNESS AND ART

Image
It's not often that kindness is associated with art. More often than not, the artist is historically a fickle being riddled by angst, sometimes mad, quirky at best, cruel at worst. The artist is to be forgiven. She or he is after all toeing the line of super-humanity, stretching her or his limits for the sake of art. In a pivotal scene in Maestro , the stunning recent film by Bradley Cooper in which he plays Leonard Bernstein, and Carey Mulligan, his wife Felicia Montealegre, Bernstein's wife imparts one word to her children, her most important legacy, as she lays dying of cancer. "Kindness, kindness, kindness," she repeats, as if that is all that matters in life and death. It is a deeply touching and telling moment. Maestro is about the complicated relationship between Bernstein, who was bisexual if not homosexual, and the conflicts this generated in his marriage to Montealegre, a Costa Rican actress who performed on Broadway, bore Bernstein three children, and endu
Read more