Mid-Week Field Notes

Three quick things this week:

• I attended so many virtual AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) sessions and have access to them for the next month. My favorites were about writing World War II nonfiction, literary translation, Jewish fiction (with panelists who were finalists for the Sami Rohr Literature Prize for Fiction), and family secrets in memoir. I admit I was dismayed when the historical fiction panel said that imagination is more important than historical accuracy.
• On Sunday, March 7, following a 90-minute program, about 40 of us Gratz students had a private audience on Sunday with Art Spiegelman, author/illustrator of Maus. It was a unique opportunity to ask direct questions that will help me teach Maus the next time.
• For those interested: On March 18, the Mercer Holocaust, Genocide & Human Rights Center is hosting a conversation with Dr. Jeff Benvenuto, co-editor of Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America, and Kerri Malloy (Yurok/Karuk), lecturer at Humboldt State University about Native American Genocide.