Frank Conroy, longtime director of the Iowa Writers workshop died today after a battle with cancer. Here’s the NY Times obit. (via ed)
Sad day in Iowa
Those Who Left Us: Literary Obits of 2021
This highly selective list of literary lights that were extinguished during the past year ranges from brand names to barely-knowns.
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The Anti-Adventures of Gary Paulsen
While Hatchet provided readers with some much-needed escapism, The Island centered its focus on what we can never escape—mortality, which, in the immediate aftermath of Paulsen’s passing, takes on new significance.
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Nightcap with Gian
We need generous readers with the courage of conviction in their own taste, who believe in books and stand up for those convictions. Who know, as Gian did, that artistic integrity is tough to maintain without opposition to the reigning pieties.
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Those Who Left Us: Select Literary Obits From 2020
This was, after all, the year when everything stopped making sense.
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Those Who Left Us: Select Literary Obituaries of 2019
Death didn’t discriminate in 2019—it took down the acclaimed, the obscure, and a little bit of everything in between.
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I Know He Enjoyed Your Calls
I kept finding reasons to visit Frank. Did he still have letters he and Irma exchanged during the war when he was in the Pacific? Photos of the two of them?
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Gene Wolfe and the Book of Gold
His example was a welcome counter to the romanticized notion of the philandering rebel artist. Regular habits, a strong work ethic, and a love of revision were the secret ingredients to a successful writing career.
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The Saving Grace of Mary Oliver
Oliver’s queer identity and search for meaning provided the subtle underpinning for much of her work and we—in search of understanding, comfort, fortitude—often saw ourselves and our questions reflected in it.
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