Posted by Meghan Fellows, Managing Editor for issue 6.1
On the way to the 2017 FUSE (Forum for Undergraduate Student Editors) www.fuse-national.com conference this past weekend, myself, and the other passengers in my car were antsy. The conference was based in Pennsylvania, and we had a lot of road left. We were all excited; we would be representing Geneseo in a space where student writers and editors from all over the country were coming together for a weekend of workshops, and literary bonding. The theme for the conference was Resistance, and the keynote speaker was Martin Espada. From the backseat, the DJ of the hour was switching songs, and talking about the Espada. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Writing
“We Write Poems to make the Invisible, Visible.” -Martin Espada, the Mission of the poet
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What’s Your Story About?
Posted by Timothy Blomquist, CNF Reader for issue 6.1
It’s the first question someone asks when you tell them you’re writing a story. Your answer may vary—maybe it’s a story about a happy time in your life, or a place from your childhood that you remember fondly. Or maybe it’s about something darker—a relative who passed, or a friend, or some other person or thing taken from you too soon. Maybe you’re writing about something in between happiness and despair, something seemingly random that’s been nagging at you for some time, for reasons you can’t really explain. Therein lies the real question: What are you really writing about? Continue reading
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National Novel Writing Month: November is NaNoWriMo
Posted by Nicole Gartley, Poetry Reader for issue 6.1
Fall is in the air, and November is upon us, bringing with it NANOWRIMO, also known as National Novel Writing Month. The name alone is daunting: one month, to write a whole novel? The basic premise as listed on the website is even more daunting: starting November first, participants aim to write a 50,000 word novel. The first time I heard of NANOWRIMO, all I could think was that is a lot of words, and not nearly enough time to write them in. Since then, I have managed to complete the challenge not once, but twice. While neither work is necessarily publishable, there is a certain pride to knowing that you can write that much, you can make the time, and, in my case in particular, you can muscle your way through your writer’s block. Continue reading
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Former Contributors: What They’re Doing Now
Posted by Sara Munjack, Arts Editor and Poetry Reader for issue 6.1, Former contributor for issue 4.1.
A quick glance at where former Gandy Dancer contributors are now is all that is necessary to confirm that the literary journal acts as a spring board which propels emerging writers into the writing trajectory Poet Yael Massen, who just finished her MFA at Indiana University is currently working on a poetry manuscript, which she says is “emotionally exhausting.” Her poems can be found in Gandy Dancer’s inaugural issue. Since, she has been published in several literary journals including Columbia Journal, Tupelo Quarterly, Southern Indiana Review, The Journal, and has a couple of poems forthcoming in print issues of Colorado Review and Fifth Wednesday Journal. She has also begun working on contemporary Hebrew poem translations—two of which have been published in Waxwing. Continue reading
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Love and Poetry in a Dark Time: Dante Di Stefano’s Love is a Stone Endlessly in Flight
Posted by Evan Goldstein, GD Managing Editor for 5.2
I finished Love is a Stone Endlessly in Flight, Dante Di Stefano’s debut poetry collection, alone under the harsh fluorescent lamp that hangs above my dinner table. It was a frigid winter night, and the wind howled its way under the door to my house and into the living room. Earlier, I had spent considerable time looking out of my bedroom window: trash and lost milk crates skated across the concrete past the students fighting their way to campus in the wind.
It’s easy, especially on Western New York winter nights like this, to feel unhopeful. We live in an unhopeful time, as well. As we watch the authoritarian Trump administration double down on America’s long bipartisan history of war abroad and austerity and state terror at home it can be easy to forget where to find hope, or at least solace, in the day by day. Continue reading
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Writing Advice from Idra Novey, Author of Ways to Disappear and Exit, Civilian
Posted by Kallie Swyer, GD Poetry Editor for 5.2, Former Contributor for 4.1 and 5.1
As a part of the Geneseo Literary Forum, translator, novelist, and poet Idra Novey came to our campus to discuss her books with in-class visits and a reading. I was lucky enough to be in one of the classes that she visited, where we got to discuss her latest novel Ways to Disappear, and her recent poetry collection Exit, Civilian. Continue reading
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What am I even doing here? Writing and Existential Angst
Posted by Lily Codera, GD Poetry Reader for 5.2
So you’ve decided to write, and nothing is going to stop you. You’re going to write, and no number of soul-draining barista or restaurant server positions (on the side) can slow your momentum now. At this point, you may have developed a routine that allows you to work on your writing regularly; you may have even pinpointed your most productive time of day so as to “protect” it, like Kate Daloz suggested at her recent reading. Maybe your dad has finally come to terms with the fact that you’re probably not going to become the doctor or lawyer that he always wanted you to be. Great. So why do you still feel so unsettled about all this? Continue reading
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Gandy Dancer Goes to AWP
Posted by Joshua DeJoy, CNF Co-Editor for 5.2
Several current and former Gandy Dancers attended the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP)Conference in Washington, DC, February 8-11. The conference was a rewarding experience for all Geneseo attendees, including myself, Managing Editors Evan Goldstein and Oliver Diaz, Poetry Editor Kallie Swyer, former Poetry Editor Robbie Held, former CNF reader Isabel Owen and friend of Gandy Dancer Elizabeth Pellegrino.
The AWP conference has two main components: dozens of panels by writers, editors, and translators and an absolutely massive book fair. Even the most diligent and caffeinated attendee can only experience a small fraction of what the conference has to offer. For example, I attended a couple of panels and then spent the rest of the time at the book fair, going systematically past hundreds of tables and booths and seeing what they had to offer. Continue reading
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Gandy Dancer Reviews Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Posted by Hannah McSorley, GD Fiction Reader for 5.2
I first read Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff over the summer following a recommendation by my older sister, and I have since recommended this book, as well as all of Groff’s other stories and books, to everyone who knows me. I couldn’t put this book down!
Fates and Furies captures the marriage between Lotto and Mathilde Satterwhite. The book is split into two parts titled “Fates” and “Furies” respectively, and it is a fantastic exploration of marriage and it raises the question of how well we know others in our lives. Continue reading
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5 Literary Journals for New Writers, plus Cover Letter Help
Posted by David Sabol, GD Poetry Reader for 5.1
As we all know, starting a career as a writer is pretty difficult. You’re a young writer who’s practiced your craft for years, writing page after page of work, until finally, you’ve written something that you feel the literary world needs to see… Now what? Most people don’t know where to go from here, whether they’re in high school or college. Continue reading
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