Navdeep Singh Dhillon

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The Hunt is On this Free Comic Book Day 2015: Wonder Woman with Pants

May 2, 2015 by Navdeep Leave a Comment

The Hunt is On this Free Comic Book Day 2015: Wonder Woman with Pants
Our Loot From Free Comic Book Day 2014!

Our Loot From Free Comic Book Day 2014!

Last year was the first year we celebrated Free Comic Book Day. It was just me and Kavya. Neither of us dressed up, but man did we stock up on free comics and a ton of ones we paid cash money for. It was her first introduction to Kamala Khan a.k.a. Ms. Marvel from Jersey City, a brown girl with hair all over the place just like her, as well as stacks of special issues. On our way home, our local joint, FJB Comics, had the real Batman hanging out, who drew a little sketch for Kavya, and Sona and Shaiyar came out to meet us there. Kavya was really into Batman for a while, then Wolverine, and Lady Deathstrike because that was his arch nemesis. Until last night, she wasn’t really into X-Men (she didn’t understand the concept of a team and kept wanting to know when the X-Man was going to show up), but she had her favourites, very few of them from the All-Ages comic book set no matter how much the comic book people tried to push their sample packs, she was 4 and had words. The very first place we went, she said, “No, I don’t want these ones. Do you have Lady Deathstrike?”

This year, we’re going as a family. We started preparing last night: chocolate chip scones for energy, check. Netflix jackpot with a ton of animated Avengers and X-Men episodes. She isn’t budging from being Wonder Woman today though. She wants me to be Thor though because people often confuse me for a Nordic hammer wielding God.

Morning. That Shaiyar Singh wakes up at 5am, climbs on top of me, kicks me in the face, then says Hi seventeen times until I respond. Kavya is sprawled out in the bed after a late night of watching the Avengers and X-Men cartoons. Me, Sona, and Shaiyar go downstairs. I excitedly tell him it’s FREE COMIC BOOK DAY TODAY. He is holding part of the vacuum, loses balance, falls on the floor, ignores my awesome news. I tell Sona, who is in the kitchen making tea, about today and entice her with ISSUE NUMBER ONE of the All New, All Different Avengers that features Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel from Jersey City (woo hoo!) along with 49 other awesome comics available for free, and some awesome ones we’ll spend cash money on. Sona’s response, “oh. that’s cool.” The lack of exclamation points or punctuation other than the full stop/period is intentional. Sona and Shaiyar go upstairs to go back to sleep.

9:19 am. Kavya comes stomping down the stairs. “Happy Free Comic Book Day, Papa!” she says. We talk about the X-men and she asks which boy I’m going to dress up as. “You can be Thor or Wolverine or whoever you want. Just don’t take your beard off.” She sprawls on the sofa. I tell her about the special comic book issue with Ms. Marvel as one of the Avengers, and she leaps up and says, “Let’s GO!” That’s how you respond to news of this magnitude.

We’re under a blanket on the sofa.

“Papa, is Mystique good or evil?” she asks referencing an episode from last night.
“It’s complicated. Dr. Xavier and Magneto have different philosophies on interacting with the humans.”
“What does that mean?”
“One of them wants to work within the oppressive system that privileges the humans, while the other is intent on creating a new system that privileges the mutants.”
“Oh,” she says. “So, Papa, since it’s a special day, can I watch X-Men in the morning?” She pauses. “Without brushing my teeth?”

It is Free Comic Book Day, after all.

This year, we’re going in armed with a battle plan. The plan, aside from GET ALL THE COMIC BOOKS, is to find that needle in the haystack: Wonder Woman WITH PANTS.

Here are two free comics I can’t wait to elbow little kids to get my hands on. I mean, calmly see if they’re still on the tables:

All-New, All-Different Avengers (Marvel Entertainment)

After the Secret Wa, a new generation of Avengers includes Ms. Marvel, who easily overshadows Thor, Irone Man, and yes, even Captain America. That’s right, I said it.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Dark Horse)

Kavya loved the comic book, which prompted her to watch the entire series. I didn’t have the heart to tell her they made a movie that sucked the life out of it.

Other General Non-Free Highly Recommended Ones:

Ms. Marvel
Rat Queens.
Lumberjanes.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
Batgirl.
Gotham Academy.

I’ll write an update on how we fared.

Filed Under: Musings Tagged With: Avengers, Carmine Street Comics, comics, Dads, Free Comic Book Day, Jersey City, Ms. Marvel, parenting, Wonder Woman, X-Men

Lemony Snicket Apologizes For Being A Bad Joke Teller

November 21, 2014 by Navdeep Singh Dhillon Leave a Comment

Lemony Snicket Apologizes For Being A Bad Joke Teller

Jacqueline But first, let’s talk about Jacqueline Woodson, one of the authors who received the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

A few years ago, I met Jacqueline Woodson at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, where I was taking a glorious week long playwriting workshop with Melinda Lopez. There were only a handful of people of colour present, so we all gravitated towards each other, despite not having much to talk about. The cardinal rule of not talking about race, or even mentioning the word, “white,” in a roomful of white people wasn’t broken. We used the word hello as a symbolic gesture, an acknowledgement of each other’s existence. Me and Jacqueline had a lovely, cursory conversation. Then she read a small section of her work, which I thought was so fantastic I had to immediately read her work and finally understood the draw of Young Adult literature,  Sona and Dhonielle have been banging on about for years.

As soon as Jacqueline Woodson’s, “Brown Girl Dreaming” came in the mail, I spent a very leisurely two weeks reading and re-reading it. The writing is gorgeous and haunting and beautiful, creating a range of emotional effects that forced me to abandon my ingrained way of reading most books. It’s the first book in a very long time that I’ve just read as it’s meant to be read – like a book– without overthinking  craft and theme and structure and all of those other boring things writers like to do to suck the fun out of reading. This is one of those rare birds – it’s poetry wrapped in story. It’s memoir layered in poetry with a narrative. Perhaps it’s a combination of these things. Most likely, it’s none of these things. It’s just a fucking awesome read.

When I heard she won the National Book Award, I was super stoked, not just because it’s well deserved, but because of its implication in the literary world that my son and daughter and niece and nephew are inheriting: a truly diverse definition of normal that goes beyond just black and white and brown.

We Need Diverse Books Because I am Totally Relatable As An Ass-Kicking Princess

We Need Diverse Books Because I am Totally Relatable As An Ass-Kicking Princess

We Need Diverse Books Because I'm Way Too Cute Not To Be The Protagonist.

We Need Diverse Books Because I’m Way Too Cute Not To Be The Protagonist.

Now let’s talk about this motherfucker.

David Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket, made several racist comments during the night he hosted the National Book Award, including one directed at Jacqueline Woodson. His antics are described as variations of what the Washington Post  calls, “an incredibly ill-advised joke,” and Publishers Weekly frames vaguely as “remarks he made about Jacqueline Woodson.” CNN uses single quotes around the word, ‘racist’ because it’s one of those complicated things. But they do offer clarification on why ‘some people’ might be offended:

“Watermelon is historically evoked as a favorite food among black people in racist jokes, and it’s considered by many to be an offensive reference.”

Ahhhhh.

David Handler never used the word, “racist,” because we don’t use those kinds of words in polite conversation. And apparently, neither does the media.

I believe Daniel Handler is being honest when he says he didn’t intend to cause offense. That’s what makes this even more emblematic of a much larger problem. He thought it was funny and assumed other people would find it funny as well. Jacqueline Woodson is allergic to watermelon. And she’s black. HA! It’s perhaps an appropriate dose of reality, a reminder that this is the normal we’re dealing with, and the reason #WeNeedDiverseBooks (WNDB) movement and diversity focused book packaging companies like Cake Literary are so profoundly important.

When I heard Daniel did the right thing by promptly apologising, as well as pledging to donate $10,000 towards the We Need Diverse Books Indigogo campaign (and this morning said he would match any money raised for WNDB today, up to $100,000), I was pleased and willing to let it be one of those idiotic things that happens for the greater good. Then I did something I probably shouldn’t have. I read his apology:

“My job at last night’s National Book Awards was to shine a light on tremendous writers, including Jacqueline Woodson and not to overshadow their achievements with my own ill-conceived attempts at humor. I clearly failed, and I’m sorry.”

It’s a bullshit apology that follows the standard white person apology template. Daniel Handler admits to being wrong, but not for being racist. That burden is on us oversensitive people of colour. Then he donates an acceptable amount of money to a worthy cause, so we’re not supposed to say shit about him anymore. Now we move on. Shockingly (or perhaps not that shockingly), not very many people were talking about this in the first place. Now most people have completely forgiven him and he is free from further criticism. It’s not like he threw a banana at Jacqueline or burned a cross or anything.

Junot Diaz puts my entire rambling thoughts into one succinct rhetorical question: “If Daniel Handler is one of the ‘good guys,’ who the fuck needs bad guys?”

Daniel Handler is one person in a system and it’s the system that makes his comments seem like they’re not that big of a deal and through a glib apology, nothing else needs to happen. Whether people like it or not, a conversation is happening. And Daniel Handler is helping make it a loud one, even it is through guilt.

So go visit the #WeNeedDiverseBooks Indigogo campaign. Through today (Friday, November 21, 2014), Daniel Handler will be matching all contributions made up to $100,000. The money raised will be used to fund grants for bringing diverse YA authors and books to schools and libraries, provide financial support for diverse authors, and most excitingly host the first ever Kidlit Diversity Festival in summer 2016, amongst many other pragmatic goals.

Filed Under: Lit Life, Musings Tagged With: apologizes, Brown Girl Dreaming, Daniel Handler, diversity, Jacqueline Woodson, Lemony Snicket, National Book Award, National Book Award for Young People's Literature, racism, We Need Diverse Books, WNDB, YA, Young Adult Literature, Young People's Literature

On White Princesses, Disney, CAKE Literary – a Book Packaging Company, and Non-Token Diversity in Storytelling!

April 15, 2014 by Navdeep Singh Dhillon 12 Comments

On White Princesses, Disney, CAKE Literary – a Book Packaging Company, and Non-Token Diversity in Storytelling!

Growing up in England during the 1980s, where blatant racism was perfectly normal, sucked, but at least I knew where I stood. Institutionalized racism is confusing — and Kavya was all of four when she felt the isolating pain that only institutionalized racism can bring.

On New Year’s Day, we are heading out to brunch, and she’s sitting on the stairs, her head in her hands. Crying. I ask her what happened. In most cases, we verbally abuse the pain-inflicting object, followed immediately by a good stomping, and that sorts things out. But this time is different. In-between muted, heaving sobs, she says something that I hadn’t expected for at least a few more years: “I want yellow hair. Like Rapunzel.” She points to the large, manga-eyed, blonde princess with tiny toothpick-wrists, smiling on her t-shirt.

It’s one of those parenting moments where time stands still. I fight the urge to say, “Rapunzel’s hair is stupid. She can go to hell.”

My favourite Princess.

My favourite Princess.

My wife, Sona, sits on the stairs with Kavya and tries to comfort her. Sona’s parents don’t really understand the heaviness of what Kavya is saying, and view it as just a random tantrum.

Unlike some parents I know, I don’t have a problem with Disney princesses, of willful mermaids disobeying their fathers, or the uncomplicated nature of the evil stepmother, of parents disappearing from the narrative through death or being lost at sea. I’ve read the different versions of the stories Disney has adapted and am continually impressed with how they repackage these old stories for modern children and their parents. Taking stories like Snow White about a prince who sees the dead body of a beautiful young girl in a clear coffin, and his first instinct is to kiss her. Then to assume she must want to marry him without even asking her. The adaptations are wonderfully told, with lovely artwork and genuine tension. And that’s what’s important to this storytelling Papa. Morals Shmorals. Besides, I thought we’d have some time to diversify her reading and movies.

Instead of berating Rapunzel for her physical appearance, I ask Kavya if she knows who my favourite princess is. She looks up at me. “Who?”

“Princess Kavya.” I say, touching her nose. Instead of calming her down, she starts crying even louder. After a bit, she says, “Why do you like Princess Kavya?”

I hold her tightly in my arms as we make our way to the corridor of Sona’s parents’ house, which is decorated like it’s 1975: flowery wallpaper, carpets, and cabinets encased in mirrors from floor to ceiling. Those mirrors are lifesavers. It’s incredibly important, especially for little brown girls, to be able to see themselves. Not with any agenda or self-affirming message, just to see some reflection of themselves. She looks at herself nervously at first, and then with a bit more confidence. I plagiarize a line from Winnie the Pooh and tell her, “Because you’re you. And the most wonderful thing about Kavya Kaur Dhillon is that you’re the only one.”  Then I plagiarize some more from a book we recently read together and tell her I love her through and through. She mopily adds that she loves me more than a lot. I tell her that her middle name – Kaur – means princess. “You’re a real princess,” I tell her, and So is your daadi-ma, bhuee, and your bhaina.” Kavya squeals in laughter at the thought of all her female relatives, including her grandma as princesses. “And they all have black hair,” she adds.

“Yes,” I say. “But it’s not important what color hair you have.”

Kavya’s takeaway from that conversation was that after brunch, she wanted me to find her a video of Cinderella with black hair. She wasn’t really upset because of the yellow hair. Mulan has black hair, so do Pocohontas and Jasmine, but they are pretty irrelevant as their movies came out in the 1990s, and their engagement now comes in limited capacity: cameos in other people’s shows, or as part of the Disney princess franchise. Merida has bright orange hair, Snow White has black hair. She didn’t have the vocabulary to talk about what she was going through: she wanted white skin. And that’s why me and Sona immediately understood the repercussions of what our perfect little girl was upset about, and our parents did not and wanted to quickly sort this tantrum out so we could go out to eat.


A princess figurine collection I bought Kavya several weeks prior to this incident when I made the mistake of telling her she could get one thing from the bookstore. I assumed this fool would choose a book. It featured all of the princesses. I thought this would be a good thing. Turned out that all of the white princesses had large, flowing, dresses, and were able to stand properly. The two brown princesses (Princess Tiana wasn’t there) are the ones that kept falling over because their feet are skinny and glued together. It must be a cultural thing. So, obviously Kavya got bored with them and opted for the sturdier white princesses.

The real problem is that it takes a concerted effort to find books or television shows or movies about girls who look like Kavya. And then there isn’t any merchandise. Soon she will understand that white is not just a useless crayon color, but is the default for normal. Thankfully, she hasn’t had her skin color pointed out to her. Yet. And we’re not going to be the ones that mention it because let’s face it, White is not a race or a real color of someone’s skin unless they’re an albino. It’s a power structure.

Some of my students, who are in their 20s, suffer from these same feelings of internalized racism, where they muffle their own voices or those of other students because it’s in contrast with what has been presented to them as normal. In almost all of the introductory creative writing courses I teach in New York City and New Jersey, regardless of how diverse the students are, the characters for their first stories are always white. When you don’t see yourself reflected anywhere, you start believing you can’t exist in these spaces.

A white character is presented as normal, a character we can all relate to, with universal problems, and the mere presence of a character who isn’t white immediately implies that their otherness must play a major role in the characterization. Or that they’re going to die soon, which will highlight the humanity of the white protagonist.

Many extremely talented writers, who know all about complex characters, story structure, and the art of writing kickass stories, choose to create a mythical land that resembles our own, except it’s inhabited entirely by white people. Which is fine, as long as it’s not the only thing I’m being bombarded with or that I’m being told is the most powerfully moving thing ever because a white man wrote it. Or race is so incompetently handled, it’s shocking, like with John Updike’s “Terrorist,” about an angry Muslim, who hates America,  conveniently wants to be a truck driver, and (spoiler alert) plans to set off a bomb in the name of Jihad; there’s also an angry African American character, a bully from the hood, whose mother is a crack addict and names him Tylenol Jones because that’s what crack addict mothers from the hood apparently do. I shudder to think what Updike would have named the character if his mother was Asian.

Shockingly, The New York Times Review of Updike’s 22nd novel suggested he did something much more profound than what he actually did. He wrote a book fueled by his own unsubtle political agenda, lovely sentences, but ultimately a world he doesn’t know, with hollow, racist caricatures instead of complex characters, a novel which he spent too much time researching and not enough time weaving an actual narrative around.  It’s a complete departure from his other stories, which are told with very human characters. He writes white people very well. Integrating race into a story is a craft based issue, whether you’re a writer from a particular community or not.

The CAKE Literary team hard at work.

The CAKE Literary team hard at work.

It's a Pajama Book Party!

It’s a Pajama Book Party!

Enter CAKE Literary.

Sona Charaipotra (the wife), and Dhonielle Clayton (the evil librarian task master), are calling bullshit on this whole approach of excluding certain voices, with their book packaging company, Cake Literary. Whenever Dhonielle comes over to hash out concepts or work on outlines with Sona, Kavya assumes she’s come over to play with her. So that’s what usually ends up happening, which would explain why Kavya referred to Dhonielle the other day as, “Kavya’s friend and Mama’s worker.” I wouldn’t put it past Sona to say, “Worker, I’m going to put my feet up. You go and entertain my child!”

I’ve never really understood what CAKE Literary does – just the term, “book packaging,” sounds like the cloak and dagger of the publishing industry, so I’m glad Sona wrote this guest post for Latinos in Kid Lit, that not only clarified what it is they do, but more importantly why they’re doing it.

Junot Diaz (who I’m taking a workshop with at VONA this summer! ! !) interviewed Toni Morrisson at the NYPL and perfectly captured the sentiment at about the hour mark (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5kytPjYjSQ):

“Shifting the narrative center of the telling, the very fact that you were sitting across from these writers as a sort of a strong kind of a north star and saying, listen you don’t have to – by default, write for a white audience, I would think that a lot of what you said really unlocked a lot of these books.”

Here is a tiny snippet of Sona’s piece on Latinos in Kid Lit that makes me momentarily sad, but also hopeful of the types of stories CAKE Literary will create, as well as the change in the literary landscape, that Kavya and millions like her, will grow up with thinking of it as “normal.”

“Growing up as a little brown girl – one of the few, back then – in small-town, suburban central New Jersey, books were my escape. I caused a ruckus alongside little Anne in Avonlea; I mourned Beth along with her sisters in the harsh winter of Maine; I honed my grand ambitions like Kristy and her babysitters’ club; I even swooned alongside Elena over the brothers Salvatore when the Vampire Diaries was originally released. (Yes, I am that old.)

But if you’ll note: in all those books and the hundreds of others I devoured, I never really saw myself, or anyone remotely like me. The majority of characters in books for kids and teens in the ’80s and ’90s were white. And according to Christopher Myers in his recent New York Times piece, “The Apartheid of Children’s Literature,” the majority still are today, by quite a landslide.

Why is this worth discussing? Because it hurts. A lot. It’s a hit to a kid’s self-esteem to be told – silently, but oh so clearly – that their story is not worth telling, that their voice is not important.”

Now go read the entire piece on http://latinosinkidlit.com

If you still haven’t had your fill of CAKE, find them on www.CakeLiterary.com, and connect with them on twitter @cakeliterary or Facebook. And if you just can’t wait for their novel, Dark Pointe, to come out in 2015 pre-order it here! or add it to GoodReads.  I lied: you’ll still have to wait. Add it anyway.

Shortlink: http://goo.gl/kGyn3c

Filed Under: Lit Life, Musings Tagged With: book packaging, Cake Literary, Dads, Dhonielle Clayton, disney, diversity, Jamaica and Brianna, John Updike, Junot Diaz, Latinos in Kid Lit, Navdeep Singh Dhillon, picture books, princess culture, princesses, Sona Charaipotra, Tiny Pretty Things, Toni Morrison, Young Adult

It’s Frozen Fever Up in Here!

March 24, 2014 by Navdeep Singh Dhillon Leave a Comment

This is bullshit. I sat RIGHT NEXT TO HER!

This is bullshit. I sat RIGHT NEXT TO HER!

Over Thanksgiving last year, we visited my parents in California, and also went on a lovely family trip to Disneyland, which surprisingly didn’t suck like I thought it would. During our visit, Frozen had just come out, so the four of us – me, Sona, Kavya, and her Daadi-ma, went to watch it at the movie theater in Fresno, California. Kavya immediately fell in love with the movie and we stayed seated until they switched the lights back on and we were the only ones still sitting in the room. Then Kavya turned to us and said, “let’s watch another one,” like we were at home watching television.

When we came back home to Jersey City in December, we were excited that WORD bookstore finally opened, and during one of our outings there, Kavya saw her friend from class, who had also just seen the film.  They discovered they’re both obsessed with Frozen and ended up both leaving with identical Frozen books much too complicated for them to read. One day, they had a really excited conversation when they both brought these books to school. I didn’t have to teach until noon, so I read Kavya’s book to everyone sitting at her table, and then her friend wanted me to read her book. “This is the exact same book,” I said. “I was there when your dad bought it for you.” Her response is to move the book closer to me and Kavya says, “My Papa is silly,” because I’m clearly too thick to get it. So I read the SAME book that I just read to the same students sitting at the table, while they continue to messily eat their breakfast.

It’s been at least a month since she’s brought her book to school and then last week, Kavya decides she wants to bring it in the morning. We get there and another friend has brought the new Frozen music cd, which just came out, and another friend has a lunchbox. This last friend’s contribution is crap and doesn’t help with anything, but I refrain from saying so when she brings it up. One of her teachers is coerced into agreeing to set aside class time to read Kavya’s book to the class and also play the music the other girl brought.

I’m convinced the leap pad we bought Kavya must have email or text messaging that these girls are using to coordinate this impromptu Frozen party. When I pick her up from school, or if we’re out to the grocery, she’ll belt out “Let it Go!” at the top of her lungs, and will even act out some of the parts to the song. And the obsession just took an even steeper turn with her cousin from California, who is a year older than her, finally watching Frozen. Now, when Kavya asks me to tell her a Frozen bedtime story, I can’t wing it. And there is hell to pay if I jumble up names, or change any of the narrative elements. Apparently, dragons can’t exist in Arrendale, despite it being the perfect name of a place you’d see a dragon! She might not know how to read entire words or sentences, but she has that entire book memorized.

Belting it out

“LET IT GO! ! ! “

photo 1

Not knowing the lyrics to a song isn’t going to stop this Nanu.

On Saturday, even my father-in-law got in on the Frozen action when he picked us up for the weekend. He’s never seen the film or listened to the songs, but that didn’t stop him from belting out the words, “Let it Go” along with Kavya and Sona in the car – not that he had much of a choice. 


There are many parents who are equally, if not more obsessed with these songs than their kids are, with plenty of youtube videos featuring parents energetically singing in cars or lip synching. Like the awesome couple and their really bored daughter above.

We are not those parents. And Kavya doesn’t understand the draw of not really singing. For Christmas, she got all sorts of Frozen gifts, like an Elsa doll, a coloring book, a 3D jigsaw puzzle, and a dress. Now that it’s being released on DVD, and more of her friends have discovered the film, I know we’re going to be hearing much more about Frozen around here. And that’s okay with me, even if me singing, “Reindeers are better than people,” does get drowned out by Mama and Daughter singing the other songs. But seriously, why is that song only 30 seconds? Fine, it’s not as dramatic, or revealing of the psychological liberation as “Let it Go,” and it doesn’t progress the plot or setup the catalyst the way, “Love is an Open Door,” does, but it’s so damn funny: a duet between a reindeer and an ice distributor, who sings both roles (how do you top that???).

What was I saying? Oh yes, I am not the sort of parent who gets obsessed about these sorts of things . . .

Filed Under: Musings, Parenting Tagged With: adaptation, Anna, best Frozen song, disney, Elsa, fairy tale, Frozen, Frozen movie, Hans, Jersey City, kids, Let it Go, Love is an open door, movie, Olaf, parenting, Reindeers are better than people, Sven, WORD bookstore

Writing on Buses and Trains

February 25, 2014 by Navdeep Singh Dhillon 2 Comments

As you can tell, I love commuting by train

As you can tell, I love commuting by train

Amtrak just announced they are offering free writing residencies! It’s totally brilliant. It’s a train, but it’s quiet, with tables, plugs, and best of all, most of them are long distance ones, so you have hours upon hours of uninterrupted writing time.

The story of how Amtrak decided to make this happen is equally as fantastic as the idea itself. And just one more reason I love twitter. In an interview for PEN America, author Alexander Chee made what was probably an offhand comment: “I wish Amtrak had residencies for writers,”  in the midst of talking about his favorite places to write, which also included public libraries.

One NYC based writer, Jessica Gross, also read the interview, but unlike my reaction, which was to do nothing, she decided to tweet at Amtrak to make this writing residency thing happen. My tweet from the same day was me moaning about how Sona says I can’t wear brown trousers with a black cardigan or the universe will be destroyed. Amazingly, Amtrak responded to her tweet (nobody responded to mine. Not even Sona) and asked if she was down for a trial run. She took Amtrak on a  long distance trip to Chicago and back. She wrote about the experience for the Paris Review in a post named after the journey, Writing the Lakeshore Limited.

What I really like about Amtrak’s approach to the writing residencies is that they’re not being all hoighty-toighty about what constitutes a writer, and for now at least are considering unpublished authors, journalists, bloggers, and published authors. There doesn’t seem to be much of a system in place for how writers are chosen, but it’s a nice start. This is what it says about the residency:

Amtrak Residency was designed to allow creative professionals who are passionate about train travel and writing to work on their craft in an inspiring environment. Round-trip train travel will be provided on an Amtrak long-distance route. Each resident will have use of a private sleeping roomette, equipped with a desk, a bed and a window to watch the American countryside roll by for inspiration. Onboard meals will also be offered to all residents in the dining car aboard the train.

Here’s the link to the actual residency application for the #AmtrakResidency: http://blog.amtrak.com/amtrakresidency/

What do you think of the Amtrak Residency? Would you commute for 39 hours just to write?

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Filed Under: Lit Life, Musings Tagged With: #AmtrakResidency, Alexander Chee, Amtrak, creative writing, emerging writer, fiction, Jessica Gross, Lake Shore Limited, NYC, places to write, trains, travel, writing, writing residency, writing space

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I Got This

about I write fiction. I am a Papa. That pretty much sums up what I blog about here. I am a contributing writer for Mom.me and was featured on The Stir's 2013 list of 10 Best Dad Bloggers. I have an MFA in creative writing and teach fiction and literature in NYC. I read. You should too. Read more about me.

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