Writing on Writing

An Afro-Mississippi literary movement with the potential to change people's lives.

This selection of poems (audio files and printed versions) by Afro-Mississippi writers is a special supplement to “Penning the Revolution” by C. Liegh McInnis.

In the late 1990s, the bestselling, award-winning author Barbara Kingsolver founded the Bellwether Prize, which seeks to promote literature of social justice by emerging writers in the United States. The deadline for submissions for the 2010 prize is October 2, 2009, and the winner will have his or her manuscript will be published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in addition to receiving a prize of $25,000. Here, Kingsolver answers THE OA's questions about writing for social change.

Upending the Muse: It's high time we put a stop to this nonsense about a fairylike writing spirit.