The value of M.F.A.s is ever a controversial topic. This week, acclaimed Novelist Jayne Anne Philips, who serves as director of the Creative Writing Program at Rutgers Univrsity, Newark, penned an impassioned argument in favor of creative writing degrees and supporting the idea that writing can be taught, and that teaching and learning it has benefits well beyond training armies of writers. I'm convinced.
Meanwhile, former Granta editor John Freeman offered an explanation of the how's and why's of finding new writers for a literary publication. He also just launched a journal of his own, Freeman's.
Of course, it wouldn't be a week in literary land if something didn't get ugly. The New Yorker published a profile of controversial conceptual poet Kenny Goldsmith, in which poet and New Republic poetry editor Cathy Park Hong was quoted ungenerously. She then penned a response and made a case for why Goldsmith's is not the literary story we should be focusing on right now.
Finally, for new writers in search of opportunities, the hip literary magazine A Public Space opened applications for its emerging writers' fellowships. Check it out!
