Reflections on Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, (Auto)Biography, Life-Writing, and the Essay
Today I came across some of the soundest and least hysterical advice for emerging writers that I’ve read in a while. It comes from the AWP‘s (Association of Writers and Writing Programs’) Guide to Career Services, 2012 edition. Tucked away at the bottom of a section called “Be a Good Steward of Your Talents” is [...]
19 Jan 2012 at 04:22
Julija Šukys
Academia, Algeria, Archives, Biography, Catholicism, Children, Christianity, Countdown to Publication, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Editing, Epistolophilia, Grad School, Journeys, Libraries, Lithuania, Mothering, Ona Šimaitė, Paris, Research, Residencies and Fellowships, Russia, Saints, SheWrites, Siberia, Silence is Death, Tahar Djaout, Uncategorized, Writing
This is Who-Man. My son and I invented him over breakfast this morning. Who-Man is a superhero whose arch-enemy is a many-eyed monster called “Crime.” Who-Man wears a bumpy suit (as you can see in Sebastian’s rendition of him above). The suit can shoot fire, but our hero rarely has to use this weapon. He [...]
22 Jul 2011 at 17:39
Julija Šukys
Academia, Autobiography, Canada, Domesticity, Editing, Grad School, Humanities, Journeys, Language and Multilingualism, Uncategorized
The books that have surrounded me in this room for six years now go into boxes to make space for our tenants. The books – mine and my husband’s – are all mixed together. Our collection includes books of theory from our student days, Lithuanian novels, linguistic studies of Sanskrit, Chinese literary anthologies, memoirs of [...]
07 Feb 2011 at 11:33
Julija Šukys
Academia, Conferences and Symposia, Creative Nonfiction, Friendship, Grad School, Humanities, Jobs, Journeys, Personal Essays, Writers' Workshops, Writing
The AWP stands for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. It’s a professional association, much like the MLA (Modern Language Association) or the APA (American Philological Association). These organizations offer a number of services to their members: they publish journals, coordinate job listings, and organize annual conferences. Though it was my first time at [...]
24 Jan 2011 at 16:58
Julija Šukys
Academia, Editing, Grad School, Humanities, Research, Uncategorized, Writers' Workshops, Writing
I’m a very solitary writer, and don’t generally give my work to anyone to read until I’ve sat with something for a very long time. In part, this is just the craft (we all write alone), but in part, it speaks to a fear (that I suspect we all have) of not living up, of [...]
A few months ago, I posted an appeal to write letters in support of keeping the University of Toronto’s Centre for Comparative Literature open. The threat to close the Centre was another in a long series of alarming and depressing attacks on the humanities not only here in Canada, but in the US and the [...]
22 Sep 2010 at 12:33
Julija Šukys
Archives, Beloved Profession, Copyright, Grad School, Life-writing, Lithuania, Ona Šimaitė, Research, Writing
I’ve been working with archival materials for more than a decade now. While writing my dissertation, I sat in archives comparing drafts of novels, tracking authors’ corrections and studying the process of composition and revision. More recently, I’ve been working on diaries and letters, telling the story of a life on the basis of private [...]
12 Jul 2010 at 07:34
Julija Šukys
Academia, Grad School, Linda Hutcheon, Research, University of Toronto, Writing
I arrived home from a week of camp with my three-year-old to learn that the University of Toronto is threatening to close the Centre for Comparative Literature, where I earned my PhD. If you are engaged in writing and reading, if you value creative thought, innovative teaching and scholarship, and believe in cross-cultural dialogue, please [...]
29 Mar 2010 at 09:39
Julija Šukys
Grad School, J. Edward Chamberlin, Journeys, Language and Multilingualism, Life-blood, Poetry, University of Toronto, Writing
J. Edward Chamberlin, If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories?: Reimagining Home and Sacred Space. Pilgrim Press, 2003. Ted Chamberlin was one of my professors at the University of Toronto, and if you read his book, you’ll understand what a good teacher and storyteller he is. It weaves together tales about cowboy culture, [...]
15 Mar 2010 at 08:46
Julija Šukys
Academia, Funding, Grad School, Humanities, Linda Hutcheon, Research, University of Toronto, Writing
I defended my PhD thesis at the University of Toronto in August of 2001, under the supervision of a renowned literary scholar and theorist. Linda Hutcheon has written about a dozen books, scores of articles, is respected by her peers, adored by students, and is one of the best examples of a successful writer-teacher you [...]
