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Women of Letters

@womenofletters.org

📚 conversations on work, writing, & professional success with the women shaping our cultural landscape 🎤 @janajm.com, PhD 👇 SEASON 3 OUT NOW 📝 womenofletters.substack.com 🎵 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/women-of-letters/id1747035747

Posts Replies Media

Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 25/03/2025

“Of course, there were teachers—although early on, I didn’t always know how to make use of their support.” Mary Jo Bang, author of nine books of poetry, on mentorship:

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“Did you have any mentors along the way?

MJB: Of course, there were teachers—although early on, in high school, I didn’t always know how to make use of their support.

For a long time, I felt lost and out of my depth. My college teachers were encouraging and that was helpful, but even then, I don’t think I understood that they expected students to ask for their help. I was working as a research assistant for a sociology professor when I applied to graduate school, but I never told him I was applying. When he found out, quite by accident, he said I should have said something, he would have helped me. Fortunately, I was accepted without his help but it’s an example of my lack of awareness that help was there for the asking, had I known.”

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“When I studied photography, I had a number of teachers who told me I was making photographs that mattered. And when I studied poetry at Columbia, Lucie Brock-Broido seemed to know exactly the right thing to say to me about my poems. She helped me step back and see my writing as if it had been written by someone else. That remove was crucial to my understanding of how poetic language works. She not only influenced my writing, but also my ideas about teaching.

Marjorie Perloff’s books taught me how to read poetry by others. I became friends with her when I was a poetry editor at the Boston Review. I’m sure I wouldn’t be the poet I am without the combined influence of those two women. They had radically different ideas about poetry, which proved useful to me. Since there was no way to reconcile their antithetical approaches, I had to develop my own.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 13/02/2025

Noreen Masud — @noreenmasud.bsky.social — on some of her early influences as a writer. Read or listen to the full interview at: 📚 womenofletters.substack.com/p/noreen-masud 🎶 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

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“Jana M. Perkins: Was there a particular genre of writing, or kind of writing, that you were especially drawn to early on that helped develop this sense in you that, okay — this is what I want to be doing?

NM: Anything with rhythm. My mother remembers me as a very young child - and I obviously have no memory of this — at the age of two, sort of reciting a poem that I had found in a children's magazine or something. I learned to read at sort of two and a half, so this is just about credible, I think. But rhythm I've always been drawn by and obsessed by, and I've always wanted to memorize any piece of writing that I didn't understand or whose rhythm transfixed me. So that started very early on, and then at 14 I discovered poetry in a very concrete way, and that coincided more or less with our having access to the internet: there were poems on the internet, and you could download them and learn them, and that absolutely laid the groundwork for everything that came after, for my writing today. My first book was mostly on poetry. I'm very preoccupied with the sound of a sentence when I write, like so many writers, and that all comes from an early preoccupation with poetry.”

An image of William Turner of Oxford’s painting “Salisbury Plain with Old Sarum in the distance, Wiltshire.”

Generated alt text: “A watercolor landscape painting depicting a rural agricultural scene under a dramatic cloudy sky. The composition is divided roughly into three horizontal bands: a vast, textured sky filled with rolling gray and pinkish clouds; a middle ground showing golden-lit fields or plains stretching to distant hills; and a darker foreground featuring what appears to be a figure (possibly a shepherd) with a flock of sheep arranged in a line across the rustic terrain. The color palette is subtle and naturalistic, consisting mainly of earth tones — browns, muted greens, and grays — with touches of blue in the sky.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 03/12/2024

A thoughtful exchange with Cass Marketos on how she got to where she is today. You can read the latest Women of Letters interview here: womenofletters.substack.com/p/cass-marke...

A screenshot of the editor’s note to the interview that reads: "I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from Cass over the years. The way that she has repeatedly changed paths and always found what seemed like an even bigger, more exciting adventure at every turn has been a real motivating force. Having written a book, launched several non-profits, been the first employee at Kickstarter, and served as the deputy director of digital outbound during the Obama administration (to name just a few of her accomplishments), she’s had precisely the kind of dynamic career that I know many — myself included — have hoped to build for themselves but rarely saw modelled. As Cass writes in this interview, “I’m a big believer in the idea that whenever you arrive is right on time.” It’s a form of hope I’ll be carrying with me as we collectively navigate the months and years ahead. Jana M. Perkins Founder, Women of Letters"

An image of Simon Denis' “Cloud Study (Early Evening).” Generated alt text: “This is a beautiful cloud study painting, likely from the 18th or early 19th century. It shows a dramatic sky filled with billowing cumulus clouds in various shades of white and gray against a light blue background. The clouds appear illuminated by sunlight, creating bright highlights and darker shadows within their formations. At the bottom of the painting is a thin strip of landscape, showing what appears to be a dark tree line or forest against the horizon. The artist has captured the atmospheric effects masterfully, with subtle variations in color including touches of pink and golden hues, particularly in some breaks in the clouds near the horizon. The brushwork appears loose and expressive, especially in the rendering of the cloud formations.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 16/10/2024

Just released: it’s the Women of Letters interview with Ayşegül Savaş. womenofletters.substack.com/p/aysegul-sa...

A screenshot of an editor’s note that reads: “My notes, in preparation for the writing of this introduction, formed a web of densely concentrated insight on the human experience courtesy of Aysegül's latest novel, The Anthropologists. The book follows its main character, Asya - a documentary filmmaker - through the kind of rich chronicling of her everyday life that is often offered within the context of anthropological writings. The small, in this way, is made large, expanding to fill the container of major narrative events in ways that would typically be reserved for moments of high drama. "Daily life," Asya says at one point in the novel, "was a difficult story to tell." Her grandmother responds by urging her to "forget about daily life," because, in her view, "no one cares about that." Yet, as the widely regarded success of this novel makes clear, there are, in fact, a great many people who care about that. If in your reading you enjoy attention to detail, incisively rendered commentary, and vivid jolts of emotion, you'll enjoy not only this interview but also its author's work in general, which you can find everywhere from The Paris Review to The New Yorker to the shelves of your favourite bookstore. Jana M. Perkins Founder, Women of Letters”

An image of Alfred Sisley’s “The Road from Moret to Saint-Mammès” painting. Generated alt text: “This painting depicts a serene rural landscape, likely in the French countryside. The scene is dominated by a cluster of tall, slender trees with vibrant green foliage that frames the composition. Their trunks are rendered in soft purples and blues, creating a sense of depth and atmosphere. In the center-left of the painting, there's a small white house with a distinctive red-orange roof. The house appears to be a simple, rustic structure with a few windows and doors visible. A dirt path leads up to the house, winding through the grassy foreground. The sky is painted with soft blues and whites, suggesting a partly cloudy day. The overall impression is one of dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves, creating a play of light and shadow across the scene. In the distance, there are hints of other structures or landscape features, but they're rendered less distinctly than the foreground elements. The painting style is characteristic of Impressionism, with visible brushstrokes and a focus on capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere.
The color palette is predominantly cool greens and blues, punctuated by the warm tones of the house's roof and the earthy colors of the path. This creates a harmonious and peaceful mood, evoking a sense of countryside tranquility. Small figures can be seen on the path, adding a human element to the natural setting and giving a sense of scale to the landscape. The overall composition invites the viewer to imagine strolling down that country lane on a pleasant day, surrounded by the beauty of nature.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 18/09/2024

Just released: launching both our second season *and* our podcast (!) 👩‍🔬, it’s the Women of Letters interview with Iris Jamahl Dunkle. womenofletters.substack.com/p/iris-jamah...

A screenshot from our interview with Iris Jamahl Dunkle that reads: “All of us, I think, have had the experience of seeing someone else take credit for something we’ve done. But how many of us can say that our work was used by another person to earn a Nobel Prize?

The American novelist, poet, and editor Sanora Babb can, as Iris so brilliantly illuminates in her forthcoming biography, Riding Like the Wind. In Babb’s case, it was John Steinbeck who took credit for her work when — despite lacking her permission — he used her notes to write The Grapes of Wrath. His novel went on to win not only a National Book Award but also a Pulitzer Prize, and in addition to being turned into an Academy Award-winning film it would also eventually play a major role in Steinbeck’s being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Meanwhile, the novel that Babb had written was shelved, and it would not appear in print for more than 60 years.

As Iris’s publisher explains..."

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 08/01/2024

“Even though I was so nervous that, for many years, I wrote with a hot water bottle on my stomach, there was a door open in my town.” — Canadian author Candace Savage on how she became a writer. Read the full interview here: womenofletters.substack.com/p/candace-sa...

Henri-Edmond Cross' “Valley with Fir” painting (1909)

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 05/11/2023

“The keeping of bees,” Jenna writes in her latest book, Revery, “is a blending of science and spirit; a passion that is, at its roots, an act of hope.” It was a finalist for the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-fiction.

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 03/10/2023

“I could not have figured out who I was without them,” Nancy writes in her memoir MY BRILLIANT FRIENDS of the three fellow scholars from the book’s title: Carolyn Heilbrun, Diane Middlebrook, and Naomi Schor. “Each of these women made my life worth living.”

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 26/09/2023

Out today!— It’s the Women of Letters interview with Nancy K. Miller 💬 womenofletters.substack.com/p/nancy-k-mi...

John Frederick Kensett’s “Newport Rocks” painting

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Women of Letters @womenofletters.org · 07/09/2023

“Hanging out,” Sheila writes in her latest book, “is about daring to do nothing much and, even more than that, about daring to do it in the company of others. … It’s about blocking out time and dedicating it to the work of interacting with other people.”

The cover of the book Hanging Out, by Sheila Liming

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