Natalie Goldberg at Left Bank Books

In the first chapter of The Book of Mev (on writing Mev’s obituary), I cited Natalie Goldberg, whose book Writing down the Bones has been a companion of mine since 1986. Natalie will be doing a reading from and signing of her new book, Old Friend from Far Away, on Monday 16 March at Left Bank Books in the Central West End at 7 p.m. I have assigned Writing down the Bones for at least sixteen semesters, often to two or three classes each semester. Hundreds of my students at Saint Louis University and Webster University have been exposed to this wise and encouraging teacher.

Two passages, one from Writing down the Bones, and the other from Thunder and Lightning:

“When you begin to write this way — right out of your own mind — you might have to be willing to write junk for five years, because we have assimilated it over many more than that and have been gladly avoiding it in ourselves.”

“As a writer you should go to a book thirsty and suck it dry.”