As I finish up my time as Writer-In-Residence for the Pima County Public Library, I’m publishing this list of resources that I have shared with writers over the summer. The links go to the PCPL website, but you can likely find them at your own local library – I hope they’re as useful to you as they have been to me!
Interview with KOLD News.
Poster for the WIR Program, Summer 2025.
Write Your Story!
Here are some books that tell the author’s story in unexpected ways: fiction, poetry, essays and more.
Solito: A Memoir, Javier Zamora, 2022.
Story as memoir.The Autobiography of Red, Anne Carson, 1999.
Story as novel as poem!
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong, 2019.
Story as novel.A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging, Dionne Brand, 2024.
Story as vignettes.Storyteller, Leslie Marmon Silko, 1981.
Story has poetic / photographic tapestry.Assata: An Autobiography, Assata Shakur, 2001.
Story as autobiography.Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal, Mohammed El-Kurd, 2025.
Story as essay collection.
PROCESS!
These are my top 5 recommendations for books to help your writing practice.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Ruben, 2023. Penguin.
My number one recommendation!
Do You Feel Like Writing? A Creative Guide to Artistic Confidence, Frankie Rollins, 2023. Fifthbraincollective.com
Great for fiction, applicable to all forms.
Writing as a Path to Awakening: A Year to Becoming an Excellent Writer and Living an Awakened Life, Albert Flynn DeSilver, 2017. SoundsTrue.com
How to structure a creative life? Here writing and meditation are explored together.
Writing And Workshopping Poetry: A Constructive Introduction, Stephen Guppy, 2017. BroadviewPress.com. Available at UA Poetry Center.
I’ve used this as my textbook when I teach poetry courses
June Jordan’s Poetry For the People: A Revolutionary Blueprint, 1995. Available at UA Poetry Center.
A foundational, classic text for creating, teaching, sharing writing.
Other resources!
Some additional points of inspiration.
“The Taste Gap: Ira Glass on the Secret of Creative Success, Animated in Living Typography,” Maria Popova. Video / article.
Very relevant for folks just starting their creative journey“Rick Rubin: Magic, Everyday Mystery, and Getting Creative,” On Being with Krista Tippett. Podcast.
The Triggering Town, Richard Hugo. PDF.
I’ve found the first two chapters of this book to be very important since they were first recommended to me by Jericho Brown.