Garth Greenwell: "A Moral Education" How Philip Roth's Sabbath's Theater can make us more generous readers.

Garth Greenwell on art, morality, and God in an unexpected reading of Philip Roth's Sabbath's Theater.

I worry a lot about making the best use of the time I have. I also worry that obsessing over “time management” can strip meaning from time—especially the meaning we seek in artmaking. Full essay here: garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/just-sit-y...

On Wed 4/29, I’m excited for this conversation about Small Rain w Patricia Dailey, Subhashini Kaligotla, & Lynnette Widder at Columbia University. Free but space is limited, please register here: sofheyman.org/events/naked...

NYC friends, I’m very excited for two events coming up this month. On Fri 4/24, I’ll be chatting about art & politics w Valeria Luiselli & Édouard Louis at NYU. This should be a lot of fun. Free but registration required: as.nyu.edu/departments/...

Thank you so much!

I wrote about the best advice I’ve ever gotten about time, which saved me as a writer, & the ruthlessness necessary for any writing practice. Full essay here: garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/just-sit-y...

A beautiful piece by Garth Greenwell on time and building a writing practice is exactly what I needed today, after finally getting a short story accepted for publication (my first!) and wondering if I’ll ever be able to write another.

Thank you! And congratulations! And yes, you absolutely will.

#recentlyIveread this wonderful one by @garthgreenwell.bsky.social I was shocked to find my experience in the hospital a few years ago leaping from his pages. #SmallRain reads like an immersive opera and the mid-book tutorial on poetry is stunning.

Thank you for reading this!

I wrote about time, & the importance of both managing & not managing it when building a writing practice. Plus: some tips on writing a novel when time is scarce. garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/just-sit-y...

NYC friends, I’m so happy to be reading with Luis **this Friday**, alongside students from the NYU Spanish and English MFA programs. Please come say hi! Free but RSVP req’d; full info here: as.nyu.edu/departments/...

23 Books in 23 Days: Everything Jeremy O. Harris Read While Imprisoned in Japan "In the quiet of my cell, I realized how loud my normal life had become."

"And nothing is better when you’re a horny nerd than Greenwell, because he’s one of the greatest writers on earth and also very good at writing very erotic literary fiction. This is a godsend when you’re not allowed intimacy for 23 days."

www.vanityfair.com/culture/stor...

Garth Greenwell: "A Moral Education" How Philip Roth's Sabbath's Theater can make us more generous readers.

“A profound experience of art is an experience of something like love, which is to say of singularity.” — Garth Greenwell

Luis Muñoz: “Reading a Fourteenth-Century Poem Together” A poem by Luis Muñoz: “The instant / required for it to exist / isn’t the only place / it belongs.”

“it afternoons endlessly, with the fervent
spacious feeling
of a miniature.”

— Luis Muñoz, translated by Idra Novey and Garth Greenwell

Isolde gives birth at the end of Yuval Sharon’s new Tristan at the Met. I wrote about why that’s a profound betrayal of the opera’s deepest commitments—& also the only part of the production I liked. Free post, no paywall. garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/tristan-un...

I saw Tristan und Isolde at the Met and had lots of feelings. Free post, no paywall. garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/tristan-un...

ANOTHER COUNTRY is Baldwin’s most ambitious novel, & maybe his greatest. 4 sessions of close reading, a deep dive into how to learn through engagement with a masterpiece. www.garthgreenwell.com/class-archiv...

A deep dive into Alexander Chee’s masterpiece EDINBURGH, which has influenced a whole generation of writers. A course in close reading as writers. 4 sessions, including a visit from Alexander for the finale. www.garthgreenwell.com/class-archiv...

One of my favorite classes to teach is Mysticism for Writers, an exploration of the ideas and writing techniques of the mystical tradition (Julian of Norwich, Marguerite Porete) & how they can enrich our own writing. www.garthgreenwell.com/class-archiv...

I’ve been offering online classes since 2020. For the first time, we’re making select classes available for purchase, starting with these three. See below for more information, & you can find full details here: www.garthgreenwell.com/class-archive

Very happy to see this beautiful poem by Luis Muñoz in @yalereview.bsky.social. Translated by Idra Novey and myself. ONE MOMENT is out May 12 from Washington Square Press. yalereview.org/article/luis...

It was an immense solace to live for a few days with James Merrill’s great poem “Rescue,” in which a story about saving a turtle crossing a busy road becomes a profound vision of human meaning. We are more than cruelty and war. Full essay here: garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/james-merr...

Sharing again for the evening crowd: To celebrate James Merrill’s centenary, a very close, very nerdy reading of his impossibly great poem, “Rescue,” in which he miraculously turns Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse gay. Full essay here: garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/james-merr...

James Merrill’s “Rescue” A miraculous poem

I just finished @garthgreenwell.bsky.social's perfect explication of James Merrill's poem "Rescue," and it makes me wish I were more committed to the act of reading and understanding poetry—entirely free of the blind urge to insturmentalize it. garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/james-merr...

Thank you so much!

No greater pleasure on James Merrill's centenary than nerding out over his great "Rescue," a miraculous poem about a miracle, which has 1) the gayest line of poetry I know & 2) a talking turtle. Also: our first ever audio feature. Link: garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/james-merr...

Oh hello! Just to say: I wasn’t involved in the review / acceptance process at all. I’m sorry it didn’t work out this time! I don’t know if there’s any plans for sharing work, but if the class goes well maybe I will try to offer it again in a more accessible way.

The idea of ”genius” has become problematic in our anti-exceptionalist moment. Ruth Asawa’s work & life show why we can’t do without it. Full essay (no paywall) here: garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/how-small-...

Please join us as we read Brenda Navarro's extraordinary EATING ASHES, tr. Megan McDowell. Meetings are open to all Founding Members of the newsletter. You can read my thoughts on book clubs (& why I love them) & sign up here: garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/an-ideal-o...