March Updates: the #GCBlog

Robin Black's February Blogger in Residence Posts Still Resonating

We can't thank Robin Black enough for her time with us at the GCBlog. Her posts -- covering everything from relationships and their role for an artist, to what a judge like her looks for in a submission. Check out some of the fans' tweets, and don't hesitate to click through:

http://t.co/34xMCv9JeV Love this by @robin_black. Best caveat I've ever heard about the importance of that "gripping" story opening.

— Erica Mosley (@ericamaymosley) February 25, 2015

Thoughtful post from @robin_black: When writing "what you know" doesn't coincide with your interests: http://t.co/MnQSVjLHi9 … @Gulf_Coast

— Sarah McCraw Crow (@sarahmcrow) February 20, 2015

“Working hard is certainly a good plan, but it guarantees nothing.” @robin_black on writing, envy, & care for others: http://t.co/O0srMbBzPZ

— Amanda Leduc (@AmandaLeduc) February 12, 2015

Many thanks also to you, loyal blog and social media followers. February wouldn't have been what it was without your support and devotion.

Robin Black has a collection of Essays forthcoming from Engine Books. Until then, check out Life Drawing (Random House, 2014), her debut novel longlisted for the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize.

Visit robinblack.net for of Robin's original blog content, updates on the forthcoming collection, and much more.

David Mura to be GCBlog's April Blogger in Residence

Poet. Essayist. Playwright. Story-teller. Sansei. The list goes on. Award-winning Japanese American writer David Mura, who penned the 1991 Joesphine Miles Award-winning memoir, Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei (Groce-Atlantic), and the novel Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire (2008, Coffee House Press), a finalist for the Minnesota Book award, the John Gardner Fiction Prize, and the Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award, is coming to the GCBlog this April.

A speaker on race and the arts at institutions throughout the country, David is the Director of Training for the Innocent Classroom, a program designed to address the racial achievement gap in education by training teachers to improve their relationships with students of color.

We're only scratching the surface of David Mura's countless identities and contributions to art, race, writing, culture in general. Learn much more about David at his website, www.davidmura.com. We have no idea how to compress David into our blog, but we're taking a hint from his own blog, Secret Colors.

Stay tuned for more about the blog with the hastags #GCBlog, #guestblogger, and by bookmarking the GCblog!