Teach Issue 12

Listen to Editor in Chief Jennifer Acker discuss The Common, the role of place in literature, and the editorial process.

The Rituals With Which We Stud Our Lives: Clare Beams and Hilary Leichter discuss Beam’s story “The Drop,” which appears in Issue 12.

A Conversation with PEN America Best Debut Short Story Author Emily Chammah on Catapult: Chammah discusses the development of her story “Tell me Please” with Catapult Books; this award-winning story, which first appeared in Issue 12, will be published in PEN America Best Debut Short Stories 2017.

Recordings

• “A Gift Horse” by Timothy Liu
• “Wythe County in July” by Dolores Hayden.
• “The Noises” by J. D. McClatchy.
• “And Then It Rains” by Karen Chase.
• “The Blue Hat” By Wyatt Townley.

Sample Lesson Plan

Read “Tell Me, Please” by Emily Chammah; “The Storytelling Animal” by Anna Badkhen; “Seventh Day Adventist Kids are Pathfinders, Not Scouts” by Erica Dawson; “Leave the Child” by Akwe Amosu; and another piece from Issue 12 that you feel connects to the assigned pieces.

Write a thoughtful, well-organized two-page response, identifying, describing and commenting on the ways in which these works speak to each other. Address connections or disconnections among the selections, considering theme, style, subject, and elements of craft (image, voice, character, setting, story).

Adapted from Judy Baumel, Professor of English and Founding Director of Creative Writing, Adelphi University

For further exploration

Artist Rico Gatson collaborates with Amherst students to create a mural, St. James #3, in the Mead Art Museum.

Explore these collected resources on literary translation.