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Description of  How to Start Writing (and When to Stop): Advice for Writers

At once kind and hilarious, this compilation of the Nobel Prize-winning poets advice to writers is illustrated with her own marvelous collages In this witty how-to guide, Wislawa Szymborska has nothing but sympathy for the labors of would-be writers generally: I myself started out with rotten poetry and stories, she confesses in this collection of pieces culled from the advice she gaveanonymouslyfor many years in the well-known Polish journal . She returns time and again to the mundane business of writing poetry properly, that is to say, painstakingly and sparingly. I sigh to be a poet, Miss A. P. from Bialogard exclaims. I groan to be an editor, Szymborska responds. Szymborska stubbornly insists on poetrys prosaic side: Lets take the wings off and try writing on foot, shall we? This delightful compilation, translated by the peerless Clare Cavanagh, will delight readers and writers alike. . Read more