{"id":234,"date":"2018-04-19T09:50:25","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T14:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/?p=234"},"modified":"2018-04-19T09:50:25","modified_gmt":"2018-04-19T14:50:25","slug":"still-life-with-horses-nominated-as-finalist-for-the-midwest-independent-publishing-association-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/2018\/04\/19\/still-life-with-horses-nominated-as-finalist-for-the-midwest-independent-publishing-association-award\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Still Life with Horses’ Nominated as Finalist for the Midwest Independent Publishing Association Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Still Life with Horses<\/em>, winner of the Howling Bird Press 2017 Nonfiction Prize, has been nominated as a finalist for the Midwest Independent Publishing Association Award in the category of Autobiography\/Memoir. For author Jean Harper, the success of her memoir has been a long process that began with the death of one her best friends; a horse named Buddy. In a recent interview with the online literary blog The Review Review<\/em>, Harper said that \u201cwhen you love an animal it\u2019s almost a primal thing. You speak in ways beyond language, through the body; so when you\u2019re writing about that animal, it\u2019s as though the whole body is writing. It\u2019s exhausting; it\u2019s exhilarating.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A prolific writer, Harper\u2019s first book is titled Rose City: A Memoir of Work<\/em>. Her essays have appeared in The Florida Review, North American Review, Iowa Review, Harpur Palate, Yemasee Review<\/em>, and elsewhere. She also teaches writing and literature at Indiana University East. When asked about the her process of writing Still Life with Horses<\/em>, Harper said that at first \u201cit was a big bloated mess of a draft, but that\u2019s how I like to work: \u00a0have something to edit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the interview, Harper emphasized that all writers go through the same process of getting stuck, getting rejected, searching for the right word, and endlessly fiddling with the same paragraph, but added, \u201cyou have company. You are a real writer.\u201d She went on to express gratitude for mentoring provided by editors and the networks created by literary journals. Harper stated that, \u201ca good editor is such a fantastic learning experience for a writer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the greatest takeaway from the interview with Harper was her commitment to her craft. As Harper stated, \u201cI\u2019m paying attention all the time; I\u2019m writing it down on paper all the time.\u201d When asked about her nonfiction characters, Harper expressed the need to \u201cget it right\u201d and to be truthful and honest. But ultimately, she said, her \u201callegiance is to the story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0The full interview by Tanya Perkins and posted by The Review Review<\/em> is found at: <\/span>A Chat with Memoirist Jean Harper.<\/a> Harper\u2019s book, Still Life with Horses<\/em> is published by Howling Bird Press and distributed through <\/span>Small Press Distribution. <\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Still Life with Horses, winner of the Howling Bird Press 2017 Nonfiction Prize, has been nominated as a finalist for the Midwest Independent Publishing Association Award in the category of Autobiography\/Memoir. For author Jean Harper, the success of her memoir … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":767,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/767"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/howlingbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}