Shorts

THE WRITER’S BRUSH, featured writer/artist, Fall 2018. “Tess Callahan Squints at the Page as well as the Canvas.” ‘The constraints we rail against may be the very ones we need.’ A fiction writer and essayist whose work has appeared in such prestigious venues as AGNI, Narrative Magazine, and the New York Times Magazine, Tess Callahan’s widely praised, multiply translated, debut novel April and Oliver was declared by The Boston Globe to place her “in the delicious tradition of Jane Austen.”

THE COMMON: A Modern Sense of Place, book review, Fall 2018, “Review of THE DISTANCE HOME by Paula Saunders.” Willa Cather wrote, “Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.” I thought of those words while reading Paula Saunders’s cinematic debut novel, The Distance Home, which is based on her fractured 1960s South Dakota childhood. Saunders draws from a deep well.

THE INDEPENDENT TEACHER, online magazine of NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools), Contributor, Spring 2018. “Ignite Writing Passion: Four Ways to Create a Culture of Writing Among Students and Faculty.” Tess Callahan recommends four unconventional approaches for inspiring student writers—from launching a joint student/teacher writing challenge with the intent of sharing first drafts to teachers modeling their writing and revision strategies for students, from showcasing student and teacher writing on an in-house school blog to providing information about writing contests, publishing opportunities, and writing circles within the wider community. Find the article in the Spring 2018 Issue of the NAIS The Independent Teacher.

AWP WRITER’S NOTEBOOK, Contributor, September 2017, “Creative Paradox: Writers Who Think ‘Inside’ the Box.” From Miranda to Murakami, discerning writers reject the cliché: “think outside the box.” Instead, they custom-make boxes and wedge themselves inside.

WRITER’S DIGEST MAGAZINE, Contributor, September 2017 print edition, “Train Your Eye for Better Writing.” This article explores three ways to add color to the canvas of your manuscript by using techniques adapted from traditional visual arts training: emulations, thumbnails and underpaintings. It also offers bits of wisdom gleaned from artistic masters John Gardner, Natalie Goldberg, Stephen King, Roy Kinzer, Ann Lamott, Pablo Picasso and Francine Prose.

QWERTY MAGAZINE, Author Interview , April 24, 2017. This interview explores writing process, writer’s block and procrastination, and the successful use of constraints to unleash creativity.

SWAAY MEDIA, Contributor, March 16, 2017. “Keeping Focused and Calm in a Turbulent World.”

CHICAGO WOMAN MAGAZINE, Contributor, March 11, 2017. “How to Use Your Dream Last Night for Personal Growth Today.”

WRITER’S BONE PODCAST, Author Interview, February 27, 2017.

PROJECT EVE, Contributor, February 12, 2017. “Three Ways to Leverage Your Workplace Creativity.”

MS. CAREER GIRL, Contributor, February 2, 2017. “Looking for Inspiration? Let it Find You.”

BEST AMERICAN POETRY BLOG, Guest Author, December 2015. “Unleash Creativity: Five Part Series,” These five posts explore creativity tools for you and your students, including emulation exercises, timed exercises, ideas for limiting your palette and approaching your work from fresh vantage points.

THE BEST LITTLE BOOK CLUB IN TOWN, “Twelve Percent,” September 2011; reprinted in Women & Home South Africa Magazine, Summer 2014.

“Twelve Percent,” a short story by Tess Callahan is included in The Best Little Book Club in Town, September 2011. The anthology also includes stories by Jodi Picoult, Mavis Cheek, Sophie Kinsella, Katie Fforde, Lee Child, Tracy Chevalier, Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth Nobel, Jo Jo Moyes, Kate Mosse and Cathy Kelly.

“Some brilliantly-crafted snaps of fiction and a great way of discovering some new favourite authors. Be prepared to be amused, touched and excited by this anthology by 30 top authors.” ~ OXFORD TIMES

NARRATIVE MAGAZINE, January 2014, “White Moon Rising.” This excerpt from Callahan’s forthcoming novel was selected as Narrative Magazine’s Story of the Week.

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Three Books about Dads who Love Dangerously, June 19, 2010

Sunday is the day we remember our doting, caring dads — but this Father’s Day, Tess Callahan wonders whether it’s possible for a dad to overextend his love. She looks at three books where a father’s protection means keeping some dangerous secrets.