Short story author Grace Paley reads and answers questions

Grace Paley (1922-2007), a short story writer, poet and activist, was New York's first official state author and later poet laureate of Vermont. Paley's "Collected Stories" (1994) was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. This rare edition of HoCoPoLitSo's The Writing Life was videotaped at Howard Community College, October 1988. The feisty author reads from her short story "Wants" and takes questions from Howard County high school students. Paley discusses the importance of "moving through the generations" for ideas and learning "how to tell the truth in writing." Her work emphasizes the importance of the women's lives, she explains, and her work is "fed by the works of other writers" she admires. Paley ends the program by reading two poems, "For My Son (Danny)" and "People In My Family," from A Peace Calendar for 1989.
For more information about "The Writing Life" and HoCoPoLitSo (the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society), visit www.hocopolitso.org.