Ask the Author: Thomas Wendell Simpson
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Thomas Wendell Simpson
A collection of my literary essays about religion, violence, and recovery in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina, two of which have appeared in the wonderful Canadian literary magazine Numéro Cinq. The collection will be edited and introduced by one of my favorite Bosnian writers, Goran Simić.
(I visited Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time in 2004, as the director of Emory University's "Journeys of Reconciliation" program. You can see photographs and essays from my travels at https://tomsimpsonphd.wordpress.com/).
(I visited Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time in 2004, as the director of Emory University's "Journeys of Reconciliation" program. You can see photographs and essays from my travels at https://tomsimpsonphd.wordpress.com/).
Thomas Wendell Simpson
As a specialist in modern U.S. religious history, I have been interested for decades in Mormonism's evolution from a small, persecuted sect into a thriving, global faith. Specifically, I have focused on the question of Mormon "Americanization" -- the process by which Mormons abandoned their (often determined) resistance to the federal government and became fiercely loyal U.S. citizens in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Thomas Wendell Simpson
Over and over again, I go back to Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones and Anne Lamott's Bird By Bird to remind myself how important it is to be uninhibited early in the process -- to allow myself full freedom to generate raw, unfiltered material and keep nagging obsessions with publication at bay. Often, following Goldberg's lead, I'll draft the early material with pen and paper, which feels far more soothing and encouraging to me than a blank computer screen. Once I generate the raw material, much of which I'll scrap, I leave time to step away, return, and revise, so that the best ideas can really marinate and come to me in their own time.
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