A young artist finds that her creativity comes from within when the rug that she had always relied upon for inspiration is destroyed.

"These are questions that matter, questions that recur at each stage of artistic development - and they are the source for this volume of wonderfully incisive commentary." "Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reason it often doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way." "This is a book about what it feels like to sit in your studio or classroom, at your wheel or keyboard, easel...

The chief art critic for The New York Times writes on the creative impulse that emerges in all of us when we realize that the art of making art starts with the art of living. This wide-ranging book explores art as life's great passion, revealing what we can learn of life through works of art and the people who make them. It assures us that art--points of contact with the exceptional that are linked straight to the heart--can be found almost anywhere...

"A charmingly idiosyncratic look at writing, creativity, and the author's own novels. Haruki Murakami's myriad fans will be delighted by this unique look into the mind of a master storyteller. In this engaging book, the internationally best-selling author and famously reclusive writer shares with readers what he thinks about being a novelist; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the...

A collection of essays follows the author as she contemplates the pleasure of artistic labor; her boundless curiosity for the flora and fauna that surround her; and the responsibility she has inherited from the great thinkers and writers of the past.

"From the legendary music producer, a savant at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book, many years in the making, that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us. "I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be." -Rick Rubin Many famed music producers, however brilliant, become known for a particular sound which...

"Peter Winceworth, a disaffected Victorian lexicographer, inserts false entries into a dictionary - violating and subverting the dictionary's authority - in an attempt to assert some sense of individual purpose and artistic freedom. In the present day, Mallory, a young overworked and underpaid intern employed by the dictionary's publishing house, is tasked with uncovering these entries before the work is digitised. As the novel progresses and their...

One of the country's leading literary scholars explores the fascinating question of why some people's creative talents flourish with age while others' fade. America grows older yet stays focused on its young. Whatever hill we try to climb, we're "over" it by fifty and should that hill involve entertainment or athletics we're finished long before. And if younger is better, it doesn't appear that youngest is best: we want our teachers, doctors, generals,...

For more than a decade, award-winning writer (and co-author of The Disaster Artist) Tom Bissell has explored questions at the heart of the creative endeavor in astute, remarkable and often hilarious essays. What are sitcoms for, exactly? Can art be both bad and genius? Why do some books survive and others vanish? These pieces cover Bissell's best writing on writers, filmmakers, actors and artists. From Portland, where he visits a midnight screening...

An exploration of the writing life by Francesca Lia Block, offers visceral insights and healing exercises for the writer who creates as a way to process pain and adversity. Block offers guideposts of awareness for writers, such as how to find a muse, channeling agony into art, putting chaos into order, ignoring the inner critic, fostering personal perseverance, and thriving as an artist in a troubled world. The author also addresses the intrinsic...