Kiini
Ibura
Salaam
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Kiini Ibura Salaam is a writer, painter, and traveler from New Orleans, Louisiana. The middle child of five, she grew up in a hardscrabble neighborhood with oak and fig trees, locusts and mosquitoes, cousins and neighbors. Kiini's work delves into spheres of human liberation, human connection, and evolution. She employs speculative fiction and creative nonfiction to take readers through mind-bending journeys into the transcendent, the mystical, and the fantastic.
novel writing
BlogKIS.listartist life // Clarion West // fear // Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art // Gail Raborn // imposter // novel // novel writing // Race // Stephen Nachmanovitch // surrender // writing life // writing struggles
Vol. 50, Surrendering the Ego
Posted on 15 August 2005
Brooklyn, NY I’ve been tricked, had, hoodwinked, bamboozled. After years—10 to be exact—of working on the same high-concept novel, I have somehow been convinced to start working on a whole new novel. That’s right, completely new—from scratch! I remember when I was at Clarion West, one of our teachers—Jack Womack, told us that learning how… »
BlogKIS.listcompletion // craft of writing // following through // Frank Gaspar // MFA // Nancy Zafris // novel writing // novels // rejection/acceptance o'meter // story line // structure // themes // throughlines // workshops // writer struggles
Vol. 46, Novel Writing: A Marathon
Posted on 26 December 2004
Conversations with Writing Mentors Antioch University, Los Angeles, CA As unbelievable as it may seem, I am STILL in the race with this novel. It has been quite a long time. I have written three full drafts while in five different countries. I’ve been angry, optimistic, threatened, confronted, and exhausted by the process. I’ve had… »
BlogKIS.listcraft of writing // kiini // KIS.list // limitations // novel writing // structure // writing advice // writing strategies // writing struggles
Vol. 32, Freeing Your Work Through Limitations
Posted on 5 April 2003
The idea for this month’s column was sparked during a recent conversation with my mother. My mother is at the bitter end of her struggle to complete her Ph.D. In the final throes of her dissertation, she finds herself pulled in more than one direction. On the one hand she wants to explore all her… »
BlogKIS.listbaby steps // Cave Canem // Clarion West // Growing as a writer // Jack Womack // Kiini Ibura Salaam // KIS.list // Nalo Hopkinson // novel structure // novel writing // poetry challenge // rejection // rejection/acceptance o'meter // the artist life // writer's groups // writing // writing advice // writing organization // writing struggles // writing trips
Vol. 3, Novel Writing
Posted on 22 August 2001
Femail Circle Cyberspace I’m on a cyber-circle with a group of women from college. We’re almost all writers. We talk about life and work and encourage each other to go beyond our comfort zones in lots of ways. Last summer, one member, upon return from Cave Canem challenged us all to write a poem a… »