Writers and artists relate learning

The most recent issue of New Letters magazine features a special section dedicated to two writers’ beginnings. Thomas Fox Averill recounts his 16th summer, when he worked at a cemetery in Topeka, Kan., and what he learned about writing and life. In an essay entitled “Hitting the Wall of My Ignorance,” Thomas E. Kennedy reflects on what he discovered while reading John Barth’s “The Floating Opera.”

This issue explores the inherent optimism of beginnings and celebrates the creation of art. A work by Margaret Brommelsiek provides the cover image for the issue, and her art is featured throughout. Brommelsiek’s hand-pieced collages explore different religious traditions she came to know through literature. Poetry, short stories and reviews of new books round out the contents.

In his editor’s note, Robert Stewart writes, “We are consoled and uplifted by the making [of art], itself. In that way, at least, writers and artists give us hope.”