Sailing the Inland Sea: On Writing, Literature, and Land

Calling on the image of the Midwest’s vanished inland sea, Susan Neville has written a compelling collection of essays that ponder writing and the "landlocked imagination." The essays range from interviews with Indiana writers Kurt Vonnegut, Scott Sanders, Marguerite Young, and others, to discussions on techniques grounded in a Midwestern sensibility. As director of Butler University’s Visiting Writers Series, Neville has had the rare opportunity to converse with such literary giants as Salman Rushdie, Ray Bradbury, and Toni Morrison, and some of those exchanges have been incorporated into this exciting new collection.

Calling on the image of the Midwest's vanished inland sea, Susan Neville has written a compelling collection of essays that ponder writing and the "landlocked imagination." The essays range from interviews with Indiana writers Kurt Vonnegut, Scott Sanders, Marguerite Young, and others, to discussions on techniques grounded in a Midwestern sensibility. As director of Butler University's Visiting Writers Series, Neville has had the rare opportunity to converse with such literary giants as Salman Rushdie, Ray Bradbury, and Toni Morrison, and some of those exchanges have been incorporated into this exciting new collection.

Pam Kingsbury - Library Journal

Taking her title from the image of Indiana's landlocked status, Neville (English & creative writing, Butler Univ.; Iconography: A Writer's Meditation) addresses the Midwest consciousness, its literary scene, and the various authors with whom she's worked as director of Butler University's "Visiting Writers" series. A native Hoosier, Neville celebrates place and her home state's considerable contributions to the literary world. The essays are eclectic, engaging, and entertaining. Her conversations with the late Kurt Vonnegut are particularly timely, offering a portrait of a gentle spirit and an extraordinary writer. She also reminds readers of the contributions of, among other writers, Sinclair Lewis, Scott Russell Sanders, Marguerite Young, Dan Wakefield, Etheridge Knight, and Jessamyn West to American letters. The individual chapters have been previously published in smaller magazines and/or delivered as lectures. Taken together, they constitute a love letter to the Midwest as well as a lively commentary on creativity and the writing life. Highly recommended for all libraries with large collections on creative writing and for all libraries in the Midwest.

Susan Neville is a native Hoosier and professor of English and creative writing at Butler University. Her books include Indiana Winter (IUP, 1994), Falling Toward Grace: Images of Religion and Culture from the Heartland (edited with J. Kent Calder) (IUP, 1998), and Iconography: A Writer's Meditation (IUP, 2003). She is also on the faculty of the Warren Wilson Program for Writers in North Carolina. She lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.