Lost in Okefenokee A Travel Tale by Linda Watanabe McFerrin When I was a blithely disobedient little girl, my father would always threaten, with a malignant air, to throw me into the Okefenokee Swamp. He could not know then, and doesn't know to this day, I'll bet, how thrilling a prospect that seemed. O-k-e-f-e-n-o-k-e-e. The very name was magical, and I rolled it around in my mouth with other delicious words like "Ubangi" and "Kilmanjaro." It is possible, in fact, that my unspoken desire for that forbidden place was the secret font of all my future misbehaviors. Years passed, and I … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin Shares two Poems from her Upcoming Book "Containment" and "One Thousand Cranes" both "speak to the suffering, sacrifice, courage and price that is paid when horror trumps humanity." Earlier this month, August, I served again as a member of the Faculty at the 28th Annual Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference in Corte Madera California. This is a truly special conference for me as this is the forum that launched me into a career in travel writing back in 1991 when I won its first travel writing award. This year, 2019, the conference … [Read more...]

"Sakura no Sono" by Linda Watanabe McFerrin "And the branches of the cherry trees were lit with flames, the sparks—petals of fire, carried on the wind." In the early spring cherry trees are often described as being ablaze with blossoms. This is a good, if commonplace, description of that strange and enormous pink event which spreads through the treetops and consumes the sky in a colorful flurry. In "Sakura no Sono," an apocalyptic vision of a real event which happened to her mother, Linda Watanabe McFerrin's cherry blossoms have been struck ablaze by an American firebombing. "And … [Read more...]

This August Linda Watanabe McFerrin Now that we are descending down the stairwell of the latter half of the year, counting all of our aches and sorenesses, collecting fruit like pomegranates, persimmons, things with long names and histories to couple with the widening mouth of nights, I have so little to say to you, considering how short the days have become. The sunlight, growing watery, is not shared easily.   You are opening up new spaces in the back of our bookshelves, hoping the shadows filling them will leave some kind of testament to this other world of subterranean … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin Breaks Down the Art of the Book Introduction Poet, author, travel-writer, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, speaks with us about the oft overlooked literary introduction, and breaks down the intent of her own author's introduction in "Navigating the Divide". What is the difference between a foreword, a preface, and an introduction? I prefer to go by the Chicago Manual of Style which, I believe, is what ASP uses. That’s what I usually use in my own editing, and what we [The Wanderland Writers] use for our “Wandering” series. I think the CMS says that an introduction … [Read more...]

Anne Lamott and Jasmin Darznik Share their thoughts on Navigating the Divide "Bird by Bird" author, Anne Lamott, and bestselling author of "Song of a Captive Bird," Jasmin Darznik, praise Linda Watanabe McFerrin's new Legacy Book. "I have loved everything I've ever read by Linda Watanabe McFerrin. Her prose and poetry are filled with amazing women, charm, wisdom, and light. She is both soulful and precise, eloquent and full of life." —Anne Lamott, author of "Bird by Bird" PRE-ORDER NAVIGATING THE DIVIDE Anne Lamott is the author of seven novels, Hard … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin Interviewed for Author Mathew Felix's Video Podcast Author and poet Linda Watanabe McFerrin sat down with Mathew Felix, himself an author of some renown, for Mathew's video podcast this last weekend. What follows is an in-depth, thoughtful, and often irreverent look at writing, life, travel, and zombies. And more, the listener may become privy to many of those juicy and illusive details surrounding Linda's new Legacy Book due out from ASP in Autumn 2019. Check out the interview below. Linda starts to talk about ASP and her Legacy Book ~50 minutes in. and don't … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin and The Legacy Book: A Look Back This past week we've spent looking at Linda Watanabe McFerrin's literary breadth; she's read poetry for us, shared stories from Japan, where she grew up, taken us to the world of Namako: Sea Cucumber, served us a sensual Italian feast in English, and guided us through the streets of her own home, San Francisco. In a lot of ways we've been looking back on these wonderful pieces by Linda, pulling them from piles and old publications--from a harddrive or two perhaps. After all, a Legacy book is designed to be backwards-looking. That is: … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin reads "Noche de los Muertos" McFerrin is adept at describing the concerns of women of various ethnic backgrounds, from different geographic regions of America and showing that despite race, country of origin, or physical location, some feelings and difficulties are universal. Elizabeth Millard "Tonight we remember, we make room for the dead. Tonight, they are among us." Linda Watanabe McFerrin, consummate traveler, didn't have to stray too far from home to experience this San Franciscan tradition. As a resident of the Bay Area she could hardly have avoided it. … [Read more...]

Hear Linda read from her YA novel Namako: Sea Cucumber Namako is a novel about a child’s virgin dance with the truth with lies and secrets. Each new violation of trust is like a footprint on the tundra, refining the way the child walks through life. Los Angeles Times Namako: Sea Cucumber may be classified (or hastily genre-fied) as a Young Adult Novel, but it sure doesn't pull any punches. Namako is a coming-of-age story set in a defiantly real world. In it, the naive and small universe of the child is conquered by a reality in turns sublime and beautiful, horrific and wondrous. These young, … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin reads her poem "Sakura no Sono" Rare is the writer that I know who has created her own genre… Linda writes with such verisimilitude that you’ll never have to leave home again. Perry Garfinkel Having grown up in Japan, Linda Watanabe McFerrin's poetry can often seem kindred to that of the great annalists of the cherry blossom. She is calm, observant, nature-focused, a perfecter of the line, with a tight guard on syllable count and an ear for economy. The brilliance of her visceral calm and her sense, as a travel writer, of the construction of place, come through … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin reads "On Pleasures Oral" McFerrin’s writing is strong and beautiful, almost like poetry, and the result is provocative, sometimes humorous, and always colorful. Library Journal Yesterday we explored the playful and experimental side of Linda Watanabe McFerrin's vivacious poetry with "Speaking in Tongues." Today we move on through her literary abîmes into territory quite different, not for lack of lyrical wordplay, but because as you will hear, feel, taste, and smell, "On Pleasures Oral" is a veritable feast of vivid, sensual description. The subtleties exist here in … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin reads "Speaking in Tongues" "Linda Watanabe McFerrin’s poetry rises from the true encounter between language and vision, between wonder and exploration fused with the poet’s need to uncover the mysteries of the earth." Ray Gonzalez Linda Watanabe McFerrin's first featured audio as an ASP author is an intriguing poem which showcases her kaleidoscopic usage of sound. "When there are no words, just sounds that move me." This line prefaces "Speaking Tongues" perhaps to tell the reader not to expect their colors to come easily from rich imagery or description, but from the … [Read more...]