• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Meg Waite Clayton

New York Times Bestselling Author

  • Meg
    • Bio
    • Short Works
    • Meg’s Writing Process
  • Books
    • The Postmistress of Paris
    • The Last Train to London
    • Beautiful Exiles
    • The Race for Paris
    • The Wednesday Sisters
    • The Four Ms. Bradwells
    • The Language of Light
    • The Wednesday Daughters
    • International Editions
  • Events
  • News
  • Videos
  • Bookgroups
    • The Postmistress of Paris
    • The Last Train to London
    • The Race For Paris
    • The Wednesday Sisters
    • The Four Ms. Bradwells
    • The Language of Light
    • The Wednesday Daughters
    • My Bookclubs
  • Writing Tips
    • Tips for Writers
    • How Writers Get Started
    • On Agent Queries
    • Publishing Tips
  • Contact

November 7, 2011 By Meg Waite Clayton

Inside This Place Not of It

“Good writing takes place at intersections, at what you might call knots, at places where the society is snarled or knotted up.”
– Margaret Atwood

In all the gloom and doom news that seems to come from the publishing world these days, I’ve just found cause to applaud some good that’s being done. Author Dave Eggers and physician/human rights scholar Lola Vollen have founded a nonprofit division of McSweeney’s Books called Voice of Witness, meant to empower those most closely affected by contemporary social injustice. “Using oral history as a foundation, the series depicts human rights crises around the world through the stories of the men and women who experience them.”

I’ve just been reading their latest release, Inside This Place Not of It: Narratives from Women’s Prisons, compiled and edited by Robin Levi and Ayelet Waldman. These narratives are incredibly compelling. To me, they are a reminder of how thin the line is between those of us who thrive and those of us who struggle, and how much our lives can be changed as a result of bad circumstances, bad choices, or bad luck. Would any of us be the same people if we were born in less comfortable neighborhoods? We judge so harshly, sometimes, and yet from reading these narratives, you will see, we often subject women prisoners to circumstances from which any result other than a downward spiral is surely a miracle.

But read Maria Taylor’s narrative, for example. See how a life can be changed by someone who cares.

And set Eggers, Vollen, Levi, and Waldman high on the list of writers contributing to a better world. Put them up there with Masha Hamilton and her fabulous Afghan Women’s Writing Project. Reading Inside This Place Not of It has certainly left me thinking, among other things, of the importance of writing in a way that contributes to a better world. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Meg

Share:

Filed Under: Meg's Posts Tagged With: Ayelet Waldman, Dave Eggers, Inside this place not of it, lola Vollen, margaret atwood, Mcseeeney's, robin levi, voice of witness

Meg Waite Clayton

Meg Waite Clayton is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON, a Jewish Book Award finalist based on the true story of the Kindertransport rescue of ten thousand children from Nazi-occupied Europe—and one brave woman who helped them escape. Her six prior novels include the Langum-Prize honored The Race for Paris and The Wednesday Sisters, one of Entertainment Weekly's 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time. A graduate of the University of Michigan and its law school, she has also written for the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes, Runners World, and public radio, often on the subject of the particular challenges women face. megwaiteclayton.com

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Book Marketing Tips (23)
  • Bookstores worth Browsing (34)
  • Guest Authors (215)
  • How a Book Gets Published (32)
  • Literary Travel (4)
  • Meg's Posts (388)
  • Poetry Tuesdays (24)
  • Publishing Tips (20)
  • Top Writing Tips (10)
  • Uncategorized (6)
  • Writing Quotes and Other Literary Fun (115)
  • Writing Tips (61)

Archives

Footer

Post Archives

Follow Meg on Goodreads

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Copyright © 2022 Meg Waite Clayton · Site design: Ilsa Brink