Letter to Frank Conroy
Head of Iowa Writers Workshop

Dear Mr. Conroy,

In his recent book, Art is Work, the world-renowned graphic designer Milton Glaser wrote of the difficulty we often face in recognizing new movements in the arts. So it may seem at first a bit brash to enclose something new here and ask that you open your mind to a very different kind of writing. But do so I must, because nothing less than the future of literature is at stake.

This year, you received about 1,100 applications for 50 slots in your graduate program. There is no shortage of eager young writers, many of whom are enormously talented. But where are the eager young readers? If the recent NEA study is any indication, they are seldom to be found.

I believe that literature and poetry have a great future. But in black and white, in rigidly formatted blocks of rectangles, in the old Gutenberg style, literature and poetry have no future. Just sit in the lunchrooms of any high school in America — whether the wealthy schools of Westchester County, New York, where I live, or the impoverished schools of the Bronx, where I work — and you will seldom hear a peep about literature. You will, however, hear passionate discussions about the latest DVDs, movies, music videos, video games, and reality television. And you will hear of their dreams and aspirations to be musicians, actors, athletes, directors, doctors, and lawyers — but rarely writers. And even more rarely, readers.

Your students may go on to do great work, but every year it becomes less and less likely that they will go on to enjoy a great readership. The Gutenberg style book simply can’t compete for the attention of younger generations. Norman Mailer recently bemoaned the demise of the novel, calling it a mere “sidecar.” As you are well aware, he is not alone in his laments.

Visitors can read on your website that alumni of your program have won a dozen Pulitzer Prizes and numerous National Book Awards. Four recent U.S. Poet Laureates have graduated from the Workshop. Writing programs invariably boast of their awards and publications, but I ask you a simple, honest question: can they boast of a growing readership? One of the most common phrases one hears these days is, "There are more writers than readers." I do not for a moment deny the extraordinary merits of your program and of your graduates. But walk into any high school (and most colleges) in America and you will find that the last thing on their minds is reading the work of U.S. Poet Laureates or Pulitzer Prize winners.

Albert Einstein once said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” We cannot expand our readership in the old, black and white way. We must begin to recognize that the Gutenberg style book represents a very particular – and very peculiar – way of reading and writing. It emerged in a very specific time and place, for technological and economic reasons. It certainly did not emerge for its beauty.

Goodbye Gutenberg suggests we marry the visual beauty of the past with today’s latest technologies to create a new kind of book. Above all, to create a new kind of reader.

Warmly,

Valerie Kirschenbaum

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