Writing As Healing

The writer of two published collections of poetry, Donald Faulkner came to the New York State Writers Institute as its associate director in 1995 from Yale University, where he taught literature and for 12 years headed Yale’s summer writing program. For more than a decade, however, he also worked 10 to 15 hours per week as writer-in-residence at The Connecticut Hospice, which, in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Arts, had instituted a pilot program bringing the arts into health care settings.

“The idea was, and is, that artists would bring a great deal to the mix, and that they would get something out of the experience for their art,” said Faulkner. “After I had lost four close family members— including my father—to illness within the course of 18 months, I was seeking answers to questions. I ended with few answers and many more questions.”

These are to be reflected in a “non-fiction novel,” Something Rich and Strange, due out within a year. It is a story of pain and suffering, but one containing “a distinct M*A*S*H-like humor” and an exploration of the human mystery, with Faulkner’s narrator a character in the search.

“My inspirations were decidedly literary,” said Faulkner, who made a presentation on the subject at the Associated Writing Programs conference April 15. “I’m very high on what can be done within the non-fiction frame, working with novelistic categories like plot, character, setting, and mood.”

Faulkner’s mood concerning the Writers Institute is now at a crest. “A lot of what I really wanted to see happen came together at the AWP conference: we brought together scads of talent and established ourselves as a major force on the national literary scene.”

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