I recently returned from the Sundress Academy for the Arts writing residency in Knoxville, where I completed 14 new pages of my novel. I also read Karl Ove Knausgaard’s novel Spring while there—borrowed from their library—and its slow observations about family dynamics were a perfect complement to the work I am doing. The residency was located at Firefly Farms, and the writer-in-residence and I cooked meals, read poetry to each other, and hiked to the nearby spring. Restorative, peaceful time. Huge thanks to Erin Elizabeth Smith for this opportunity and to poet Joey Gould for welcoming me and showing me around with such care!
Lana Spendl 