Walking Among Giants

Like Kaveh Akbar, John Irving, Jennifer Clement, and Margaret Atwood

If you have a chance to see Kaveh Akbar speak in person, run, don’t walk to this giant among men. I am forever humbled by and in awe of this man.

I’m sure that sounds dramatic. I’ll let it.

I booked a trip to the San Miguel Writer’s Conference to see Percival Everett who was one of the six keynote speakers, because I had become a little bit creepy-stalker-obsessed with him after reading Telephone and James and seeing American Fiction. He made me want to be more brave, both in my writing and generally in my life, and I wanted to hear his take on pretty much anything. (i.e. Percival, do you like bananas? Tell me what you like about them so I can ponder it while I munch on this dented one from my purse.)

So a couple nights before the conference when Percival cancelled, I physically winced. But by then there were so many other things about this trip I was looking forward to that I stopped pitching my internal baby fit and thought eh, it’s fine.

A couple days earlier I had bought Kaveh Akbar’s book Martyr! because he was also a keynote speaker, and I had an oddly mature moment when I thought, wouldn’t it be something if I knew who he was and what he had written before I heard him speak? I did my homework! I read a book I probably would not have picked up otherwise. And the more I read it, the more I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I got a little bit of the Percival Everett stalker-y vibe going again, and I’m telling you, I don’t get that way often (Kaveh—your thoughts on bananas, speak them to me!)(I felt like this earlier in life about John Irving, who was also a keynote speaker in San Miguel. So was Margaret Atwood. How incredible is that? So much to stalk. They seriously gathered the greats.)

Back to Kaveh. What an incomparable human, guided so clearly by something larger than himself. He is in immense physical pain, but he loves to speak and connect with people, which is good because he’s a powerful and gifted orator. When it came time for Q&A, the pain was too much for him so he took the microphone and lay on his back on the stage so he could continue. He said, “This will only be weird for about thirty seconds,” and he was right! His speech and his answers were so thoughtful and kind and transcendent and luminous. To say I laughed and cried would not do justice to the snorting guffaws and chest-tearing sobs that escaped from me.

Staci spoke while I cried.

Kaveh is a poet first and foremost. In my time as a writer, I have had the good fortune of practicing my craft with several poets, and I have to say, a poet’s prose might be my favorite thing to read. It’s like they are writing with the blood of their beautiful broken hearts. I just get so caught up in it.

This book. This man. I am so moved by his talent, by his command of the written and spoken word, by his beautiful broken heart that he can’t keep inside himself to the point that he must literally speak from his back. He is called to share with the world and we are so lucky to be here to witness it.

I am grateful to Percival Everett for bringing me to Mexico, and I hope he is healing from whatever pulled him away. I leave inspired and with a full heart and belly, with a desire to experience more art in person with dear friends. Kaveh spoke about the importance of being a writer, especially now, the grave, fundamental need for people to communicate with clear imagery and inspire others to action. Boy, do I feel fortunate, energized, and grateful to be alive at the same as Kaveh and the other giants I heard from this week.

Now it’s my turn to (hopefully) inspire, and I’m really excited about it. Are you writing a memoir or do you know someone who is? I am leading an in-person read and critique group for memoir writers every Thursday from 10am to noon at San Diego Writers, Ink starting March 6th. It would be my privilege to listen to your story and nurture its direction in a constructive, focused group format. To sign up, go to writeyourstorynow.org.

If you’re more comfortable working one-on-one, I do that too. Reach out! Let’s get your story into the world.

It’s KidsWrite! time! Tell all the K-18 kids in San Diego county you know—this amazing contest for short story, poetry, and graphic story is free! Submissions close on March 2nd at 11:55pm. Winners will be announced at the San Diego Writers Festival on April 5th. Go here to learn more.

While I continue to process all the beauty, behold a few of the fountains of San Miguel.

Please share this with readers and writers you know and subscribe for free if you haven’t already. Then tell me in the comments below, who is your favorite giant? And where do you go to be inspired?

“I felt dizzy again from aliveness. Flush with baffle and excitement, like the first person to taste snow. And then, natural as air, we stood up and walked back into the bazaar, where men were arguing about nonsense, where women swept dirt from dirt.”—Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!