MFA in a Box: A Why to Write Book

As Rember notes in his introduction, “MFA in a Box is not a How to Write Book. It’s a Why to Write Book.” By exploring the relationships between the writer and love, grief, place, family, race and violence, Rember helps writers dive deep into their own writing. He tells them how they can breathe down there and how they can get back.“A big part of writing involves grappling with the terrors and discouragements that come when you have writing skills but can’t project yourself or your work into the future,” says Rember. “My hope is that MFA in a Box will help writers balance the despair of writing with the joy of writing. It’s a book designed to help you to find the courage to put truth into words and to understand that writing is a life-and-death endeavor—but that nothing about a life-and-death endeavor keeps it from being laugh-out-loud funny.”

John Rember lives and writes in the Sawtooth Valley of Idaho. Recurring themes in his writing include the meaning of place, the impact of tourism on the West, and the fragility of industrial civilization. His books include A Hundred Little Pieces on the End of the World; Traplines: Coming Home to Sawtooth Valley; MFA in a Box: A Why to Write Book; Sudden Death, Over Time; Cheerleaders from Gomorrah: Tales from the Lycra Archipelago; and Coyote in the Mountains and Other Stories.