LoginSeptember 2022 Notable Author: Madison Smartt Bell
“Writing is daydreaming with a pen in my hand." – Madison Smartt Bell
Madison Smartt Bell (born August 1, 1957, in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American novelist who upon receiving his BA from Princeton (79) and his MA in English and Creative Writing from Hollins College (81) began teaching creative writing. He taught for the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars. In 1984, he joined Goucher College becoming a Professor of English and then Director of the Kratz Center for Creative Writing (1999-2008). In 2008, he received the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Bell is described as a “southern writer” both by “inheritance and in his love for language, emphasis on storytelling, fondness for eccentric characters, and sense of the mysterious power of place.” His work has earned respectful critical attention and high praise for its energy and artistry. He is particularly known for All Souls’ Rising, Master of the Crossroads, and The Stone That the Builder Refused, novels that focus on Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution. After reading them you will describe Bell as “…imaginative, brilliant, and compassionate…”
He received the Lillian Smith Award, Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and was a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. In 1996, Granta magazine called him one of “the best American novelists under 40”. Bell's books have been translated into eight languages. He is also a literary journalist and contributes to The New York Times, The Nation, The New York Review of Books, and The Boston Globe,
Bell is married to the poet, Elizabeth Spires, and they have one daughter.
Genre: Historical Fiction
The story takes place in the past and involves actual historical figures or historical events. Historical novels capture the details of the time period as accurately as possible for authenticity, including social norms, manners, customs, and traditions.
Sample Reading List: All Souls Rising, Master of the Crossroads, The Stone That the Builder Refused, The Washington Square Ensemble, Waiting for the End of the World, Ten Indians (set in Baltimore).
Writer's Prompt - Fun With Words
Fun With Words - Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) invites you to have fun writing historical fiction like Madison Smartt Bell. With just 100 words, place your character in a accurate historicalcontext involving rebellion or revolt against governmental or societal injustice. Title your work and submit to: https://marylandwriters.org/Notable_Maryland_Authors by the 22nd of the month to receive an MWA Fun With Words submission certificate. Selected responses to be published with next month’s article as well as posted on the MWA website.
Submit Your FUN WITH WORDS Prompt
The MWA is a 33-year-old state-wide association (501c3) dedicated to encouraging and mentoring Maryland writers, poets, playwrights, and authors. Go to: www.MarylandWriters.org for more info.
Jon Ketzner
Oct. 6, 2022Elias at Masada Young Elias stared over the fortress walls watching Flavius Silvia’s Roman dogs. After months of besieging Masada, to their great frustration, the oppressors had struck upon a worrisome tactic. Clever and brutal, the Romans built a stone ramp up the steep mesa to Masada’s thick walls. Now they were constructing a huge siege tower to push up the ramp and battle ram the Jewish fortifications. Elias, like every vastly outnumbered defender at Masada, prepared to die repelling the pagan Legions. Eleazar Ben Yair, the charismatic Jewish commander had sworn, “No one leaves Masada alive until the scourge is pushed from Masada and back into the sea.”
Lawrence McGuire
Oct. 6, 2022SODOM OF UNCLEANLINESS, PESTHOUSE OF INIQUITY Gideon Killyngwulf hurried south. Bearing an eel-slick musket, he ran through crimson twilight. John Coode and the other Associators waited. Harsh hushed laughter trembled the air. Armed men, like Gideon, gathered near the state house in Saint Mary's City to expel Catholics, to purify the colony. Gideon's spirit burned like match cord. For years tobacco prices had fallen. Faithful men, like himself, had lost their lands, their vote. Rumors claimed popish priests, Pharisees on horseback, urged natives to kill Protestants. Gideon fell in with the Associators. He, by the Lord's grace, would make joining Coode's rebellion an act of faith.
Doris Brady
Oct. 6, 2022Suffragettes “Hurry, Lucy. I don’t want to be late!” “Don’t worry, Mom. I’m dressed warmly and have my placard ready to go!” “It was a brilliant move, having our Suffrage Procession on the eve of Wilson’s Inauguration. We must change his feelings about opposing our right to vote. We’ll have the press there and all the elected officials. They will see we mean business!” At the train station, Wilson and his aides were amazed that hardly anyone was there to greet the new President. His big day was being overshadowed by suffragettes! Wilson came around. The 19th Amendment eventually passed on 8/18/1920.
Steve Baker
Oct. 6, 2022A Temptress in a Tea Shop Earl (the "Mr. T" of Boston) owned a successful colonial tearoom...but trouble was brewing. Earl's wife (the sweet "Lady Grey") had recently died in a bizarre crumpet related mishap. Earl was ALSO teed off by the king's tea tax. Things boiled over on Dec. 16th, 1773; a steaming little teapot named Jasmine whistled into Earl's tearoom. She dipped a mean tea bag, sipped with an extended pinky, and wore a tight t-shirt. Earl decided to act. He invited Jasmine to a little "party" he planned to throw at the harbor. Jasmine finished sucking on her sugar cubes and said: You've got yourself a date, tyrannical kings aren't my cup of tea!"