What can reading teach us about loss, healing, and survival? How can we transform anger into empathy? What can we learn from the creative act about turning personal setbacks into opportunities for self-discovery and growth?Andre Dubus III’s nine books include the New York Times’ bestsellers House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, and his memoir, Townie. His work has been included in The Best American Essays and The Best Spiritual Writing anthologies. His novel, House of Sand and Fog was a finalist for the National Book Award and was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. His most recent books are the novel, Such Kindness and a collection of personal essays, Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin. Dubus has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for Fiction, two Pushcart Prizes, and is a recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His books are published in over twenty-five languages, and he teaches at the University of Massachusetts Lowell."There's a wonderful essay by the American poet William Stafford, where he says the poet, before writing, must put herself into a place of openness or receptivity. And he said, you're being receptive when you are. And this is really hard, I think, especially for Americans who still eat a steady diet of the following: The point of life is to be happy, and the way to be happy is to be a success. – It's horseshit. This is not the point of life. It's a lie. And the second part is, you must be willing to fail. Not, oh, I'm going to tolerate a little bit of it. I am going to totally fail at this, but I'm still going to do it anyway."www.andredubus.comwww.andredubus.com/ghost-dogswww.andredubus.com/house-of-sand-and-fogwww.andredubus.com/such-kindnesswww.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast