David Biespiel cracks open the creative process as he candidly tracks his own development as a writer and challenges traditional assumptions about writing that can stifle creativity. The liberating message: Working past the brink of failure--being free to try and discard and try again--is what allows the creative process to playfully flourish, keeping the spirit open to unexpected discoveries. Both beginning and experienced writers—as well as artists, musicians, dancers, and anyone else on a creative path—will benefit from this elegant, surprising, and fresh perspective.
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"Finally, an anti-bullshit book on creativity!"
— James Marcus
"Does for the creative process what Strunk and White did for our approach to grammar and style. Indispensable."
— Marjorie Sandor
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"Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces instead of the advice de rigueur, is a well-spring of ideas for how to jump start the creative process, valuable examples of athletic and visual artists who exercise this proposed method, and, perhaps most importantly, oodles of empathy for the writer and artist who is battling their own stuck process and potentially self-doubt or frustration."
— Hazel & Wren
BOOK LAUNCH | 2023-2024
A Self-Portrait in the Year of the High Commission on Love
WED NOV 1: Powell's City of Books
Portland, 7:30PM
SUN NOV 5: Houston Book Festival
Houston JCC, 4PM
WED NOV 8: Elliott Bay Book Store
Seattle, 7PM
WED NOV 15: Broadway Books
Portland, 6PM
FRI FEB 9: Corvallis Art Museum
Q/A W Sindya Bhanoo
Corvallis, 7PM
SAT FEB 17: Mother Foucault's Bookshop
w Matthew Dickman
Portland, 7PM
David speaking at Grassroots Bookstore in Corvallis, Oregon.
David speaking with Atsuro Riley at the Portland Book Festival.
David speaking at Brazos Bookstore in Houston, Texas.
David in conversation with Wendy Willis at 57th Street Books in Chicago, Illinois.
David speaking at AWP in Minneapolis, Minnesota..
David in conversation with Lia Purpura at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC.
David talking with Gavin Larsen at Portland Center Stage in Portland, Oregon.
David speaking at the New School in New York City.
David speaking from the "podium" at Desperate Literature in Madrid, Spain.
David talking via Zoom with the "New Yorker" Reading Group.
2020 - 2021 VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR —
A Place of Exodus: Home, Memory, and Texas
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WED SEP 23: NPR | Houston Matters
Live On-Air Interview with Gary Cohen
Houston, TX. 9:45am CT
LINK
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SUN OCT 4: Palo Alto Jewish Community Center
Conversation with Tova Birnbaum and Luba Palant
Palo Alto, CA. 4pm PT
LINK
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THU OCT 8: BOOK LAUNCH: Powell's Books
Conversation with David Naimon
Portland, OR. 6PM PT
LINK
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MON OCT 12: Elliott Bay Books
Conversation with Emily Warn
Seattle, WA. 6pm PT
LINK
TUE OCT 27: Annie Bloom's Books
Joint Reading and Conversation with Vanessa Veselka
Portland, OR. 7pm PT
LINK
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WED OCT 28: Unorthodox | Podcast
Interview with Tablet magazine podcast hosts Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz
LINK
FRI OCT 30: Grassroots Books
Conversation with Tracy Daugherty
Corvallis, OR. 7pm PT
LINK
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NOV 11: Portland Book Festival
Reading at Portland Art Museum
Portland, OR. 1:30pm PT.
LINK
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WED NOV 11: Houston Book Fair
Conversation with Joshua Fuhrman
Houston, TX. 6pm CT
LINK
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FRI NOV 13: Texas Book Festival
Reading with Kelly J. Baptist and David Marquis
Austin, TX. 8:30pm CT
LINK
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SAT NOV 21: Book Club: Neveh Shalom
Conversation with Rabbi David Kosak.
Portland, OR. 9:30am PT
LINK
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TUE DEC 1: Magic City Books
Conversation with Jeff Martin. Tulsa, OK. 7pm CT
LINK
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TUE DEC 15: Book Club: Beth Shalom
Conversation with Rabbi Marc Rudolph. Chicago, IL. 8pm CT
LINK
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SUN MAR 14: Book Club: Co-Sponsored by Adas Israel and Beth El
Conversation and Q/A. Washington, DC. 11am ET
LINK
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TUE MAY 4: Book Club: The Community Synagogue
Rye, NY
LINK
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PAST READINGS
57th Street Books (Chicago)
Alexander Book Co. (San Francisco)
Annie Blooms Books
Allysia Duckler Gallery (Portland)
Associated Writing Program (AWP) Conference
Art Gone Wild Gallery
Barnes & Noble Bookstore
Bay City Arts Center
Beaverton Public Library
Belmont Library
Blackfish Gallery
Blue Peter Bookstore (St. Andrews, NB, Canada)
Book Festival of the South
Book Passages (Corte Madera, CA)
Blacksmith House (Cambridge, MA)
Brazos Bookstore (Houston)
Broadside Books (Northampton, MA)
Broadway Books
Bumbershoot: Seattle Arts Festival
Cadboro Bay Book Company (Victoria, BC)
Portland Central Library
Chapters Bookstore (Washington, DC)
Cody’s Books (Berkeley)
Concordia University
Daedalus Books
Deschutes Public Library
Disjecta
Douglas County Museum
Eastern Washington University
Elliot Bay Book Company (Seattle)
Eckerd College
Everett Community College
Fact and Fiction (Missoula, MT)
Full Circle Bookstore (Oklahoma City)
Glenview Mansion Reading Series (Washington, DC)
Grassroots Bookstore
Haystack Summer Conference
Houston Book Festival
Hugo House
Jewish Museum of Maryland
Lawrence Gallery
Linn-Benton Community College
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
Lynchburg College
Lynnwood Public Library
Magic City Books
Marylhurst University
Milagro Theater
Miller Cabin Reading Series (Washington, DC),
Milwaukee Poetry Series
Mittleman Jewish Community Center
Mother Foucault's Books
Mountain Writers Center
Mount Hood Community College
National Book Foundation
Northwest Bookfest
Ohio University
Open Books: A Poem Emporiaum
Oregon State Poetry Association
Oregon State University
Oswego Heritage House
Salem Arts Festival
Northwest Business for Culture & the Arts
Oregon Jewish Museum
Palo Alto Jewish Community Center
Paulinas Springs Bookstore
Peninsula College
Poetry Foundation (Chicago)
Poets on Broadway Reading Series
Politics & Prose (Washington, DC)
Port Townsend Art Center
Portland Book Festival
Portland Community College
Portland State University
Possession Sound Writer’s Conference
Powell’s City of Books
Printer’s Inc. (Palo Alto, CA)
Provost's Reading, Oregon State University
Rainier Writing Workshop
Readings Between A & B (New York, NY)
Reed College
R.J. Julia Bookstore
Seaside Theater
San Antonio Book Festival
Silverton Poetry Festival
Stanford University
Smithsonian Institution
Southwestern Oregon Community College
Spare Room Collective
Stayton Public Library
St. Andrews Arts Festival (St. Andrews, NB, Canada)
Steve’s Books (Tulsa, OK)
Texas Book Festival
Tiburon Public Library (Tiburon, CA)
Unamuno Author Series, Madrid, Spain
University of Maryland
University of Minnesota
University of Portland
University of Tulsa
Vancouver Public Library (Vancouver, BC)
Village Books (Bellingham, WA)
Wake Forest University
Western Oregon University
Whitman College
Willamette University
Windfall Reading Series
Woodburn Public Library
Wordstock Festival of Books
Writer’s Guild Reading Series
Writer’s Bloc Reading Series (College Park, MD),
Writers’ Center (Bethesda, MD)
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LECTURES AND PANELS
2019: Floyd Skloot in Conversation with David Biespiel, Powell's City of Books.
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2019: Aftermath: Poetry Confronts Politics: David Biespiel, Brenda Shaughnessy, KMA Sullivan, and Crystal Contreras. Portland Book Festival.
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2018: Memoir: Becoming a Writer: With Alexander Chee, Michelle Franke, and Nell Scovell. Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
2017: A Portrait of the Artist: Coming of Age
Memoirs: With Rob Spillman, Chelsea Martin, and Kristen Radtke. Wordstock Portland Book Festival.
2017: The Poet's Place in an Uneasy World.
With David Baker, Tyehimba Jess, James Galvin, Ishion Hutchinson. LA Times Festival of Books.
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2017: Books That Saved My Life. With Clay Smith and Michael Schwalbe. San Antonio Festival of Books.
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2017: The Personal Is Political Is Poetic. With Hayan Charara and Morgan Parker. San Antonio Festival of Books.
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2016: Breaking Poetry Pattern: Experimenting with Form in Poetry. With Tyehimba Jess, Anna Moschovakis, Sun Yung Shin. Wordstock Portland Book Festival.
2016: The Poet’s Place in an Uneasy World. With Rick Barot, Suzanne Lummis, Spencer Reece, Luis J. Rodriguez. LA Times Festival of Books.
2016: The Writer’s Journey. Willamette Writers.
2015: Poets & Writers Live, Portland: Literary Opportunities. Portland.
2015: The Civic and the Lyric. With David St. John, Peter Gizzi, Amber Tamblyn, Katie Ford. LA Times Festival of Books.
2015: Fate of the Writer: Shuttling Between Solitude and Engagement. With Rigoberto Gonzalez, Wendy Willis, Lia Purpura. AWP Conference, Minneapolis.
2014. The Art of Place, the Place of Art. With David St. John, Harryette Mullen, Sophie Cabot Black, Matthew Zapruder. LA Times Festival of Books.
2013: Why Genre Matters. With Dinah Lenney, Sven Birkerts, Judith Kitchen, Scott Nadelson. AWP Conference, Boston.
2013: Postulation and Belief: One Writer’s Assumptions. Craft Talk. Pacific Lutheran University.
2012: Read Poetry. Poets Concord. Newport, OR.
2011: Faith and the Writer: Inspiration and Practice. With Dinah Lenney, Askold Melnyczuk, Brenda Miller, Dani Shapiro. AWP Conference. Washington, DC.
2011: America’s Next Top (Literary Center) Model. With Charles Jensen, Gail Browne, Jordan Hartt, Andrea Dupree. AWP Conference. Washington, DC.
2010: The Future of Reading Culture. With Michael Schaub, Steve Almond, Mona Simpson. Wordstock Portland Book Festival.
2010: What Works. Wordstock Portland Book Festival.
2010: Follow Your Strengths, Manage Your Weaknesses. Craft Talk. Pacific Lutheran University.
2009: A Celebration of Stanley Plumly. With Patrick Phillips, David Baker, James Hoch. University of Maryland.
2009: Drafts and Revision or Methods and Versions. Craft Talk. Pacific Lutheran University.
2007-2009: Poets in Our Backyard. Chautauqua Lecture, Oregon Council for the Humanities.
2009: Panelist, Northwest Poetry Publishers’ Forum. Seattle.
2007: Present Various presentations at summer residency for Pacific Lutheran University Low-Residency MFA Program.
2006: Panelist, Portland as a Literary City. With Matthew Stadler, David Oates, and Sallie Tisdale. Friday Forum, The City Club of Portland.
2006: Panelist, Pacific University Low-Residency MFA Program.
2005: Panelist, Stalking the Wild. With Dan Orasco and Kary Wayson. Possession Sound Writers’ Conference.
2001-2004: Of Love & War: Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman. Chautauqua Lecture, Oregon Council for the Humanities.
2002: Memorial Tribute to Philip Whalen. Reed College.
2002: Jose Marti Celebration. Milagro Theater, Portland, OR.
2002: Tribute to Octavio Paz. Milagro Theater, Portland, OR.
2002: Music and Voice in Poetry. Keynote. Oregon State Poetry Association Conference.
2001 Tribute to Yehuda Amichai. With Tess Gallagher, Chana Bloch, Chana Kronfeld, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer, Joshua Stampfer, Primus St. John, Gary Miranda. Portland State University.
2001: The Art of Translation. Moderator. With Tess Gallagher, Nikolai Popov, Chana Bloch, Chana Kronfeld, Steve Wasserstrom, and Joshua Stampfer. Reed College.
1993: Imagination and the New Millennium. Sigma Tau Delta Lecture. Lynchburg College.
1993: First View, Then Vision. Senior Symposium Lecture. Lynchburg College.