Combining folklore and creative writing is hardly new. Our Mid Atlantic Folklife retreats feature creative writing workshops. Folklorists, such as Frank deCaro, have creative writing degrees. Some, such as Jo Radner who taught storytelling at American University, belong to creative writing faculties. Plenty of folklorists have published poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction. And organizations such as City Lore and the Western Folklife Center organize the People’s Poetry Gathering and the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. There’s a natural affinity at work, here. What is the power that folklore offers writers? How can we draw on it to strengthen our discipline and forge closer connections to the allied field of creative writing?

~ Margaret Yocom (via Endicott)