Sandra Squire Fluck

80 posts

Sandra has a B.A. and M.A. in English literature from U.C.L.A., and an M.A. in Religious Studies from the Lancaster Theological Seminary. She has taught college-level courses in literature, creative writing, composition, and technical writing in Southern California and Pennsylvania. Her most recent poetry chapbooks are available online. She is also the author of Experiential English and Language Play. Sandra is the founder and co-owner of The Write Launch, an online literary magazine, and bookscover2cover, a book review site.

10 min

Liu Xiaobo: Tyranny, Freedom of Conscience, and the Incompleteness of the Individual

After Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, I followed the news about him—this dissident public intellectual who had given the Chinese government a major headache. Having read many books about nonviolent thought and action, I sensed that Liu Xiaobo’s life and writing could deepen my understanding further: He believed that words followed by action could change the direction of a country.

Steve Jones and a Nature-inspired book list

There is no doubt that the author Steve Jones found inspiration for his two recently published books, Nature Based Leadership: Lessons for Living, Learning, Serving, and Leading, and Nature-Inspired Learning…

Dera Williams reading recommendations: research, writing, and influential authors

Writer, editor, mentor, researcher, and family historian, Dera Williams is the author of a collection of childhood memories, In My Backyard: Stories of Growing Up in Oakland. Born in Arkansas to…

Steve Jones on Nature’s Inspiration in Leadership and Life

Now 44 years beyond his bachelor’s degree in forestry, Steve is devoting his life to championing the cause of Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading. Steve founded the Nature Based Leadership Institute at Antioch University New England and his first book is Nature Based Leadership: Lessons for Living, Learning, Serving, and Leading .

17 min

No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems

Liu Xiaobo is the author of hundreds of essays and seventeen books. Most of the essays in No Enemies, No Hatred are from the period between 2004 and 2008, and reflect, in the service of freedom of speech, how words followed by action can change the direction of a country.

Books to influence and inspire – recommended by Jasmine H. Wade

In Jasmine H. Wade’s interview with bookscover2cover, she remembers writing her first “official story” in middle school about “a boy who followed a set of clues to catch a gorilla…

Dera Williams on discovering and writing heritage

Dera Williams lives, works, and plays in the Oakland/Bay Area, California. She is a writer, editor, mentor, researcher, and family historian. She is currently compiling a collection of childhood memories, In My Backyard: Stories of Growing Up in Oakland.

7 min

Jasmine H. Wade: Being a storyteller “gave me a sense of peace and purpose.”

Jasmine H. Wade is an award-winning writer obsessed with the ridiculous, and oftentimes traumatic, trials of growing up. She is a member of the AfroSurreal Writers Workshop and her short stories have appeared in a number of journals.

10 min

The Fire Next Time

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin was first published in 1963 during the emerging Civil Rights Movement and was an instant best seller. A brilliant social critic, public intellectual, and interpreter of racial myths and beliefs, Baldwin captured the zeitgeist of a country riven by race. Without prejudice or fear, he deconstructed the institution of racism in America.

2 min

A book list for all time – recommended by Julie Powell

Writers read, and read, and read. Reading is without a doubt an essential part of their craft, and books are a vital source of ideas, landscapes, and different perspectives. In…

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