“Writing Unbound removes guardrails from writers (and their teachers) to unpack how skills migrate from type to type. That would be enough for any book, surely. Worth the cost of a few lattes. But Newkirk and a collection of wise young students convincingly answer an essential question for English teachers: can writing fiction improve all writing? The exercises and examples sent my thinking spinning faster with each chapter. As I folded down pages, I found myself answering out loud, “Yes!” This book invites us to be curious, entertained, and inspired by our students. Let the fun—yes, I said the f-word—begin. Delight awaits you here. I promise.”—Penny Kittle, coauthor of 180 Days and author of Book Love and Write Beside Them.
"Tom Newkirk is one of those very rare writers from whom I ALWAYS learn something new, and who always forces me to deepen, rethink, revise or defend deeply held positions. Reading anything by him is transformative to my understanding and ways of teaching and being in the world. This book is about so many things, but it's core is about how we can be generous and co-conspirators with learners as they undertake their journeys as writers - and as they use writing to undertake the journeys of their very lives."--Jeffrey Wilhelm, author of Reading Unbound
"What defines us as human beings, perhaps more than anything else? We are storytellers. Stories are the way we understand ourselves. Stories are the way we understand others. Stories are the way we understand the world (and even the worlds beyond our world). So the place of writing in our schools should match the place it has in our minds: as a primary tool of creation, exploration, critical thinking, empathy, imagination, and adventure. In Writing Unbound, Thomas Newkirk helps us understand the vital role that fiction should have in every student’s writing education. By writing a new writing education, he gives teachers and students the freedom to dive into their passions, write the stories that matter to them, and pursue that fundamental question of fiction writing: 'What if?' That is the place where innovation and knowledge reside."—Grant Faulkner, Executive Director, National Novel Writing Month
