Snowden Wright

The Lemannaissance is upon us! Thank you so much to everyone at the @oxfordamerican for shepherding this piece into publication. Jackson folks: Nancy and I will be in conversation this Wednesday at @LemuriaBooks! oxfordamerican.org/oa-now/nancy-l…

Confused about the difference between autofiction and autobiographical fiction? Just remember the first part of "autofiction" is short for "autopilot," not "autobiographical"

“Society is Lemann’s métier. She’s a belletrist of etiquette.” —Snowden Wright speaks to the reissues of Nancy Lemann’s “Lives of the Saints” and “The Ritz of the Bayou” alongside her latest work “The Oyster Diaries,” out April 7.   🔗: shorturl.at/1DkgB

Back in grad school, a fellow student, regarding a piece that eschewed quotation marks for dialogue, offered the writer two words of advice as brutal as they were correct: "Grow up."

I need to watch The Pitt. Can't believe they made an entire show about the rowdy frat from the movie PCU

I recently witnessed a moderator for a panel at a literary conference read from his own book as though he were a panelist. First time I've ever seen that kind of breach in panel etiquette. "He's not about to--oh my god, he is . . ."

Inventor of Yoo-hoo: What if chocolate milk . . . but without the milk? Genius! The future is CHOCOLATE WATER

The only plausible claim regarding the “MFAification” of contemporary fiction is that many novels today have chapters that feel like short stories: too contained, too stand-alone. The workshop model works best with short stories, so MFAers often write chapters that feel like them

The first of what I expect will be a lot of coverage of Lemann. If you're in Jackson, MS, on April 1, come see us in conversation at the legendary @LemuriaBooks! We'll also be recording an interview for the equally legendary @oxfordamerican nytimes.com/2026/03/23/sty…

One side effect of AI-generated writing's proliferation, I think, will be lighter line edits from editors--a means to preserve the work's more human idiosyncrasies. For strong writers, that's great. But many writers could use a heavier line edit

“How the Western Evolved into the Crime Novel” by @SnowdenWright via @CrimeReads #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #writingcrime crimereads.com/western-crime-…

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is incredibly well-done. It is to House of the Dragon what Andor is to [deep breath] The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, and Skeleton Crew

I just saw the phrase "distantly rendered close-third," an unsubtle reminder that, however ingrained the basics of POV may feel to writing teachers, our students still need to learn them

The Oxford American is now accepting pitches for our special Summer/Fall 2026 double issue dedicated to Home! Full details: oxfordamerican.org/submissions

Crazy, Stupid, Love may be a rewatchable, but that comma splice is an unforgivable

Reviews of short-story collections are often a slog to read, I think, because reviewers feel obligated to compound the least interesting part of any review: plot summary. In X story, blah-blah-blah. In Y story, blah-blah-blah...

Yeah, but Part Two is tighter, funnier, more self-aware though less glaringly so, and better shot. My hierarchy: Scream 2 Scream 1 Scream (5) Scream 4 Scream 6 Scream 3

Smart is to sharp as funny is to witty. Aspire to the latter, my friends!

I’ve spent the past two months writing a piece on Nancy Lemann—whose books Lives of the Saints and The Ritz of the Bayou will be reissued this April—and during that time, I barely considered, let alone mentioned in the piece, the second epigraph of my second novel

I've never understood people who back into parking spots. You're just flipping the hard part and the easy part. You're also making the hard part harder!