more Challenges for the Delusional
Diode Editions, 2018
Edited by Ona Gritz and Daniel Simpson
Contributors include Kim Addonizio, Stephen Dunn, Tony Hoagland, Dorianne Laux and more.
$15, Available from Peter’s Square Store
Peter Murphy’s Prompts + the writing They Inspired
More Challenges for the Delusional, edited by Ona Gritz and Daniel Simpson, is a craft book based on prompts and exercises for generating writing developed by Peter Murphy in his role as a writing teacher. This long-anticipated follow-up to Challenges for the Delusional brings us a wealth of Peter Murphy’s writing prompts, and an anthology of creative nonfiction, fiction and poetry. In this edition, you will encounter a diverse range of emerging and accomplished writers including Kim Addonizio, Tony Hoagland, Dorianne Laux, Mimi Schwartz and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn. The prompts will ignite your creativity, daring you to take risks and produce work that is sometimes strange but always thought-provoking. This book will offer something new each time you return to it.
Learn more about the Winter Poetry + Prose Getaway, the writers’ conference that inspired the book.
Featuring writing by
Kim Addonizio – JoAnn Balingit – Deborah Bayer – Frank Beltrano
Norma Ketzis Bernstock – Jean Bower – Shirley J. Brewer – Roberta Clipper
Jin Cordaro – Joe Costal – Leila Crawford – Betsey Cullen – Barbara Daniels
MaryLisa DeDomenicis – Emari DiGiorgio – Karen Z Duffy – Stephen Dunn
Frank Finale – Elizabeth Fonseca – Sandy Gingras – Patricia Gray
Luray Gross – Kim Hagerich – Robert Halleck – Tony Hoagland
Anndee Hochman – Peter Krok – Donald LaBranche – Dorianne Laux
Kyle Laws – Marcia LeBeau – Marissa Luca – Bryon MacWilliams
Elinor Mattern – Shirley McPhillips – Amanda Morris – Patricia A. Nugent
Richard Parisio – Kay Peters – Wanda S. Praisner – Dorothy Ryan
Christine E. Salvatore – Taylor Carmen Savath – Mimi Schwartz
David Simpson – Jeanne Sutton – J.C. Todd – Kim Mary Trotto – Pat Valdata
John Wojtowicz – Evan Yavne
challenges for the delusional
Jane Street Press, 2012
Edited by Christine Malvasi
Foreword by Stephen Dunn
Contributors include Stephen Dunn, Kathleen Graber, Dorianne Laux, James Richardson and more.
$14, Available from Peter’s Square Store.
Peter Murphy’s Prompts + the Poems They Inspired
Challenges for the Delusional compiles a selection of Peter Murphy’s infamous and eccentric poetry-writing prompts. For 19 years he’s shared these prompts at his writers’ conference, the Winter Poetry + Prose Getaway, and this collection features a sampling of the many diverse and wonderful poems that they’ve inspired.
Learn more about the Winter Poetry + Prose Getaway, the writers’ conference that inspired the book.
From the Foreword by Stephen Dunn:“Peter’s approach to teaching poetry writing is unique and uniquely effective…. [his] quirky prompts have given way to poems that range from humorous to serious, from affectionate to nostalgic. They’ll take their place among the workshops, panels, good meals and late night dancing—the pleasures that abound at the Getaway.”
Featuring poems by
Svea Barrett – Laure-Anne Bosselaar – Shirley J. Brewer – Michael Broek
Kathleen Corcoran – Jin Ho Cordaro – Barbara Daniels – Emari DiGiorgio
Catherine Doty – Karen Zaborowski Duffy – Stephen Dunn – R. G. Evans
Laura Anne Freedgood – Diana Goetsch – Jan Goldman – Kathleen Graber
Mary Olmsted Greene – Ona Gritz – Lois Marie Harrod – Shawn Regina Jones
Dorianne Laux – Marcia LeBeau – Laura McCullough – Benjamin Paloff
Wanda S. Praisner – James Richardson – Cindy Savett – J. C. Todd – Pat Valdata
Donna Vorreyer – Paul-Victor Winters – David W. Worrell – P. Ivan Young
Supplementary Packet
Click below for an extended version of the appendix that appears in Challenges for the Delusional.
- Supplementary Material*
- Supplementary Postcards* (Large file – download may take a few minutes)
* You will need to have Acrobat Reader installed to open these files. Download it for free here.
Special Events
Writing Retreats
Visit our retreats and workshops page.
Readings
More Challenges for the Delusional Readings
- June 1, 2019 – AviAnna Restaurant, Lansdowne, PA – Learn more
- November 7, 2018 – Stockton University, Galloway, NJ
- April 22, 2018 – The Rectangle Studio + Gallery, Orange, NJ
- January 13, 2018 – Winter Poetry + Prose Getaway, Galloway, NJ
Challenges for the Delusional Readings
- January 18, 2013 – Winter Poetry + Prose Getaway, Galloway, NJ
- October 25, 2012 – Moonstone Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA
- September 22, 2012 – Village Learning Place, Baltimore, MD
- September 12, 2012 – Poets Wednesday Series, Barron Arts Center, Woodbridge, NJ
- March 7, 2012 – Stockton University, Galloway, NJ
Learn More
- Peter Murphy
- Winter Poetry + Prose Getaway
- Jane Street Press
- Diode Editions
- Check out one of Peter’s prompts from the book
Testimonial About Peter’s Prompts
“I have been to 11 Getaways and 17 of the poems I drafted there have been published! If you ever get discouraged and wonder why you are looking up obscure quotations or packing up boxes of postcards, I can tell you that your goofy prompts/ variations/ challenges for the delusional really work. 17 poems I would not have written if not for you, Peter. Thank you for helping me become a poet.”
~ Pat, Elkton, MD
