Grace Is Where I Live: The Landscape of Faith & Writing [Paperback]

John Leax (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

Grace Is Where I Live has inspired--even mentored--many writers, readers and teachers during the decade since it was first published. Here John Leax shares the experiences that shaped his life along with insights on choosing writing as a vocation, successful and failed teaching, identifying a personal "poetic," writing in different genres, writing from "placedness" and writing for a particular community. He wrestles with the "questions that must be asked" and ultimately offers "good news" about the struggles, trials and rewards of the writing life.

This new edition, marking the tenth anniversary of Grace Is Where I Live, includes the complete text of the original revised by Leax and expanded with a new preface, six recent essays, the poem "Vow" and a bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'The creative responsibility of language' . . . is clearly [Leax's] choice." -- Shirley Nelson, The Christian Century, January 5, 1994

"Abounds in plainspoken profundity." -- Paul J. Willis

"Engaging and informative." -- Robert Siegel

"Refreshingly lucid prose, unpolluted with the ego that so often finds its way into the best writers' words." -- Virginia Stem Owens, Christianity Today, July 18, 1994

"Unvarnished prose, easy and graceful and blunt all at once." -- Walter Wangerin, Jr.

From the Author

In the last essay of the first edition of Grace Is Where I Live, "In the Care of the Spirit," I identified three themes that have shaped my life as a writer: incarnation, the place of the human in the physical world, and the meaning of community. In the ten years since, I have ceased to think of them as separate themes and have come to understand them as a single exploration of the presence of God in creation. While I am convinced that this exploration is so fundamental to my life as a Christian that it would have focused my attention had I never written a word, I am also convinced that for me writing has been the best way to discovery and faith.

For this edition of Grace I have added a small number of essays that carry forward this single theme while simultaneously reflecting on the act of writing as a means to discovering grace. I began the first edition of Grace with a poem, "What I Have Found," that looked back and set the tone of summary I intended. I close this revised and expanded edition with another poem, "Vow," to indicate an active looking ahead to more and better work.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: WordFarm; Expanded edition (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974342726
• ISBN-13: 978-0974342726
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,562,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Leax (pronunciation: leks) is professor of English and poet-in-residence at Houghton College in Houghton, New York. His articles, fiction and poems have been widely published in anthologies and in periodicals such as Image, The Christian Century, The Other Side, The Cresset, The Reformed Journal, Christianity Today, ASLE, Christianity and Literature, Radix, Cold Mountain Review and Midwest Quarterly.

His books of poetry include Reaching into Silence (1974), The Task of Adam (1985) and Country Labors (1991). His novel, Nightwatch, was published in 1989. And his non-fiction works include In Season and Out (1985), Standing Ground (1991) and Out Walking (2000). Grace Is Where I Live, published originally in 1993, was reissued in a revised and expanded edition by WordFarm in 2004.

Leax gives several readings and lectures each year at various colleges, libraries and conferences. He has read at Calvin College, Concordia College, Nyack College, The Kings College, Asbury Theological Seminary, Gordon College, St. Joseph's College, SUNY Buffalo and others. He has been featured as a panelist and seminar leader at Calvin College's biannual Festival of Faith & Writing.

He is a member of the Conference on Christianity and Literature, The Chrysostom Society, The Orion Society, The Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment and the Nature Conservancy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, stirring: a must read for students of faith and writing, September 23, 2010

By 

Allison - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grace Is Where I Live: The Landscape of Faith & Writing (Paperback)

Leax is, along with Luci Shaw, one of the forerunners of the contemporary Christian writing community, and is a remarkable voice: if you are a person of faith, a seeker, and a writer, you must read this book.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, September 29, 2007

By 

Christina J. Wynkoop - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grace Is Where I Live: The Landscape of Faith & Writing (Paperback)

Haven't had a chance to read much of it yet but what I have read has been very good. Inspiring, helpful, comforting in a way