Creative Writing Grad Looks for Moral Center
Craig Levinsky Craig Levinsky was born and raised in New Jersey. He earned his BA in English Literature at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He has traveled widely and currently lives in Brooklyn and teaches a variety of English courses at City College, where he earned his MFA in Creative Writing in 2007. He credits the program with improving his writing and analytical abilities.
His greatest influences are certain works by DeQuincey, Burroughs, Bowles, Henry Miller, Hemingway, Salinger, Fitzgerald, Donleavy, Exley, Dostoevsky, Bellow, O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, Joyce, Woolf, Kafka, Bukowski, Beckett, Roth, Celine, Capote, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Neil Young, Nina Simone, Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt, John Coltrane and Woody Allen.
Craig feels all his writing is a quest for a moral center, and fair judgment, too, by way of a protagonist with inherent character contrast. "Either I'm looking to get into heaven or I need acceptance from my family" He says.
The nature of the writing process attracts Craig. "All you need is a pen and a piece of paper, and the simplicity in that has always suited me best." Another response he offers is that he simply loves writing and a successful creative day is far more satisfying than anything else "I've endeavored, and I do mean anything." He ranks it above all else. He feels that on a subconscious level, writers are trying to invent "perfect writing" when they do write. In other words, writers are "literature fanatics, but we have as of yet not discovered perfect writing."
In May 2007 he was one of the participants in the Archer City Writing Retreat which allows writers from the City College Creative Writing to work undisturbed and where he was able to make major rewrites on his novel. Right now, Craig is working on the final edits of a book and writes short stories as the mood strikes.
His long term aim is to make a living from writing. "Nothing more, nothing less." Not an easy task or easy creed – but he is driven and focused and determined to succeed.
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