War and military service have been major literary subjects as long as there has been literature. The earliest masterpiece of the Western tradition. Homer’s Iliad, portrays the heroism and human cost of the Trojan War, while its companion poem, The Odyssey recounts one veteran’s long and difficult homecoming. The great national epics, from the Aeneid of Imperial Rome to the Shahnameh of medieval Persia mostly commemorate the decisive military encounters that shaped each cultures history. Many great authors have also been soldiers. The Greek playwright Sophocles, creator of Oedipus Rex, served as an Athenian general in the Peloponnesian War. The Roman poet Horus fought at the Battle of Philippi. Shakespeare’s friend and fellow playwright Ben Jonson served in the infantry in the Flemish …

Read more

The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to present Operation Homecoming, writing the wartime experience. This unique literary program is aimed at preserving the stories and reflections of American troops who have served our nation, both on the frontlines in Afghanistan and Iraq, and stateside, defending the homeland. The Arts Endowment is sponsoring a series of writing workshops on U.S. military installations at home and abroad for returning troops and their families, taught by some of America’s most distinguished novelists, poets, historians, and journalists. These workshops will provide servicemen and women with the opportunity to write about their wartime experiences in a variety of forms, from fiction, verse and letters to essay, memoir and personal journal. The visiting writers, many of whom …

Read more