When the Art of Conversation Meets the Art of Writing

This approachable composition textbook for beginning writers argues that the key to writing well is to envision composition as an empathetic and respectful conversation.

"Hoover's straightforward, accessible approach encourages students to craft their own writing processes by choosing topics that interest them, being actively curious, and listening to others who are also interested (as opposed merely to 'waiting to talk' themselves). This text makes a significant contribution to first-year composition pedagogy."
--Jill LeRoy-Frazier, professor of cross-disciplinary studies, East Tennessee State University

"Writing well requires certain kinds of human beings to do the writing, and the kinds of human beings who write well only emerge by writing well. Hoover solves this Riddle of the Sphinx not by forsaking writing but by teaching writing, and this book returns us, her readers, to reflect on the dynamic nature and capacities and virtues of those human beings whom we teach. We who teach writing do well to heed."
--Nathan P. Gilmour, professor of English, Emmanuel College

"An absolute gem of a resource! In an era where divisive discord dominates the public arena and misinformation saturates the media, our nation needs citizens embracing the critical and creative skills this book encourages faculty to teach. The appendix also offers excellent additional materials to reproduce."
--Linda Lawrence Hunt, emerita director of Whitworth University's Writing Program; coauthor of In the Long Run: A Study of Faculty in Three Writing-across-the-Curriculum Programs

"Writing is an art, a craft, and a struggle. By reframing composition as conversation, however, Hoover directs our attention to the way it is communication and thus is most essentially a question of how we relate to people. In the process, she does something miraculous: she makes writing easier. Essential for anyone teaching writing and all of us undertaking the art, craft, and struggle of putting words on a page."
--Daniel Silliman, news editor, Christianity Today