Craft and Conscience

How to Write About Social Issues

By: Kavita Das

Narrated by: Lynnette R. Freeman

The first major book for writers to more effectively engage with complex socio-political issues—a critical first step in creating social change

Writers are witnesses and scribes to society’s conscience but writing about social issues in the twenty-first century requires a new, sharper toolkit. Craft and Conscience helps writers weave together their narrative craft, analytical and research skills, and their conscience to create prose which makes us feel the individual and collective impact of crucial issues of our time. Kavita Das guides writers to take on nuanced perspectives and embrace intentionality through a social justice lens. She challenges writers to unpack their motivations for writing about an issue and to understand that “writing, irrespective of genre or outlet, is an act of political writing,” regardless of intention.

The book includes essays from a fascinating mix of authors, including James Baldwin, Alexander Chee, Kaitlyn Greenidge, George Orwell, Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz, Gaiutra Bahadur, Jaquira Díaz, and Imani Perry. By including Das’s own perspective and those of the featured writers about motivations and approaches to writing about fraught social issues, this book both demystifies the process of engaging social issues on the page, and underscores the intentionality and sensitivity that must go into the work.

©2022 Kavita Das (P)2022 Beacon Press

Critic reviews

"“Through concise language and well-chosen excerpts, Das delivers a one-of-a-kind writing guide that’s pitch-perfect for her niche. Activists ready to put pen to paper won’t want to miss this.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A useful primer for writers who are newer to writing about social change, regardless of their overall writing experience . . . Those steeped in social justice discourse will encounter many familiar concepts and references, all of which can lead to new or deepened insights upon being revisited.”
—Hippocampus Magazine

“Craft and Conscience is that rigorously researched and lushly written ‘How-to’ book that every single human who has dared to write needs in our lives. . . . Rarely do we get books that encourage readers to reconsider how we read and write. Intellectually and soulfully invigorating.”
—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy