If John Lennon, Gertrude Stein, Stephen Hawking, and Mother Goose had conspired to write a grammar book, GRAM-O-RAMA would be it. Designed for word-lovers and students in the classroom, this textbook contains dozens of unconventional exercises geared toward learning grammar. Its interactive method offers students and teachers a smart and accessible approach by encouraging writers to experiment with grammatical functions, style, rhythm, and sound. Read More>

How Gram-O-Rama Began Thu, 12 Jan 2012 During the 1970′s, Daphne Athas originated and developed a creative writing course at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill that she dubbed “Glossolalia.” The word traditionally applies to religious sect members who speak an unintelligible rant when in the throes of spiritual ecstasy. Its Greek origin signifies “tongue chatter.” In appropriating the term for her stylistics class, Athas sought to provide students with a no-holds immersion in the ecstasies of language, its riptides of rhythms and sounds. The ultimate goal of the course–and the book that grew out of it–was to revivify the creative writer’s appreciation for the flexibilities of language, the full spectrum of its communicative powers, from purest meaning to musical possibilities. The course was run like a language laboratory, culminating in a live performance–part opera, part reader’s theatre–that paid maverick homage to the eight parts of speech. It quickly achieved cult status on campus and enjoyed an enduring influence on students who took it. Participants were delighted by the novel ways in which the serious study of grammar could be fused with wordplay, poetry, linguistic theory, literary history, and performance art. Read More