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Becoming Writers draws on phenomenological and lifespan approaches to writing research, reframing writing as a lived process shaped by social contexts, evolving technologies, and a writer’s own sense of self and agency. It moves beyond familiar binaries and offers a more holistic account of what it means to become a writer today.

Bringing together scholars from across the fields of writing studies and rhetoric/composition to consider the ways “writing” is changing in the twenty-first century, this collection tracks how and why people talk about the various forms of writing they do. Contributors address how younger generations understand the role and place of writing in their lives, particularly amid increasing and dramatic economic, social, and political change, as well as the ever-evolving role of writing in what it means to be human.

Becoming Writers builds on the Wayfinding Project (https://thewayfindingproject.com), a multiyear study of writing development focused on college graduates. Rather than focusing solely on the classroom, Becoming Writers investigates how writing functions in people’s professional, civic, personal, and digital lives. By centering lived experiences across domains, it provides a model of the empirical depth and different methodological approaches being used by scholars interested in writing development across the lifespan.

Denise Von Glahn’s in-depth examination of Larsen merges traditional biography with a daring scholarly foray: an ethnography of one active artist. Drawing on musical analysis, the composer’s personal archive, and seven years of interviews with Larsen and those in her orbit, Von Glahn illuminates the polyphony of achievements that make up Larsen’s public and private lives. In considering Larsen’s musical impact, Von Glahn delves into how elements of the personal—a 1950s childhood, spiritual seeking, love of nature, and status as an “important woman artist”—inform her work. The result is a portrait of a musical pathfinder who continues to defy expectations and reject labels.