About the Book

Forty-six writers explore the range of the contemporary essay: Dorothy Allison, Jimmy Santiago Baca, John Biguenet, Tom Bissell, Greg Bottoms, Joy Castro, Toi Derricotte, Brian Doyle, Gretel Ehrlich, Jane Fishman, Melanie Dylan Fox, David Gessner, Derek Green, John Haines, Linda Hogan, Barbara Hurd, Robert Isenberg, Lori Jakiela, Jamaica Kincaid, Elizabeth Kirschner, Amanda Leskovac, Phillip Lopate, BK Loren, Jo McDougall, Debra Marquart, Kathryn Miles, Brenda Miller, Ander Monson, Dinty W. Moore, Michele Morano, Naomi Shihab Nye, Joyce Carol Oates, Alicia Ostriker, Michael Pollan, John T. Price, Lia Purpura, Janisse Ray, Pattiann Rogers, Sheryl St. Germain, Marjane Satrapi, Ruth L. Schwartz, Lawrence Sutin, Rhett Iseman Trull, Tom Varisco, Margaret L. Whitford, John Edgar Wideman.

Between Song and Story celebrates the contemporary essay’s capacity to live between the two worlds of lyric and narrative. The editors have sought to capture that duality in this anthology, a collection of writings that exemplifies the diverse, exuberant, and intrepid forms of the contemporary essay. Designed for use in any writing course focusing on the craft of the essay, the anthology includes healthy selections of lyric and formally adventurous essays, as well as those focused on nature and travel writing, and more nuanced explorations of place. This anthology tells a rich story about the wealth of experimentation and diversity of approaches to the essay in the twenty-first century. Readers will be engaged and surprised.

A native of New Orleans, Sheryl has taught at The University of Texas at Dallas, The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Knox College, Iowa State University, and Chatham University, where she served as Director of the MFA in Creative Writing for 14 years. She is the co-founder and former Director of the Words Without Walls […]

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