Editor’s Notes by Steven Harvey
“The one thing I will not tamper with in this class,” I tell my students when I teach the art of the personal essay, “is your voice.” We can work on many elements of craft: thematic focus, strategies for beginnings and endings, pacing, dialogue, figurative devices, economy of expression, and many more, but voice remains untouchable. “You’ve spent a lifetime creating it,” I say, “and it is your gift. In many ways, it is you.” Continue reading . . .
Contents
“The Unreliable History of Sparkles the Bear/Dog” Jim Daniels ◆ “Origin Story” Shannon Cram ◆ “Time’s Fool” Corrie Williamson ◆ “The Other Side of the River” Chelsea B. DesAutels ◆ “Zero Numbers” Phong Nguyen ◆ “The Drunk Girl Who Lives Inside My Body” Allison Field Bell ◆ “Who Are We Missing?” L.C. Killingsworth ◆ “Admit the Gravity” Emma Bolden ◆ “Ten Things to Save from a Fire” Jesse Lee Kercheval ◆ “Bullfight” Jenny Molberg ◆ “Best Pals” Rachel Cline ◆ “Harvey” Lynda Rushing ◆ “Abyssinia” Gary Fincke ◆ “Because My Editor Reads a Draft of My Book and Suggests I Tell the Reader How My Sister Died” Beth Ann Fennelly ◆ “My Father’s Letters” Asena McKeown Contributors’ Notes . . .
