Best Books for Writers

“Poetry is the sound of language organized in lines. More than meter, more than rhyme, more than images or alliteration or figurative language, line is what distinguishes our experience of poetry as poetry,” writes James Longenbach in the preface to this installment of Graywolf’s Art of series. This thought-provoking writing guide breaks down the historical and technical aspects of the practice of lineation with an examination of metered, rhymed, syllabic, and free-verse poetry. Offering a range of examples—from the work of poets such as Frank Bidart, Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and C. D. Wright—Longenbach makes the art of the poetic line approachable as he simultaneously challenges preconceived notions of how it is understood. Whether for the poet, the curious prose writer, or the poetry reader, this book will expand the lexicon and understanding of the musicality behind all writing.  

The author of the novel America Is Not the Heart, published in 2018 by Viking, returns with a collection of essays exploring the power and potential of a more engaged mode of reading that pulls together literature’s personal and shared histories. Attempting to deepen the aspirational claim that reading builds empathy and books can save lives, Castillo encourages us to acknowledge complicated truths (“the way we read now is simply not good enough, and it is failing not only our writers—especially, but not limited to, our most marginalized writers—but failing our readers, which is to say, ourselves,” she writes) and to forge deeper connections. An intensely personal history of one writer’s reading life and a wide-ranging intervention into our conversations about why reading matters, Castillo’s book urges us to create a space where literature truly imbues our lives with more meaning.  

“Here and there, we find these gems, these glittering gems of pure delight in the art, and they remind us of why we do this work, why we keep coming back to make this art that we do, why we keep trying,” writes Kwame Dawes in the preface to this collection of craft talks on writing and the writing life delivered by faculty at the Pacific University MFA in Writing program. Organized into three sections titled “Reflections on the Writing Life,” “Reflections on the Writing Process,” and “Reflections on the Nuts and Bolts of Writing,” the essays express both the personal and technical aspects of being a writer in the world. Featuring essays by Ellen Bass, Marvin Bell, Pam Houston, Dorianne Laux, and Mike Magnuson, among others, this collection offers writers of all backgrounds insight from a range of voices and styles that make up a community enriched by writing. As Dawes writes, “What we bring is our own distinctive history, our own narrative of struggle and triumph in the making of our art, and our satchels full of the wisdom and empathy that other writers have given to us.”  

“The impulse to define and neatly categorize the Latino experience not only shapes the way that Latino literature is understood; it influences what is available to us, what is acceptable to publishers, and what is read in the classroom,” write editors Blas Falconer and Lorraine M. López in the introduction to this 2011 anthology of twenty essays exploring the many ways in which Latinx American literature is understood. The essays—written by authors such as Joy Castro, Daniel Chacón, Alex Espinoza, Carmen Giménez Smith, Gabe Gomez, and Judith Ortiz Cofer—range in topics, some focusing on experiences that challenge what many perceive to be a Latinx narrative, while others encourage new modes of expression and push to reinvent literature that steps outside of traditional narratives, themes, and tropes. The anthology aims to shine a light on the diversity within diversity and to challenge writers to explore their own individuality. As Falconer and López write: “Only when we honor the multiplicity of voices in our cultural group can we honor the artistic spirit that drives us to create, as our first complex and original creation must be the self.”  

“There is a distinction, however, between concluding and merely stopping or ceasing. The ringing of a telephone, the blowing of the wind, the babbling of an infant in its crib: these stop. A poem or a piece of music concludes,” writes Barbara Herrnstein Smith in this collection of essays examining the relationship between closure and the overall structure and integrity of a poem. Smith breaks down the techniques and craft elements behind some of twentieth century’s most celebrated poems by writers such as Emily Dickinson, Thomas Hardy, Stanley Kunitz, Dylan Thomas, and William Butler Yeats to exemplify elements of prosody present in these works. The book concludes with a section on the problems of closures, including chapters titled “Failures of Closure” and “Closure and Anti-Closure in Modern Poetry,” leaving readers with new questions and possibilities to carry forward into their own writing process.  

“About one-third of my pleasure as a writer comes from the work itself, the process of writing, a third from the response of my contemporaries, and another third in contemplating unknown readers who inhabit a future I will not live to see,” writes Harryette Mullen in “Imagining the Unimagined Reader: Writing to the Unborn and Including the Excluded,” the first essay in this collection of short and long essays and interviews by the poet and scholar. Through literary analysis and detailed self-reflection, Mullen tracks the thematic and formal concerns of her work as well as the work of African American writers, including Nathaniel Mackey’s Bedouin Hornbook and Will Alexander’s Asia & Haiti. This thoughtful collection offers a glimpse into Mullen’s methods and drive for writing to those interested in the tools necessary to innovate and challenge their own writing.   

“While modern creative writing programs seek to develop the talents of maturing writers, essential information about the initiation, development and processes of the writing craft can be discovered in the early memories of established writers—material that has not usually been available in the classroom,” writes poet and editor Susan Terris in the introduction to this unique anthology of essays and interviews of acclaimed poets, including Denise Duhamel, Rafael Jesús González, Jane Hirshfield, Arthur Sze, and Lynne Thompson. The twenty-five poets in this collection tackle topics such as how they found their poetic voice, how they dealt with racial and gender discrimination, and how they keep writing despite rejection and disappointment. Through these intimate essays and interviews, one can see that there is more than one way to become a poet and that, quite often, true inspiration comes from the most unlikely places. 

“Though vast numbers of people want to write fiction, the educational machinery set in place to teach people how doesn’t work very well. While this book puts forth no strategies for correcting the situation, it discusses some reasons why this is the case,” writes award-winning novelist and critic Samuel R. Delany in the introduction to this 2006 book on the mechanics of fiction. A professor of literature and creative writing for many decades, Delany discusses the art of writing fiction—through essays, personal letters to other writers, and interviews—as well as examines the conditions of the contemporary writer, explaining why literary reputations grow differently today than they did “twenty-five, thirty-five, and seventy-five years ago.” Organized in three parts, About Writing does more than offer basic elements of creative writing, it gives clear guidance on the life of a writer. As Delany puts it, this is a book for “writers who are not interested in formulaic imitation, at whatever level, however well done.”  

“I’m going to talk to you about the desire to write and about the two kinds of writing it seems to me I know best, the first compliant, the second impetuous,” writes Elena Ferrante to begin the first of the four essays in this slim but powerful collection by the author of the Neapolitan novels. Composed as lectures—the first three for the Umberto Eco Lectures series sponsored by the International Center for Humanities of the University of Bologna, the fourth for the Dante and Other Classics conference presented by the Association of Italianists—these pieces offer a look at Ferrante’s influences and inspirations as well as probing discussions of the work of Ingeborg Bachmann, Emily Dickinson, María Guerra, Gertrude Stein, and others. 

“Do you remember the poems of your early childhood—the far rhymes and games of the beginning to which you called the rhythms, the little songs to which you woke and went to sleep? Yes, we remember them,” writes Muriel Rukeyser in “The Fear of Poetry,” the first chapter in this collection of essays that makes a case for the centrality of poetry in American life. In this 1949 American classic, reprinted in 1996 by Paris Press and with a foreword by poet Jane Cooper, Rukeyser explores the presence of poetry in our everyday lives and its lasting importance in forming a civil society. “A poem does invite, it does require. What does it invite? A poem invites you to feel. More than that: it invites you to respond. And better than that: a poem invites a total response,” writes Rukeyser. For both experienced writers and those interested in forming a closer relationship with poetry, The Life of Poetry instructs and dares the reader to be changed by its words. 

In this collection of conversations between writers and their mentors edited by Vendela Vida, some first published in The Believer and others previously unpublished, the craft of writing is discussed as well as a wide range of topics including Buddhism, politics, and mountain climbing. Often characterized by a serious yet casual tone, the interviews feature Zadie Smith talking with Ian McEwan, Jonathan Lethem talking with Paul Auster, Susan Choi talking with Francisco Goldman, and Dave Eggers talking with David Foster Wallace. Through these intimate conversations, the personality of each writer comes through, offering insight into their thought processes and approaches to writing. In this revised and expanded edition, readers will get a peek into the concerns and interests of these influential writers through their inspiring and passionate dialogue. 

“The interviewers I fear most are the ones who’ve read what the publisher’s PR people say about your book, along with some handy pull quotes,” writes Ursula K. Le Guin in the introduction to this series of conversations on the craft of writing with David Naimon, host of the literary radio show and podcast Between the Covers. “Every now and then I meet one who realizes that what I really like to do is talk shop.” In these delightful discussions on poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, Le Guin provides advice and guidance for any kind of writer across genres. The book demonstrates not only the range of Le Guin’s prowess and body of work—which includes poems, translations, essays, speeches, and novels—but the expertise of Naimon’s precise interviewing skills. “The good interview is like a good badminton rally,” Le Guin writes. “You know right away that the two of you can keep that birdie in the air, and all you have to do is watch it fly.”