The Beacon Best of 2001: Great Writing by Women and Men of All Colors and Cultures - Softcover

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9780807062395: The Beacon Best of 2001: Great Writing by Women and Men of All Colors and Cultures

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807062391 ISBN 13: 9780807062395

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2001

Continuing its tradition of offering the most stimulating and eclectic collection of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, The Beacon Best returns this year with the acclaimed writer Junot D�az as guest editor. The 2001 edition features not only celebrated wordsmiths like Ha Jin, Louise Erdrich, Francisco Goldman, Chang-rae Lee, and Zadie Smith, but also emerging new talents like T. E. Holt and Rhina P. Espaillat. This year's edition boasts deeply compassionate stories that explore the widening gap between our day-to-day experiences and what we too often read or see elsewhere. Writes D�az in his introduction, "The freshness and originality and humanity of these writers and their work renewed me." We hope that the Beacon Best of 2001 will delight and challenge you to see the world with new eyes.

Featuring the work of: Agha Shahid Ali Josefina B�ez, Maile Chapman, Lucille Clifton, Edwidge Danticat, Cornelius Eady, Louise Erdrich, Rhina P. Espaillat, John Frazier, Dagoberto Gilb, Francisco Goldman, T. E. Holt, Ha Jin, Chang-rae Lee , Li-Young Lee, Nega Mezlekia, Ishle Park, Pedro Ponce, Patrick A. Rosal, Sonia Sanchez, Danzy Senna, Angela Shaw, Zadie Smith, James Ellis Thomas, Reetika Vaziran, Elissa Wald, Felicia Ward, and Tim Winton.

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About the Author:

Junot D�az was born and raised in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. He is author of the celebrated story collection Drown, and his work has appeared in Story, The Paris Review, Time Out, Glimmer Train, African Voices, The New Yorker (including the "Future of American Fiction" issue), and in several volumes of The Best American Short Stories. He lives in New York City.

From Publishers Weekly:

"I am a 34-year-old black woman, alive at the end of the 20th century and passing for sane. Believe me, that's saying something," writes Felicia Ward in "Good Night Moon," her restrained prose fraught with complex emotions as she describes her disintegrating marriage and her rage at her children. Seeking the "gap... between the Real Story and the Official Story," Dominican-American fiction writer Diaz (Drown) culled these 28 selections, primarily by writers of color, from periodicals as diverse as O, The Oprah Magazine; Transition; Granta; Gato Pardo; and the New Yorker. Many, like Elissa Wald's "Notes from the Catwalk," are first-person narratives. Wald describes her experiences as a Times Square stripper with bluntness and pungency balanced by emotional nuance. The host at work asks her why she looks sad one night: " `My cat died this afternoon,' I told him. Incredibly, his doughy face creased into a grin. `Aw look, honey, don't take it too hard,' he guffawed. `As long as your other pussy's holding up.' " Sex and/or love are at the heart of many of the pieces in the 16-line poem "Interglacial," John Frazier describes gay ex-lovers having sex and figuring out what their relationship is about. "How to Do," a poem by Cornelius Eady, begins "It embarrasses my niece to think of her mother/ Walking the street with a cart/ Picking up empties," and describes returning bottles to the local store for food credit. Diaz draws on noted names Lucille Clifton, Zadie Smith, Louise Erdrich but many are less well-known. This excellent collection, billed as "the alternative literary annual," is an important addition to the wide world of literary anthologies.

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