Something is going on out there. Almost simultaneously, many of our finest writers are experimenting with a new nonfiction form: brief pieces that are literary and personal rather than informational, complete in themselves, and short-very short. Although the form has not had a name until now, the writers who are attracted to it include the known-Tim O'Brien, Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, Michael Ondaatje-as well as just-discovered voices in the field of creative nonfiction, a genre that is transforming the essay.

Delights and surprises await the reader in this rich gathering of Shorts. From Diane Ackerman's fascination with hummingbirds, to Andrei Codrescu's idiosyncratic view of nostalgia, to Albert Goldbarth's free-wheeling riff on the universe, each Short-ranging from several paragraphs to 2,000 words-becomes a sharply focused lens on an outer world or an inner sensibility.

In Short, reflecting almost every way in which nonfiction can be written, is for all readers (and writers) who thrive on imaginative play and aesthetic satisfaction. Pick up this book; open it up. See if you can resist it.

About the Author
Mary Paumier Jones lives in Rochester. Jones, who teaches creative nonfiction, has a degree in library science. Writer and educator Judith Kitchen (1941-2014) was the cofounder of the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University.

Reviews
"To read In Short is to experience, in essay after essay, the disproportionate power of the small to move, persuade, and change us." -- Bernard Cooper
"[I]t was [In Short] that began to define the genre and galvanize the flash nonfiction movement....The table of contents is a veritable roll call of literary nonfiction standouts (and quite a few poets too)...The editors did a stunning job." -- Dinty W. Moore, co-editor of The Best of Brevity



Book Information
ISBN 9780393314922
Author Mary Paumier Jones
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 427g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 140mm * 28mm