Best Books for Writers

From the newly published to the invaluable classic, our list of essential books for creative writers.

The Made-Up Self: Impersonation in the Personal Essay by Carl H. Klaus Published in 2010 by University of Iowa Press In this book-length study of the personal essay, Carl Klaus unpacks the made-up self and the manifold ways in which a wide range of essayists and essays have brought it to life. By reconceiving the most fundamental aspect of the personal essay—the I of the essayist—Klaus demonstrates that this seemingly uncontrived form of writing is inherently problematic, not willfully devious but bordering upon the world of fiction. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	The New New Journalism: Conversations With America's Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft by Robert S. Boynton Published in 2005 by Vintage Books In this compilation of interviews, each prefaced by a biographical introduction, some of America's most prominent working journalists— including Ted Conover, Jon Krakauer, Jane Kramer, Susan Orlean, and Gay Talese—reveal their approaches to composing their best known works. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing
19th Century American Writers on Writing by Brenda Wineapple, Editor Published in 2011 by Trinity University Press This anthology of essays, letters, poems, prose, and excerpts of interviews by fifty-seven authors of the 19th century—including Kate Chopin, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Walt Whitman—offers insight into what it means to be a writer within the context of history, as well as classic guidance about craft, style, and form. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	ABC of Reading by Ezra Pound, introduction by Michael Dirda Published in 2010 by New Directions Originally published in 1934, Pound's book serves as a guide for those interested in honing their critical thinking through reading the classics. The book is based on the premise that to be a good writer one must be a good reader, aware of the traditions out of which the best literature has emerged. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing
A Kite in the Wind: Fiction Writers on Their Craft by Andrea Barrett and Peter Turchi, editors Published in 2011 by Trinity University Press This anthology features essays by twenty fiction writers, including Charles Baxter, Maud Casey, Lan Samantha Chang, Stacey D'Erasmo, and Kevin McIlvoy, covering narrative distance and voice, character, setting, structure, and more. As the editors write in the introduction, "Writers and readers interested...in contemplation of various aspects of the fiction writer's craft will, we think, find this collection surprising, provocative, and even useful." One hundred percent of the book's royalties go to Friends of Writers, Inc., to provide scholarships for developing writers. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	The Autobiographer's Handbook: The 826 National Guide to Writing Your Memoir by Jennifer Traig, editor Published in 2008 by Holt Paperbacks Edited by memoirist and 826 Valencia tutor and workshop teacher Jennifer Traig, this resource offers advice from contemporary memoirists, including Steve Almond, Jonathan Ames, Ishmael Beah, Elizabeth Gilbert, Nick Hornby, Maxine Hong Kingston, Tobias Wolff, and many more, plus writing exercises and work plans to get writers started. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing
Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: The Art of Truth by Bill Roorbach Published in 2000 by Oxford University Press This anthology includes more than sixty works of the three main forms of creative nonfiction—literary memoir by writers such as Mary McCarthy, Annie Dillard, and Judy Ruiz; personal essays by authors such as E. B. White to Phillip Lopate to Ntozake Shange; and literary journalism by Truman Capote, Barbara Ehrenreich, Sebastian Junger, and many others. Bill Roorbach's general introduction and introductions to each of the five sections provide useful definitions, crucial history, and critical context for the genre. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King Published in 2010 by Scribner Best-selling author Stephen King offers an entertaining writing guide that draws on his life experiences, including his near-fatal accident in 1999, to offer insight into the origin of the writer's imagination and perception of the world. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing
Old Friend From Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir by Natalie Goldberg Published in 2008 by Free Press Written by Natalie Goldberg, author of the best-selling classic Writing Down the Bones, Old Friend From Far Away is a meditation on the capacity of the written word to remember the past, free us from any stifling effects it may have on our voice, and transform the way we think—and write—about ourselves and our lives. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing	The Story Within: New Insights and Inspiration for Writers by Laura Oliver Published in 2011 by Alpha Books Author and longtime writing instructor Laura Oliver offers a guide to aspiring writers on how to access and bring to life personal stories. The Story Within employs memoir to advise readers on craft, writing principles, cultivating the creative spirit, publication, and more. More About This Book at: Open Library Goodreads LibraryThing