Snapshots
An Album of Essay and Image
Published on 6. February 2025
Book
Hardback
168 pages
978-1-350-39705-7 (ISBN)
Description
If pictures are worth a thousand words, what kinds of words might they inspire? What stories would they tell and would they be joyful or sad, elegant or savage?
Snapshots features 36 such meditations from a diverse group of writers, each of whom draws on a photograph from their personal archive to inspire a short essay.
Intimate and powerful, these reflections exhibit a range of sensibilities and experiences, offering unique insight into the lives and interests of both established and emerging authors. Expressing a dynamic array of styles, relationships, landscapes, and preoccupations, Snapshots is an album for our life and times.
The book includes pieces from the writers below:
- Emilie Pascale Beck - Suzanne Berne - Aimee Bender - Sven Birkerts - Kate Carroll De Gutes - Stuart Dybek - Alex Espinoza - Lynell George - Amy Gerstler - Tod Goldberg - Hannah Howard - Vanessa Hua - Pico Iyer - Wayne Koestenbaum - Major Jackson - Leslie Jamison - Dinah Lenney - Alex Marzano-Lesnevich - Aimee Liu - Sonja Livingston - Attica Locke - Dinty W. Moore - Mara Naselli - Naomi Shihab Nye - Ivy Pochoda - Adriana E. Ramirez - Sejal Shah - Brandon Shimoda - Jessica Silvester - Aisha Sabatini Sloan - Susan Straight - Grace Talusan - Abigail Thomas - Clifford Thompson - David L. Ulin - Diana Wagman
Snapshots features 36 such meditations from a diverse group of writers, each of whom draws on a photograph from their personal archive to inspire a short essay.
Intimate and powerful, these reflections exhibit a range of sensibilities and experiences, offering unique insight into the lives and interests of both established and emerging authors. Expressing a dynamic array of styles, relationships, landscapes, and preoccupations, Snapshots is an album for our life and times.
The book includes pieces from the writers below:
- Emilie Pascale Beck - Suzanne Berne - Aimee Bender - Sven Birkerts - Kate Carroll De Gutes - Stuart Dybek - Alex Espinoza - Lynell George - Amy Gerstler - Tod Goldberg - Hannah Howard - Vanessa Hua - Pico Iyer - Wayne Koestenbaum - Major Jackson - Leslie Jamison - Dinah Lenney - Alex Marzano-Lesnevich - Aimee Liu - Sonja Livingston - Attica Locke - Dinty W. Moore - Mara Naselli - Naomi Shihab Nye - Ivy Pochoda - Adriana E. Ramirez - Sejal Shah - Brandon Shimoda - Jessica Silvester - Aisha Sabatini Sloan - Susan Straight - Grace Talusan - Abigail Thomas - Clifford Thompson - David L. Ulin - Diana Wagman
Reviews / Votes
The authors of the resonant essays in Dinah Lenney's beautifully edited anthology explore the poignant mysteries embedded in even the most unassuming snapshot, reminding us that, while a photograph is a record of a vanished moment, it is also alive to the ongoing evolution of memory and self-knowledge. * Marisa Silver, author of The Mysteries and Mary Coin * Snapshots gets at the complexity of ekphrastic writing in our contemporary moment - highlighting the ways in which a photograph still prompts intellectual interrogation, and revealing the intricacies of creating literary work through the careful exploration of an image. * Rachel M. Hanson, author of The End of Tennessee: A Memoir * Snapshots embodies the best version of ekphrasis: the images catapult the writers' imaginations, drawing from one art form, transforming it into another, then offering it to the reader to keep the conversation going. This collection speaks from art, through pages, with words so inviting you could listen for days on end. * Nicole Walker, author of Processed Meat: Essays on Food, Flesh, and Navigating Disaster *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Laminated cover
Illustrations
36 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 143 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
362 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-39705-7 (9781350397057)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Dinah Lenney has served as core faculty for the Bennington Writing Seminars and in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. A longtime nonfiction editor at LARB, she herself has published several books in the genre, including Coffee (as part of the Bloomsbury Object Lessons series), The Object Parade and Bigger than Life, and co-edited Brief Encounters: A Collection of Literary Nonfiction with the late Judith Kitchen. Dinah's essays and reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post among many other publications.
Content
Introduction: a picture is worth a thousand words
Prologue: Emerson Motorworks: Rochester, Vermont, MAJOR JACKSON
1. WAY BACK WHEN
Vigilante, SONJA LIVINGSTON
Girl By Default, KATE CARROLL DE GUTES
Goodbye to Everything and Everybody, NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
2. FAMILY PORTRAITS
Freedom, GRACE TALUSAN
Axed, AIMEE LIU
Serpentine, SEJAL SHAH
On the Street with the Three Red Brick Houses, CLIFFORD THOMPSON
The Celebration, SUZANNE BERNE
3. MIRROR, MIRROR
This is the Start of a Wednesday, HANNAH HOWARD
The Distance, ALEX MARZANO-LESNEVICH
MacIntosh, ATTICA LOCKE
Torn Self-Portrait with Striped Shirt, WAYNE KOESTENBAUM
My Shadow Self, PICO IYER
4. WISH YOU WERE HERE
Garden, IVY POCHODA
Power Lines, MARA NASELLI
The Feast of San Silverio, JESSICA SILVESTER
Off Map, LYNELL GEORGE
Backcountry, STUART DYBEK
5. BEFORE AND AFTER
Richard and Gabrielle Straight, SUSAN STRAIGHT
Fifty, SVEN BIRKERTS
Finita, ADRIANA E. RAMIREZ
Trick or Treat, DIANA WAGMAN
Capitola, TOD GOLDBERG
How to Safely Transport Your Wurlitzer, EMILIE PASCALE BECK
Easton, Maryland, LESLIE JAMISON
6. ELEGIES
Tan Guapos, ALEX ESPINOZA
Memento, VANESSA HUA
Envy, AMY GERSTLER
Yamato, BRANDON SHIMODA
7. VIEWFINDERS
Guitar with Burning Candle, AIMEE BENDER
What's in the Background, AISHA SABATINI SLOAN
Categories, DINAH LENNEY
Girl with Corn, DINTY W. MOORE
Wild Turkey, DAVID L. ULIN
Postscript: Piggies, ABIGAIL THOMAS
Alphabetical table of contents
Appendix: List Of Themes
Appendix: List Of Writing Prompts
Appendix: A Very Abbreviated List of Recommended Reading
Contributor Bios
Photo Credits
Prologue: Emerson Motorworks: Rochester, Vermont, MAJOR JACKSON
1. WAY BACK WHEN
Vigilante, SONJA LIVINGSTON
Girl By Default, KATE CARROLL DE GUTES
Goodbye to Everything and Everybody, NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
2. FAMILY PORTRAITS
Freedom, GRACE TALUSAN
Axed, AIMEE LIU
Serpentine, SEJAL SHAH
On the Street with the Three Red Brick Houses, CLIFFORD THOMPSON
The Celebration, SUZANNE BERNE
3. MIRROR, MIRROR
This is the Start of a Wednesday, HANNAH HOWARD
The Distance, ALEX MARZANO-LESNEVICH
MacIntosh, ATTICA LOCKE
Torn Self-Portrait with Striped Shirt, WAYNE KOESTENBAUM
My Shadow Self, PICO IYER
4. WISH YOU WERE HERE
Garden, IVY POCHODA
Power Lines, MARA NASELLI
The Feast of San Silverio, JESSICA SILVESTER
Off Map, LYNELL GEORGE
Backcountry, STUART DYBEK
5. BEFORE AND AFTER
Richard and Gabrielle Straight, SUSAN STRAIGHT
Fifty, SVEN BIRKERTS
Finita, ADRIANA E. RAMIREZ
Trick or Treat, DIANA WAGMAN
Capitola, TOD GOLDBERG
How to Safely Transport Your Wurlitzer, EMILIE PASCALE BECK
Easton, Maryland, LESLIE JAMISON
6. ELEGIES
Tan Guapos, ALEX ESPINOZA
Memento, VANESSA HUA
Envy, AMY GERSTLER
Yamato, BRANDON SHIMODA
7. VIEWFINDERS
Guitar with Burning Candle, AIMEE BENDER
What's in the Background, AISHA SABATINI SLOAN
Categories, DINAH LENNEY
Girl with Corn, DINTY W. MOORE
Wild Turkey, DAVID L. ULIN
Postscript: Piggies, ABIGAIL THOMAS
Alphabetical table of contents
Appendix: List Of Themes
Appendix: List Of Writing Prompts
Appendix: A Very Abbreviated List of Recommended Reading
Contributor Bios
Photo Credits