If I Can Be Honest

Before there was Autofocus Books, there was Autofocus Lit, an online journal dedicated to artful autobiographical writing in its various genres and forms. The online journal began in October 2020 and published 318 original pieces from established and emerging writers before it closed in October 2024 to continue building the press that grew out of it. This anthology collects over forty works of short-form prose (400 - 3,000 words), selected by the journal's founder and editor-in-chief, Michael Wheaton. These works are arranged into the seven big thematic containers that developed over the publication's four years: friends, family, heartbreak, the body, violence, death, and life. If I Can Be Honest provides an instructive, engrossing, and polyvocal survey of artful autobiographical prose two decades into 21st century literature. Contributors [in order of appearance]: Aaron Burch; Nina Perlman; Zach Savich; Mike Nagel; David Schuman; Suzy Eynon; Thad DeVassie; David Shields; D.T. Robbins; Kirstie MacKenzie; Andrew Sottile; Amy Lyons; Andrew Bertaina; Brianna Snow; Kaycie Hall; Erin Riedel; Kristine Langley Mahler; Alyson Zetta Williams; Lexi Kent-Monning; Donna Vorreyer; Erin Dorney; Sabrina Small; Abigail Richards; Jillian Luft; Lyd Havens; Christy Tending; Lena Ziegler; Cameron Gearen; Paul Rousseau; Erin Slaughter; Kiyanna Hill; Danielle Chelosky; WA Hawkins; Chance Dibben; Stephanie Austin; Laurie Rachkus Uttich; Holly Pelesky; Claire Hopple; Teresa Carmody; Kevin Maloney; Abigail Oswald; Beth Kephart; Diana Ruzova