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In this online supplement to our annual print feature celebrating debut authors over the age of fifty, Jeffrey J. Higa, Ursula Pike, Megan Culhane Galbraith, Michael Kleber-Diggs, and Vinod Busjeet share excerpts from their first books.
In a new memoir, Poet Warrior, published by W. W. Norton in September, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo travels the roads, rivers, and rhythms of her life, taking readers on a journey across generations.
The agent representing Chris Belcher, Kate Broad, Delia Cai, Duy Doan, and others offers advice about working with a coauthor, changing a memoir to fiction, why agents don’t consider previously published work, and how to become an agent.
“Having to insist on that center and refuse, over and over again, to compromise the work in service of a white gaze was one of the most brutal experiences of my career.” —Akwaeke Emezi, author of Dear Senthuran
“Writers cannot afford the luxury of emotional numbness nor protective armor.” —Quiara Alegría Hudes, author of My Broken Language
“I can’t imagine myself without this book.” —Jana Larson, author of Reel Bay
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion and The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us From the Void by Jackie Wang.
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including Dearly by Margaret Atwood and Memorial by Bryan Washington.
Five authors over the age of fifty—Elizabeth Wetmore, Vivian Gibson, A. H. Kim, Susan Buttenwieser, and Daniel Becker—share excerpts from their first books.
“It’s pretty clear that the entire system is due for a serious reckoning.” —Melissa Faliveno, author of Tomboyland
