Literary Nonfiction. Flash Nonfiction. Essays. Memoir. Hybrid. How much of the human experience can fit into 750 words? A lot, it turns out. Since its founding in 1997, Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction has published hundreds of brief nonfiction essays by writers around the world, each within that strict word count. Over the past 20 years, Brevity has become one of the longest-running and most popular online literary publications, a journal readers regularly return to for insightful essays from skilled writers at every stage of their careers. Featuring examples of nonfiction forms such as memoir, narrative, lyric, braided, hermit crab, and hybrid, THE BEST OF BREVITY brings you 84 of the best-loved and most memorable reader favorites, collected in print for the first time. Compressed to their essence, these essays glint with drama, grief, love, and anger, as well as innumerable other lived intensities, resulting in an anthology that is as varied as it is unforgettable, leaving the reader transformed.
With contributions from Krys Malcolm Belc, Jenny Boully, Brian Doyle, Roxane Gay, Daisy Hern ndez, Michael Martone, Ander Monson, Patricia Park, Kristen Radtke, Diane Seuss, Abigail Thomas, Jia Tolentino, and so many more, THE BEST OF BREVITY offers unparalleled diversity of style, form, and perspective for those interested in reading, writing, or teaching the flash nonfiction form.
THE BEST OF BREVITY feels like the condensed energy of a coiled spring. A vibrant collection, dynamic in its exploration and celebration of the flash form.--Karen Babine
'I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead, ' Mark Twain has said. But the writers who have contributed to THE BEST OF BREVITY: TWENTY GROUNDBREAKING YEARS OF FLASH NONFICTION took the time and made the effort. Dinty W. Moore, a pioneer of flash and the founding editor of Brevity, and his colleague Zo Bossiere, have put together a marvelous collection of magic moments and concise ideas that will intrigue, delight, and inspire readers and writers. Each piece is an all-consuming instant, a thought-provoking breath of enlightenment and surprise. These flashes illustrate the power, versatility, and potential of the creative nonfiction genre.--Lee Gutkind