The photo has captured nothing. Not the glow from the flowers on the mantel behind him, a present, which in this picture might as well be fake, or the evaporating droplets on the windowpane. Not this boy"s beautiful, desperate love, tamped-down inside him like brown sugar in a measuring cup, which should fill every corner of the frame. Which should make that sad house plant beside him burst into flower. You would never guess that he is not looking out of a picture at all but is standing in a room looking at a grown man, at his own father, and what he thinks of that man we, looking at the picture, will never know. His is not the first photo not to capture these things, but for the viewer they might as well never have existed.
Contributors
DANIEL CLOWES was born in Chicago in 1961 and now lives in Oakland, California, with his wife, Erika, their son, Charles, and their beagle, Ella. His books include Ghost World Ghost World, David Boring David Boring, Caricature Caricature and and Ice Haven Ice Haven.
EDWIDGE DANTICAT was born in Haiti and moved to the United States of America when she was twelve years old. She is the author of several books, including Breath Breath, Eyes Eyes, Memory Memory, Krik? Krak! Krik? Krak!, The Farming of Bones The Farming of Bones, The Dew Breaker The Dew Breaker and, most recently, and, most recently, Brother, I"m Dying Brother, I"m Dying, a memoir.
DAVE EGGERS is the editor of McSweeney"s McSweeney"s and the author of four books, including and the author of four books, including What Is the What What Is the What. He is the co-founder of 826 Valencia.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER was born in 1977. He is the author of Everything Is Illuminated Everything Is Illuminated, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Guardian Guardian First Book Award, and First Book Award, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. He is also the editor of A Convergence of Birds A Convergence of Birds, a tribute to the work of the American a.s.semblage artist Joseph Cornell. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
ANDREW SEAN GREER is the author of three works of fiction, most recently The Confessions of Max Tivoli The Confessions of Max Tivoli, a national bestseller. He is the recipient of the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the NY Public Library Young Lions Award, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in San Francisco.
ALEKSANDAR HEMON was born in Sarajevo, and moved to Chicago in 1992. Upon his arrival in the US of A, he had all kinds of lousy jobs, including, but not limited to, canva.s.sing for Greenpeace and teaching English as a Second Language to the people who suddenly found their First Language nearly perfectly useless. He acquired an MA degree in English from Northwestern and dropped the pursuit of a PhD the moment he sold his book The Question of Bruno The Question of Bruno. Then he wrote Nowhere Man Nowhere Man. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker The New Yorker, Granta Granta, Esquire Esquire, The Paris Review The Paris Review and in the and in the Best American Short Stories Best American Short Stories, among others. He writes a column in Bosnian, under the unfortunate t.i.tle Hemonwood Hemonwood, for the Sarajevo magazine Dani Dani. He is a Guggenheim, MacArthur and decent fellow. When he lives, he lives in Chicago.
A. M. HOMES is the author of the acclaimed memoir, The Mistress"s Daughter The Mistress"s Daughter and the novels, and the novels, This Book Will Save Your Life This Book Will Save Your Life, Music For Torching Music For Torching, The End of Alice The End of Alice, In A Country of Mothers In A Country of Mothers, and Jack Jack, as well as the short-story collections, Things You Should Know Things You Should Know and and The Safety of Objects The Safety of Objects, the travel book, Los Angeles: People, Places and The Castle on the Hill Los Angeles: People, Places and The Castle on the Hill, and the artist"s book Appendix A: Appendix A:.
NICK HORNBY was born in 1957. He is the author of four novels: High Fidelity High Fidelity, About A Boy About A Boy, How To Be Good How To Be Good and and A Long Way Down A Long Way Down, and two other woks of non-fiction: Fever Pitch Fever Pitch and and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree The Complete Polysyllabic Spree. In 1999 he was awarded the E. M. Forster Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives and works in Highbury, north London.
HEIDI JULAVITS is the author of three novels, most recently The Uses of Enchantment The Uses of Enchantment. She is a founding editor of The Believer The Believer magazine and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in New York and Maine. magazine and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in New York and Maine.
MIRANDA JULY is a filmmaker, performing artist and writer. Her collection of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You No One Belongs Here More Than You, was published earlier this year. She lives in Los Angeles.
A. L. KENNEDY has written four collections of short fiction and four novels, along with two books of non-fiction - many of these have won awards. Her latest novel is Day Day. She produces a variety of journalism and also writes for the stage, radio, film and TV and performs stand-up comedy. In 1993 and 2003 she was listed among Granta Granta"s Best of Young British Novelists.
HARI KUNZRU is the author of The Impressionist The Impressionist, Transmission Transmission and the short story collection and the short story collection Noise Noise, and was named one of Granta"s Best of Young British Novelists in 2003. He is a contributing editor of Mute Mute magazine and sits on the executive council of English PEN. He lives in East London. magazine and sits on the executive council of English PEN. He lives in East London.
JONATHAN LETHEM is the author of six novels including The Fortress of Solitude The Fortress of Solitude, as well as two collections of short stories. He lives in Brooklyn and Maine.
TOBY LITT was born in 1968. He is the author of Adventures in Capitalism Adventures in Capitalism, Beatniks Beatniks, Corpsing Corpsing, deadkidsongs deadkidsongs, Exhibitionism Exhibitionism, Finding Myself Finding Myself, Ghost Story Ghost Story and and Hospital Hospital. In 2003, he was named one of Granta Granta"s Best of Young British Novelists. His website can be found at www.tobylitt.com.
DAVID MITCh.e.l.l was born in England in 1969. He is the author of four novels. He lives in Ireland with his wife and their two children.
ANDREW O"HAGAN lives in London and his latest novel is Be Near Me. Be Near Me.
ZZ PACKER is the author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and a New York Times New York Times Notable Book. A graduate of Yale, she has been a Wallace Stegner-Truman Capote fellow at Stanford University, where she is currently a Jones lecturer. She lives in the San Francis...o...b..y area. Notable Book. A graduate of Yale, she has been a Wallace Stegner-Truman Capote fellow at Stanford University, where she is currently a Jones lecturer. She lives in the San Francis...o...b..y area.
GEORGE SAUNDERS, a 2006 MacArthur Fellow, is the author of five books of fiction including the short story collections CivilWarLand in Bad Decline CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, Pastoralia Pastoralia, and In Persuasion Nation In Persuasion Nation. He teaches at Syracuse University.
POSY SIMMONDS was born in 1945 in Berkshire. She studied at the Sorbonne University, Paris before returning to England to attend the Central School of Art and Design in London. She has contributed to the Guardian Guardian since 1972 and has also drawn for the since 1972 and has also drawn for the Sun Sun, The Times The Times and and Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan. Her bestselling children"s books include Fred, Lulu and the Flying Babies Fred, Lulu and the Flying Babies and and The Chocolate Wedding The Chocolate Wedding, and her books for adults include Gemma Bovery Gemma Bovery and and Literary Life. Literary Life. She lives in London. She lives in London.
ZADIE SMITH was born in north-west London in 1975. She is the author of White Teeth White Teeth, The Autograph Man The Autograph Man and and On Beauty On Beauty.
ADAM THIRLWELL was born in 1978. His first novel, Politics Politics, was published in 2003. A book about novels, Miss Herbert Miss Herbert, is out this year. "Nigora" is from a novel in progress.
COLM ToIBiN is the author of the five novels, including The Black-water Lightship The Black-water Lightship and and The Master The Master, and a volume of stories Mothers and Sons Mothers and Sons. He lives in Dublin.
VENDELA VIDA is the author of two novels, Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name and and And Now You Can Go And Now You Can Go. Her first book, Girls on the Verge Girls on the Verge, was a journalistic study of female initiation rituals in America. She is the co-editor of The Believer The Believer magazine, the editor of magazine, the editor of The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers, and a founding board member and teacher at 826 Valencia. She lives in Northern California.
CHRIS WARE lives outside of Chicago, Illinois, and is the author of Jimmy Corrigan - the Smartest Kid on Earth Jimmy Corrigan - the Smartest Kid on Earth. He is currently serializing two new graphic novels in his ongoing periodical The ACME Novelty Library The ACME Novelty Library, the 18th and 18 issues of which will be released in late 2007.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Ted Thompson and Sarah Vowell for suggesting the project, to Linda Shaughnessy and Georgia Garrett for ensuring publication in many territories, and to Nick Laird for the t.i.tle.
1.
You can find out more about their work at www.826ny.org.