From the bestselling author of the National Book Award winner Let the Great World Spin comes a lesson in how to be a writer—and so much more than that.
Intriguing and inspirational, this book is a call to look outward rather than inward. McCann asks his readers to constantly push the boundaries of experience, to see empathy and wonder in the stories we craft and hear.
A paean to the power of language, both by argument and by example, Letters to a Young Writer is fierce and honest in its testament to the bruises delivered by writing as both a profession and a calling. It charges aspiring writers to learn the rules and even break them.
These fifty-two essays are ultimately a profound challenge to a new generation to bring truth and light to a dark world through their art.
Praise for the fiction of Colum McCann
Let the Great World Spin
Winner of the National Book Award
“One of the most electric, profound novels I have read in years.”—Jonathan Mahler, The New York Times Book Review
“There’s so much passion and humor and pure life force on every page that you’ll find yourself giddy, dizzy, overwhelmed.”—Dave Eggers
TransAtlantic
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
“Reminiscent of the finest work of Michael Ondaatje and Michael Cunningham.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
“Another sweeping, beautifully constructed tapestry of life . . . Reading McCann is a rare joy.”—The Seattle Times
Thirteen Ways of Looking
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
“The irreducible mystery of human experience ties this small collection together, and in each of these stories McCann explores that theme in strikingly effective ways.”—The Washington Post
“Extraordinary . . . incandescent.”—Chicago Tribune
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“Colum McCann lends a personable voice to his warm words of advice for budding writers. Although McCann is fast becoming one of the most respected novelists of our time, he reads and writes with humility, charm, and earnest good intention. He brings the affability of a reader who does not focus on acting as a profession, and the end result is something akin to a fireside conversation with a favorite uncle…McCann’s reading is intimate, casual, and wise. Writer or not, young or not, the listener will find gems in McCann’s writings that will leave them optimistic and entertained.”
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