Product Description

Continuing its tradition of offering the most stimulating and eclectic collection of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, The Beacon Best returns this year with the acclaimed writer Junot Díaz as guest editor. The 2001 edition features not only celebrated wordsmiths like Ha Jin, Louise Erdrich, Francisco Goldman, Chang-rae Lee, and Zadie Smith, but also emerging new talents like T. E. Holt and Rhina P. Espaillat. This year's edition boasts deeply compassionate stories that explore the widening gap between our day-to-day experiences and what we too often read or see elsewhere. Writes Díaz in his introduction, "The freshness and originality and humanity of these writers and their work renewed me." We hope that the Beacon Best of 2001 will delight and challenge you to see the world with new eyes.

Featuring the work of: Agha Shahid Ali Josefina Báez, Maile Chapman, Lucille Clifton, Edwidge Danticat, Cornelius Eady, Louise Erdrich, Rhina P. Espaillat, John Frazier, Dagoberto Gilb, Francisco Goldman, T. E. Holt, Ha Jin, Chang-rae Lee , Li-Young Lee, Nega Mezlekia, Ishle Park, Pedro Ponce, Patrick A. Rosal, Sonia Sanchez, Danzy Senna, Angela Shaw, Zadie Smith, James Ellis Thomas, Reetika Vaziran, Elissa Wald, Felicia Ward, and Tim Winton.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #837955 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-06
• Released on: 2001-10-06
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.25 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"I am a 34-year-old black woman, alive at the end of the 20th century and passing for sane. Believe me, that's saying something," writes Felicia Ward in "Good Night Moon," her restrained prose fraught with complex emotions as she describes her disintegrating marriage and her rage at her children. Seeking the "gap... between the Real Story and the Official Story," Dominican-American fiction writer Diaz (Drown) culled these 28 selections, primarily by writers of color, from periodicals as diverse as O, The Oprah Magazine; Transition; Granta; Gato Pardo; and the New Yorker. Many, like Elissa Wald's "Notes from the Catwalk," are first-person narratives. Wald describes her experiences as a Times Square stripper with bluntness and pungency balanced by emotional nuance. The host at work asks her why she looks sad one night: " `My cat died this afternoon,' I told him. Incredibly, his doughy face creased into a grin. `Aw look, honey, don't take it too hard,' he guffawed. `As long as your other pussy's holding up.' " Sex and/or love are at the heart of many of the pieces in the 16-line poem "Interglacial," John Frazier describes gay ex-lovers having sex and figuring out what their relationship is about. "How to Do," a poem by Cornelius Eady, begins "It embarrasses my niece to think of her mother/ Walking the street with a cart/ Picking up empties," and describes returning bottles to the local store for food credit. Diaz draws on noted names Lucille Clifton, Zadie Smith, Louise Erdrich but many are less well-known. This excellent collection, billed as "the alternative literary annual," is an important addition to the wide world of literary anthologies.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The third edition of The Beacon Best continues to provide a literary forum for writers from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Acclaimed Dominican short-story writer and guest editor Junot Diaz has assembled another superb sampling of cutting-edge poems, essays, and short fiction from around the globe. Those familiar with this increasingly influential annual will not be disappointed by the quality, range, and diversity of the authors and the works showcased. This exhilarating literary alternative provides a necessary counterbalance to the more cautious and predictable mainstream collections that proliferate on library shelves. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
A vivid, revelatory collection of stories, poetry and essays. . . . Shot through with exuberance, vitality and curiosity. . . . It undoubtedly will become a crucial supplement to mainstream literary offerings.-Diana Abu-Jaber, The Miami Herald

"A literary buffet with treats so exquisitely sculpted that Martha Stewart would grimace with envy....Compelling to the very end." -Kirkus Reviews

"Promises to be a book worth seeking out in future editions. . . . [Has] the kind of edge that the first few Pushcart Prize collections had. . . . Important." -Bryce Mulligan, Chicago Tribune


From the Trade Paperback edition.