Writers on Writers⁹

Writers on Writers is a series of brief, personal, and creative books in which leading contemporary writers take the measure of other important writers (past or present) who have inspired, influenced, fascinated, or troubled them in significant ways. These books illuminate the complex and sometimes fraught relationships between writers, while also revealing the close ties between creative and critical writing.

On Elizabeth Bishop Colm Tóibín
A compelling portrait of a beloved poet from one of today's most acclaimed novelists
On Czeslaw Milosz: Visions from the Other Europe Eva Hoffman
A compelling personal introduction to the life and work of Nobel Prize–winning writer Czesław Miłosz from his fellow Polish exile and acclaimed writer Eva Hoffman
What W. H. Auden Can Do for You Alexander McCall Smith
Bestselling novelist Alexander McCall Smith's charming account of how the poet W. H. Auden has helped guide his life—and how he might guide yours, too
On Seamus Heaney Roy Foster
A vivid and original account of one of Ireland’s greatest poets by an acclaimed Irish historian and literary biographer
On Henry Miller: Or, How to Be an Anarchist John Burnside
An engaging invitation to rediscover Henry Miller—and to learn how his anarchist sensibility can help us escape “the air-conditioned nightmare” of the modern world
On Empson Michael Wood
From one of today's most distinguished critics, a beautifully written exploration of one of the twentieth century's most important literary critics
On Whitman C. K. Williams
Pulitzer Prize–winning poet C. K. Williams's personal reflection on the art of Walt Whitman
On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling Michael Dirda
From Pulitzer Prize–winning critic Michael Dirda, a delightful introduction to the creator of Sherlock Holmes
Notes on Sontag Phillip Lopate
Notes on Sontag is a frank, witty, and entertaining reflection on the work, influence, and personality of one of the "foremost interpreters of . . . our recent contemporary moment." Adopting Sontag's favorite form, a set of brief essays...