River Teeth
Twenty Years of Creative Nonfiction
Winner of the Gold Medal for Anthologies in the 2021 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards
Nationally recognized River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative has published a host of new and significant voices in creative nonfiction--including essays, memoir, and literary journalism--since 1999. To celebrate twenty years of introducing talented new writers to readers and publishing great nonfiction, the founding editors, Joe Mackall and Daniel W. Lehman, have selected their all-time favorite essays published in River Teeth in this stunning collection. Essays include up-and-coming authors as well as luminaries such as Ann Hood, Lee Martin, Chris Offutt, Angela Morales, Brenda Miller, Judith Kitchen, Ted Kooser, and Andre Dubus III. River Teeth: Twenty Years of Creative Nonfiction further includes a thoughtful foreword by Robert Atwan that illuminates the importance, breadth, and reach of the journal and shows the diversity of nonfiction writing available in the twenty-first century. A trailblazing publication since its inception, River Teeth continues to share the important work of contemporary writers and will thrive for years to come.
Expertly organized and presented.'--Midwest Book Review's Library Bookwatch
Joe Mackall is a retired professor of English, the former director of creative writing at Ashland University, and a founder of River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative. He is also the author of The Last Street Before Cleveland: An Accidental Pilgrimage and Plain Secrets: An Outsider among the Amish. Daniel W. Lehman is a Trustees’ Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Ashland University and a founder of River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative. He is also the author of Matters of Fact: Reading Nonfiction over the Edge and John Reed and the Writing of Revolution.
Foreword
Robert Atwan
Introduction
Daniel W. Lehman and Joe Mackall
Breath
Judith Kitchen
Small Rooms in Time
Ted Kooser
Black Marks
Sydney Lea
The Book of Knowledge
Steve Harvey
Riding in the Dark
Angela Morales
Triage
Jon Kerstetter
The Clearwater
Kim Barnes
As a Boy I Dreamed Often of a Tiger
Joe Wilkins
Standing Naked in a Pool of Her Clothing
Mary Haug
Someone Else
Chris Offutt
Heart Sounds
Lee Martin
Telephone
Julie Marie Wade and Brenda Miller
Love & Fury
Richard Hoffman
Among Women
Jessie van Eerden
Valmiki's Palm
David James Duncan
Do Not Read Out Loud
Laurie Rachkus Uttich
Playfulness: A Note
Brian Doyle
Notes Toward the Definition of an Essay
Robert Atwan
Writing & Publishing a Memoir: What in the Hell Have I Done?
Andre Dubus III
Tall, Straight Sisters
Jessica Lind Peterson
By Force, Threat, or Deception
Joe Mackall
The Best Fried Chicken
Ann Hood
Dog Days
Sam Pickering
Good Guys
Maureen Stanton
Daughter of a Gun
Sara Curtis
Proper Names Are Poetry in the Raw: Character Formation in Traumatic Nonfiction
Daniel W. Lehman
Captain Love
Jerald Walker
Going Back to Plum Island
Jill Christman
Drowning Catfish
Jason Tucker
Mirrored Transoms
Fleda Brown
A Pilgrimage to Dennis Hopper
Ron Clinton Smith
Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
