Books by CRAFT Contributors
Here at CRAFT, we take great pride in showcasing the work of both emerging and established writers across our sections and in the literary community more broadly. Below, you’ll find a growing list of new books by writers who have published with CRAFT. Whether you’ve enjoyed the work of a particular writer or are just looking for something new, browse the titles below and consider purchasing one or more books at your local bookshop, directly from the publisher, or from an author-supported website such as Bookshop.org. Or, request a copy through your local library! This list will grow with time, so check back often!
And—happy reading!
Aida Zilelian, All the Ways We Lied
“Aida Zilelian’s accomplished second novel unfolds with rare grace and tenderness. The raucous imperfections of the Armenian-American family depicted in its pages, the way they spiral out and inevitably back into each other’s lives, their unstinting patience and ultimate kindness towards each other, will remind us of our own. I wish I could spend many more pages with Kohar, Lucine, Azad, and yes, even Takouhi.” —Arif Anwar, author of The Storm
Published by Turner Publishing/Keylight Books.
CRAFT: Read Aida’s interview with Nancy Agabian.
Melissa Llanes Brownlee, Hard Skin
“Melissa Llanes Brownlee’s debut collection of a dozen stories is at once exotic and familiar, identifiable and personal. Llanes Brownlee immerses readers in the lives and backdrop of her characters with an often-poignant and always-believable voice. From the titular ‘Hard Skin’ to stories like ‘Pele’s Daughter,’ ‘Any Kine Boy,’ and ‘Talking Story about Kilauea,’ each one is like listening to a master storyteller sharing stories. Cultural aspects, family connections and sensory details shine under Llanes Brownlee’s hand with a lyricism that is infused throughout. The powerful closing line looks forward: ‘I pick up my pencil and trace it over and over, making a space for myself.’ It becomes the culmination of the characters’ and Llanes Brownlee’s life journey through the creation of a well-deserved space for herself and these memorable stories.” —Amy Cipolla Barnes, author of Mother Figures and Ambrotypes
Published by Juventud Press.
Kahi and Lua: Tales of the First and the Second
“In these 29 bite-sized stories, Melissa Llanes Brownlee, with her adroit imagery and language, creates a tale of fantasy that is enchanting, full of possibility and illusion. I was pulled into the mystical world of Kahi and Lua, the creators and destroyers of life, their many avatars, contemplations, and experimentations. Sprinkled throughout the book are delectable references to Hawaiian food and culture. All in all, this is an immersive and fantastic story by Llanes Brownlee, a skillful storyteller.” —Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar, author of Morsels of Purple and Skin Over Milk
Published by Alien Buddha Press.
CRAFT: Read Melissa’s “Sacrament,” “Living on Stilts,” & “Oh my god your voice sounds so haole” (microfictions).
Kristen Loesch, The Last Russian Doll
“A richly detailed first novel that blends passion and romance with the history of Russia…. Like the iconic matryoshka dolls that are an intrinsic part of Russian culture, the stories of Antonina, Katya and Rosie—grandmothers, mothers and daughters—fit one inside the other. Together, in this provocative tale, they give us a better understanding of Russian culture, politics, and most of all, its people.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Published by Penguin Random House.
CRAFT: Read Kristen’s “Babushka” (flash fiction).
Beth Kephart and Chloe Bristol, Good Books for Bad Children
“A full life through a picture book keyhole, this is a well-done and rare glimpse of book publishing few children see, and a career path that turns serendipity, acute intelligence, and hard work into what only seems like fate.” —School Library Journal, starred review
Published by Anne Schwartz Books.
CRAFT: Read Beth’s “Thieves” (creative nonfiction essay).
Christine Hume, Everything I Never Wanted to Know
“Mesmerizingly articulate…. Everything I Never Wanted to Know is a collection of essays that combine the analytical, lyrical, and experimental to explore the continued resonances and limitations of the discussion around sexual predation. Nothing is simple in this book, and there are no heroes.” —Juliana Spahr, LA Review of Books
Published by Mad Creek Books (The Ohio State University Press).
CRAFT: Read Christine’s “All the Women I Know” (hybrid work with Laura Larson).
Myna Chang, The Potential of Radio and Rain
“These are vividly realized, beautifully nuanced stories, so sensory that I swear I could taste the dust scuffed up by a passing car, feel the sweet ache of cold well water in my throat. I can’t remember when I’ve been this excited by a chapbook, can’t remember the last time I came to the end only to turn back to the beginning to savor these stories all over again.” —Sarah Freligh, author of Sad Math
Published by CutBank Books.
CRAFT: Read Myna’s “We Were the Wild Hunt” (flash creative nonfiction essay).
“In Wolfsong, her debut collection of stories, Kathryn Silver-Hajo displays her mastery of very short form storytelling. These stories are brilliant bits of sea glass one feels lucky to discover and treasure. Filled with family and food and music, lovers and friends, heartbreak and survival, these stories provide an evocative look at the hard lessons and the singular tender joys of girlhood and womanhood. You’ll want to read and reread this beautiful collection and keep it close at hand. It’s that good.” —Kathy Fish, author of Wild Life: Collected Works
Published by ELJ Editions.
“Vivid, compelling and beautifully told, this story of a half Palestinian Christian, half Lebanese Muslim girl growing up during the Lebanese Civil War deftly interweaves the special complexities of Middle Eastern life and identity with the crushes and excitement of any girl’s adolescence. Perfect for mother-daughter book clubs and for classrooms, Roots of the Banyan Tree is also perfect for young people, period. I feel sure it will find its ways into the hands – and hearts – of many readers. Highly recommended.” —Gish Jen, author of Thank You, Mr. Nixon and The Resisters
Published by FlowerSong Press.
CRAFT: Read Kathryn’s “We Had Something Beautiful” (flash creative nonfiction essay).
Kristine Langley Mahler, A Calendar is a Snakeskin
“A Calendar is a Snakeskin strikes me as a book about the act of reading itself, if shifting ghosts form the letters that cast our words into stories, and if the house that is haunted is the text within. Kristine Langley Mahler’s oracular essays model ways to read the complex world of the living—crowded as it is with relations, joys, difficulties—while providing a light capable of navigating the inner catacombs of memory and uncertainty. Sometimes, this remarkable book reminds, the ghost that wakes us in the night is a guide that knows the secret way to who we are becoming.” —Selah Saterstrom, author of Ideal Suggestions and Rancher
Published by Autofocus Books.
CRAFT: Read Kristine’s “This Century, The Last” (flash creative nonfiction essay).
Paul Crenshaw, Melt with Me: Coming of Age and Other ‘80s Perils
“What a joy it was to relive my childhood with the wisdom and humor of one of our greatest essayists. I’ve never been more certain while reading a book that I will wear it out as thoroughly as the VHS tapes of my favorite 1980s movies.” —James Tate Hill, author of Blind Man’s Bluff
Published by The Ohio State University Press.
CRAFT: Read Paul’s “Choose Your Own Adventure for ’80s Kids” (creative nonfiction essay) and “Abbreviated” and “Not Manager Material” (flash nonfiction essays).
“…[an] impressive debut collection spotlights the hard-edged people who call rural western Pennsylvania home…. McIlwain’s reverent regard for the natural world makes her a worthy successor of Annie Dillard.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Published by Melville House.
CRAFT: Read Jolene’s “Yield” (flash nonfiction essay).
Davon Loeb, The In-Betweens: A Lyrical Memoir
“Sentence to sentence, The In-Betweens is awake to the awe of being in a body and the danger of negotiating a culture that wants to drive space between us, inside us. Davon Loeb is writing to stay alive under the harshest conditions, and he has given us a brilliant, devastating book.” —Paul Lisicky, author of Later: My Life at the Edge of the World
Published by West Virginia University Press.
CRAFT: Read Davon’s “When Steve Urkel Played Soccer” (creative nonfiction essay).
Patricia Smith, Unshuttered: Poems
“As ever, Smith expands our definitions of what poetry is, masterfully incorporating multiple senses and perspectives. This invocation across time is at the heart of a collection by a poet at the height of her abilities.” —Mandana Chaffa, Chicago Review of Books
Published by Northwestern University Press.
CRAFT: Read Patricia’s “Pearl, Upward” (creative nonfiction essay).
Marisa Crane: I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself
“What would 1984 be like if Winston Smith had an endearing personality? Crane’s book gives us a disarming model for life under surveillance. Kris’s voice is everything in this novel—she’s a morose, prickly, paranoid yet lovable narrator with exquisite comic timing…. I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is a meditation on those precious acts through which Kris finds her way: the joy of queer parenting and chosen family, the beauty of forgiveness and the resistance inherent in expansive love.” —Lydia Kiesling, The New York Times Book Review
Published by Catapult Books.
CRAFT: Read Marisa’s “Users Guide to Point Guards and Girlfriends” (flash creative nonfiction essay).
“In her genre-bending debut novel Pilgrims 2.0, Lindsey Harding traverses the sensitive topic with the confident, observant voice of a seasoned pro…. Harding is a fresh voice well worth our attention.” —Chicago Review of Books
Published by Acre Books.
CRAFT: Read Lindsey’s“Refrigerator Elegy” (flash nonfiction essay).
Natasha Sajé, The Future Will Call You Something Else
“Natasha Sajé’s quicksilver, wideawake poems in The Future Will Call You Something Else never fail to delight and impress me with their at-the-ready empathy, encyclopedic wit, and prismatic range of allusions. With its ‘all systems go’ verve and vigorous attention to the myriad world, this dazzling, exhilarating new book is a treasure and a wonder.” —Cyrus Cassells
Published by Tupelo Press.
CRAFT: Read Natasha’s “A Terroir of Parsley” (creative nonfiction essay).
Leah Myers, Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity
“In this powerful debut, Leah Myers reveals with unvarnished honesty something that so often remains unspoken: what it feels like to teeter on the edge of identity, to face down the specter of erasure and a dwindling sense of self. By reconstructing family history and myth, she uncovers old foundations and builds a new home atop them, throwing its doors open, miraculously, to all of us.” —Francisco Cantú, author of The Line Becomes a River
Published by W. W. Norton.
CRAFT: Read Leah’s “A Letter to My Seventh-Generation Descendant” (creative nonfiction essay).
Beth Kephart
, My Life in Paper
“The history of paper making and the many ways we use paper provide a framework for Kephart’s profound meditation on creativity, memories, connections, and culture…. Kephart weaves in fascinating history about the women behind various inventions and such innovations as the paper bag and dressmaking patterns; she also shares moments of deeply felt personal connections with her family and friends. The beauty of her carefully crafted sentences is striking, but this is not about the solitary practice of writing…. Kephart invites reflection and engagement in her celebration of the many dimensions of the paper world and how reading and writing form an intersection for sharing the parts that make up the sum of each of us.” —Booklist
Published by Temple University Press.
CRAFT: Read Beth’s “On Crafting the Memoir in Pieces” (craft essay).
Jennifer duBois, The Last Language
“DuBois expertly unspools Angela’s journey to the dock, as the unreliable narrator’s mental state comes increasingly into question […] A sharp, beguiling tale of madness, this is metafiction done right.” —Kirkus Reviews
Published by Milkweed Books.
CRAFT: Read Jennifer’s conversation with Shannon Perri.
Jody Hobbs Hesler, What Makes You Think You’re Supposed to Feel Better
“This is a collection to be treasured, returned to, and remembered as a source of revelation.” —Pamela Petro, author of The Long Field
Published by Cornerstone Press.
CRAFT: Read Jody’s conversation with BettyJoyce Nash.
Meg Pokrass with Aimee Parkison, Disappearing Debutantes
“Surprising, shocking and stunningly honest, this collection of sharp, witty, sad, funny stories will keep you guessing and marveling at their ingenuity. Strikingly original.” —Sean Lusk, author of The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesly
Published by Outpost19.
CRAFT: Read Meg’s “Sibling Circus” & “Hooked” (microfictions), “I Married This” (flash fiction), and her conversation with Grant Faulkner.
BettyJoyce Nash, Everybody Here Is Kin
“This novel makes your heart swell, waterlogged with love and admiration. BettyJoyce Nash’s heroine, 13-year-old Lucille, worries about the planet sinking into the ocean, even as everyone in her life is going under, including the cranky motel manager, Will. Whom can she save and whom can she trust? Living inside Lucille’s head is a rare treat in BettyJoyce Nash’s astute, funny, and poignant book.” —Mary Kay Zuravleff, author of American Ending, Man Alive!, The Bowl is Already Broken, and The Frequency of Souls
Published by Madville Publishing.
CRAFT: Read BettyJoyce’s conversation with Jody Hobbs Hesler.
Austin Ross“Set in the world of fundamentalism, religious and nationalistic extremism, and domestic terrorism, Gloria Patri is a novel that can be at times hard to read—as it can be to live in—but it is also a page-turning, hard-to-put-down joy that I wanted to start over as soon as I’d finished. A little like a mash-up of Dan Chaon, Brian Evenson, and the current events of our daily news, all while feeling wholly like its own thing, it is the kind of magic trick that the best novels strive for. I’m not sure how Ross pulled it off.” —Aaron Burch, author of Year of the Buffalo
Published by Malarky Books.
CRAFT: Read Austin’s conversation with Aaron Burch.
Kelcey Ervick & Tom Hart, The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature
“This book is a good first step to unlearning what you think you know about comics, a medium so vast, it’s mind-blowing. It’s inspiring to see the processes of such diverse, talented artists, and to be let in on their creative philosophies.” —MariNaomi, author of I Thought You Loved Me
Published by Rose Metal Press.
CRAFT: Read Kelcey’s interview with Rebecca Loggia.
Nancy Agabian, The Fear of Large and Small Nations
“This is a courageously fragmented approach to storytelling that depicts a valiant search for self-understanding while challenging traditional gender roles, discrimination, and homophobia. Beautifully textured writing in a compelling tale that ponders identity and belonging.” —Kirkus Reviews
Published by Nauset Press.
CRAFT: Read Nancy’s interview with Aida Zilelian.
Laura Spence-Ash, Beyond That, the Sea
“Quietly stunning, with finely drawn characters and vivid descriptions, Beyond That, the Sea is a gorgeous, elegiac, novel about loss, family and the complexity of love.” — Shelf Awareness
Published by Celadon Books.
CRAFT: Read Laura’s interview with Courtney Harler.
Sarah Blake, In Springtime
“At this dark, late hour of our planet, there is grace in the way Sarah Blake looks through the lens of different species for a better gauge of our own human lives. In Springtime is where Blake also expands our perception of wounds, ‘Injury lends a certain steadiness. Like your whole life was spent uneasy in your body.’ This new book is a brilliant, bona fide page-turner.” —C. A. Conrad, author of Amanda Paradise: Resurrect Extinct Vibration
Published by Wesleyan University Press.
CRAFT: Read Sarah’s interview with Melanie Pierce.
Grant Faulkner, The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story
“Absolutely essential reading on the power and craft of very short stories. Worth it for the brilliant analysis of narrative and poetics, worth it for Faulkner’s playfulness and obvious joy on the page, worth it for the string of fascinating quotations at the end. A generous book, packed full, it is bound to be a classic.” —Deb Olin Unferth, author of Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War
Published by University of New Mexico Press.
CRAFT: Read Grant’s conversation with Meg Pokrass.
Chelsea Stickle, Everything’s Changing
“The flash fiction stories in Chelsea Stickle’s new chapbook, Everything’s Changing, are wonderfully weird, anchored in the real but always lifting a saucy foot into the illogical, a literary Twilight Zone where everything looks normal…right up until the moment it doesn’t.” —Nancy Stohlman, author of After the Rapture and The Vixen Scream and Other Bible Stories
Published by ThirtyWest.
CRAFT: Read Chelsea’s interview with Myna Chang.
Are you a CRAFT contributor who would like to see your book featured on this page? Email us at contact (at) craftliterary (dot) com. We look forward to hearing your wonderful publishing news!
Featured image by Kimberly Farmer, courtesy of Unsplash.