Best American Essays 2015

Writing an essay is like catching a wave posits guest editor Ariel Levy. To catch a wave you need skill and nerve not just moving water. This year's writers are certainly full of nerve and have crafted a wide range of pieces awash in a diversity of moods voices and stances. Leaving an abusive marriage parting with a younger self losing your sanity to Fitbit and even saying goodbye to a beloved pair of pants imbued with meaning are all unified by the daring of their creation. As Levy notes Writing around an idea you think is worthwhile--an idea you suspect is an insight--requires real audacity. <br> <i>The Best American Essays 2015</i> includes <br> Hilton Als Roger Angell Justin Cronin Meghan Daum Anthony Doerr Margo Jefferson David Sedaris Zadie Smith Rebecca Solnit <i>and others</i> <br><b>ARIEL LEVY </b> guest editor has been a staff writer at <i>The New Yorker</i> since 2008. She received the National Magazine Award for essays and criticism for her piece Thanksgiving in Mongolia which she is expanding into a book for Random House. <i>Female Chauvinist Pigs </i> Levy's first book has been translated into seven languages. She teaches at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown Massachusetts and at Wesleyan University. <p/><b>ROBERT ATWAN </b>the series editor of <i>The Best American Essays</i> since its inception in 1986 has published on a wide variety of subjects from American advertising and early photography to ancient divination and Shakespeare. His criticism essays humor poetry and fiction have appeared in numerous periodicals nationwide.