A Harp in the Stars

Randon Billings Noble is on the faculty of the MFA in Nonfiction Program at Goucher College and teaches in the Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program at West Virginia Wesleyan College. She is the author of Be with Me Always: Essays (Nebraska, 2019) and the chapbook Devotional.

Introduction Randon Billings Noble Gyre Diane Seuss Immortal Wound Jericho Parms Vide Sarah Minor Satellite Sarah Perry Woven Lidia Yuknavitch Re: Sometime after 5:00 p.m. on a Wednesday in the Middle of Autumn Daniel Garcia Searching for Gwen Laurie Easter This Is the Room Where Nels P. Highberg The Boys of New Delhi: An Essay in Four Hurts Sayantani Dasgupta The Wait(ress) Amy Roost Beasts of the Fields AimEe Baker In My Brother's Shadow Talea Anderson Mash-Up: A Family Album Sarah Viren Nevermore Katie Manning Classified Susanna Donato Prophecy Eric Tran Scars, Silence, and Dian Fossey Angie Chuang Nausea Layla Benitez-James Manual Amy Bowers Elementary Primer Michael Dowdy The Punch Christopher Linforth Intersectional Landscapes Kristina Gaddy My Mother's Mother Davon Loeb Apocalypse Logic Elissa Washuta The Sound of Things Breaking Ru Freeman Self-Portrait in Apologies Sarah Einstein Fragment: Strength Casandra LOpez Body Wash: Instructions on Surviving Homelessness Dorothy Bendel Informed Consent Elizabeth K. Brown Thanks, but No Emily Brisse Frida's Circle Dinty W. Moore A Catalog of Faith Kelsey Inouye Practical Magic: A Beginner's Grimoire Rowan McCandless Depends on Who You Ask Sandra Beasley Against Fidelity Leslie Jill Patterson Loss Collection Lia Purpura I'm No Sidney Poitier Curtis Smith Why I Let Him Touch My Hair Tyrese L. Coleman Thanatophobia Christen Noel Kauffman Of a Confession, Sketched from Ten Vignettes LaTanya McQueen The Heart as a Torn Muscle Randon Billings Noble On Beauty Interrupted Marsha McGregor Late Bloom Caitlin Myer The Last Cricket Steve Edwards Craft Essays Success in Circuit: Lyric Essay as Labyrinth Heidi Czerwiec Finding Your Voice Marina Blitshteyn Lying in the Lyric Chelsey Clammer Chance Operations Maya Sonenberg On the EEO Genre Sheet Jenny Boully What's Missing Here Julie Marie Wade Meditations Source Acknowledgments Contributors

"As much of a reference book as a thrilling read."-Poets and Writers "These are literary dishes to savor slowly and thoroughly, in order to fully appreciate their ingredients, as you enter into the experience that each passage offers. This is a resource that writers, students, teachers, and readers can refer to again and again, whether in search of instruction, inspiration, or a new way of interpreting their lives."-Fran Levin, nycbigcitylit.com "This anthology is a treasure chest of daring ways to take one's voice to the page."-Celia Jeffries, Brevity "Whether a product of the limbic system of the brain, where emotions and memories are processed, or of a conscious response to formal constraints, the lyric essay is highly attuned and deeply suited to making sense of things. A Harp in the Stars helps the reader make sense of things. Its neon flashes: You are not alone."-Alison Powell, Colorado Review "The contributions represent a range of experiences and each essay brings a different perception of the form of a lyric essay. . . . I highly recommend A Harp in the Stars edited by Randon Billings Noble for those interested in writing and reading lyric essays."-Alexa Josaphouitch, Hippocampus Magazine "I've been searching for a book like this for over twenty years. Its remarkable dazzle-a sharp, eclectic anthology combined with whip-smart craft essays-carves out a fascinating look into the bright heart of what the lyric essay can be."-Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of World of Wonders "Perhaps the best way to define the lyric essay-a notoriously borderless, slippery literary form-is to gather several dozen finely written examples that invite the reader to engage in acts of mapping and naming themselves. This anthology does just that, with the added bonuses of thought-provoking craft pieces with decidedly lyric bents and a special attention to intersections of the lyric and the personal. I can easily imagine assigning this book in any forward-thinking class, graduate or undergraduate, that involves writing or analyzing expressive prose."-Elena Passarello, author of Let Me Clear My Throat: Essays "Randon Billings Noble has assembled a stellar collection of lyric essays that truly highlights the best these forms have to offer. This book will be pulled from my shelf again and again-for my own reading and as a resource for my students."-Brenda Miller, author of An Earlier Life