Part I: people we encountered "Why not say what happened?": remembering Miss Hardwick / Elizabeth Benedict Imagining influence / Robert Boyers Fathers / Jay Cantor Mentors in general, Peter Taylor in particular / John Casey Life in books / Maud Casey Annie Dillard and the writing life / Alexander Chee Snow globe / Jonathan Safran Foer When Julie met Deb / Julia Glass Tiger and the pelican: mentors Elizabeth Hardwick and Janice Thaddeus / Mary Gordon Moment / Arnon Grunberg Only plump the pillows / Margot Livesey Sontag's rules / Sigrid Nunez In the absence of mentors/monsters: notes on writerly influences / Joyce Carol Oates Scholars and the pornographer / Carolyn See "But what I really love about this is this amazing game that you've invented": an appreciation of John Hawkes / Jim Shepard Munro country / Cheryl Strayed Mother country / Evelyn Toynton Seducer / Lily Tuck Harold Brodkey / Edmund White Part II: books we read Company / Michael Cunningham Five million head of cattle / Samantha Hunt On fat city / Denis Johnson Mad hope and mavericks / ZZ Packer Getting it. Deeply immersed. In awe. Learning. Reading Ms. McDermott. Appreciating beginnings. Still appreciating beginnings. Nailing it. / Anita Shreve Paper mentors / Martha Southgate Part III: times of our lives Coming of age at bread loaf / Christopher Castellani Please don't write / Neil Gordon Storying / Dinaw Mengestu Growing pains / Caryl Phillips Iowa City, 1974 / Jane Smiley
