The smallest and most economical member of the Kennedy/Gioia family, "Backpack Literature "is a brief paperback version of the discipline's most popular introduction to literature anthology.
- Exclusive conversations between Dana Gioia and celebrated fiction writer Amy Tan, U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan, and contemporary playwright David Ives-offer readers an insider's look into the importance of literature and reading in the lives of three modern masters.
- New stories, poems, and plays-offer traditional favorites with exciting and sometimes surprising contemporary selections.
- 39 stories, 8 new selections-include new stories by Egyptian Nobel prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz, Virginia Woolf, John Cheever, Eudora Welty, Sherman Alexie, Franz Kafka, and Lorrie Moore.
- 237 poems, 60 new selections-from a wonderful range of poets including Kevin Young, Bettie Sellers, Mary Oliver, David Lehman, Constantine Cavafy, Rainer Maria Rilke, Anne Stevenson, James Weldon Johnson, Alice Fulton, Jimmy Baca, Rita Dove, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Lorine Niedecker, among others.
- 11 plays, 3 new selections-include scenes from "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" by Anna Deavere Smith, "Tattoo" by Jane Martin, and "Soap Opera" by David Ives.
For everyone interested in an engaging portrayal of literature in a brief and inexpensive volume.