"Another book of poetry that taught me what the form was. Forché has a beautiful sense of rhythm. I teach her famous poem ""The Colonel"" in essay and nonfiction classes. It's all about what you don't say."

"I don’t know if there’s a stronger influence on my writing, both fiction and nonfiction, than Lorrie Moore. For a certain demographic of female writer, that’s a common sentiment. This sounds ludicrous, but just thinking of the table of contents makes me happy."

"If there’s any nonfiction book that I wish had lost its relevance, this is it. But Danticat’s very personal 2007 account of her family’s differing journeys seems even more urgent today, dealing as it does with emigration and asylum and political upheaval."

"Last year’s Minding the Gap was a reminder of just how deeply impactful James’s slow-burning, immersive sports tale has been on the world of modern documentary. It’s a perfect example of big-screen nonfiction storytelling: intimate, highly detailed, and shaped by no greater editor than life itself."

"While researching an upcoming book, I read a lot of nonfiction about the wine life. This was the juiciest. (Pun intended.) Victoria James shares the inspiring story of how she overcame the obstacles of her childhood and misogyny to become a 21-year-old sommelier at a Michelin-starred restaurant."