Edited by Jeff Meyers
September 11
West Coast Writers Approach Ground Zero
- nonfiction / current affairs
The events of September 11, 2001, their myriad repercussions, and our varied and often contradictory responses to them have inspired this collection of West Coast writers’ responses to the terrorist acts. By virtue of history and geographic distance, the West Coast has developed a community different from that of the East, but ultimately our shared interests bridge the distinctions in provocative and heartening ways. Following is a list of the contributors:
Diana Abu-Jaber, Etel Adnan, T.C. Boyle, Susie Bright, Michael Byers, Tom Clark, Joshua Clover, Wanda Coleman, Peter Coyote, John Daniel, Harlan Ellison, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Amy Gerstler, Lawrence Grobel, Ehud Havazelet, Michael Hood, Ken Kesey, Maxine Hong Kingston, Jennifer Lauck, Stacey Levine, Genny Lim, Beth Lisick, Alejandro Morales, Jessica Maxwell, Colleen McElroy, Jess Mowry, Ishmael Reed, Vern Rutsala, Floyd Salas, Tom Spanbauer, Primus St. John, Barbara Earl Thomas, Sallie Tisdale, Alice Walker.
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Jeff Meyers’ anthology, September 11: West Coast Writers Approach Ground Zero was Hawthorne’s first title to get reviewed in the New York Times as well as the Los Angeles Times. It was also the title along with Poe Ballantine’s nonfiction Things I...Forward
Praise for September 11
Physical distance doesn’t mean emotional or intellectual remove: in Seattle poet Meyers’s anthology of diverse voices, 34 writers from the left coast weigh in on September 11 in poems, meditations, personal essays and polemics. Ken Kesey quotes heartfelt e-mails from his Web site, intrepidtrips.com; Alice Walker expresses her desire for ‘blessing and protection’; Jess Mowry (Way Past Cool) condemns U.S. policy (I have met the enemy and he is U.S.A); Lawrence Ferlinghetti muses how ‘in a blinding flash America became a part of/the scorched earth of the world.’ New and vociferous patriots beware: many of the contributors share criticism as strong as their grief.
- Publishers Weekly
Baudrillard and his ilk make one grateful for Harlan Ellison, the science-fiction novelist, who tells a story in September 11: West Coast Writers Approach Ground Zero.
- The New York Times
A remarkable anthology.
- The Los Angeles Times
September 11: West Coast Writers Approach Ground Zero deserves attention. This book has some highly thoughtful contributions that should be read with care on both coasts, and even in between.
- The San Francisco Chronicle
Jeff Meyers did an admirable job of soliciting material from diverse sources, and the results are sometimes startling.
- The Oregonian
Fortunately, there’s a new collection of writings that looks more interesting than a book of portraits of September 11 babies.
- Seattle Weekly