Between Panic & Desire
Dinty W. Moore’s memoir Between Panic & Desire (University of Nebraska) was winner of the 2009 Grub Street Nonfiction Book Prize and is now available in a nifty paperback edition.
His other books include The Accidental Buddhist, Toothpick Men, The Emperor’s Virtual Clothes, and the writing guide, The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction.
Moore has published essays and stories in The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, Harpers, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Gettysburg Review, Utne Reader, and Crazyhorse, among numerous other venues.
He has won numerous awards for his writing, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction.
Donna Seaman at Booklist says of the newest book:
“Moore forges a brisk, incisive, funny, sometimes silly, yet stealthily
affecting memoir in essays and skits, a ‘generational autobiography,’
and good candid guy stuff. . . . Each anecdote, piece of pop-culture trivia,
and frankly confessed panic and desire yields a chunk of irony and a sliver
of wisdom.”
Crafting the Personal Essay
In August 2010, Writers Digest Books will release Crafting The Personal Essay: A Guide for Writing and Publishing Creative Nonfiction, now available for pre-order.
Here's a bit about it: The personal essay stems from the "personal" thoughts and experiences of the writer, but ultimately the essay (like all literary writing) must transcend the merely private to become universal. How is this done? Step one is finding a measure of distance from your experience; learning to stand back, narrow your eyes, and scrutinize your own life with a dose of healthy skepticism. Step two is learning to separate what is powerful only to you from what might be fresh, surprising, instructive, or just plain fascinating to a reader. This book shows you how to write nine different types of personal essays, including: the Contemplative Essay; the Memoir Essay; the Lyric Essay; the Nature Essay; the Travel Essay; the Spiritual Essay; the Gastronomical Essay; and the Humor Essay.
In addition, the book features examples from various essay types, instructional exercises, techniques for revising, and information on where and how to publish finished essays.
Some Recent Writing
Dinty's Google Maps essay has been honored as a notable in Best American Essays 2010. Also, you can find Dinty's essay on Memoir Writing at AARP.org.
About Dinty W. Moore
Dinty W. Moore lives in Athens, Ohio, where he teaches a crop of brilliant undergraduate and stunningly talented graduate students, and directs Ohio University's BA, MA, and PhD in Creative Writing program.
He enjoys living amdist the funkadelicious, hillbilly-hippie center of the locally-grown, locally-consumed, slow-food, goats-are-for-cheese,
paw-paws-are-for-eatin', artisanal-salsa, our-farmers-market-rocks-the-hills Appalachian Athens sub-culture.
When not chained to his keyboard, Dinty enjoys yoga, kayaking, biking, and taking pictures.