THEY SAID: A Multi-Genre Anthology of Contemporary Collaborative Writing

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They Said: A Multi-GenreAnthology
of Contemporary Collaborative Writing

What is the appeal of creating a story or a poem in cahoots with another writer—or even a group of writers? Why would a writer abandon their own particular voice for a mutant expression they can’t quite control? Perhaps the allure lies in the challenge of having a puzzle to solve. Or a conundrum to cause. A contest. A love fest. Surely there are as many reasons as there are practitioners. But for whatever reason, enthusiasm for collaborative writing is on the rise. Everybody’s doing it. Or so it seems...

They Said offers an innovative collection of recent collaborative writing drawn from domestic and international writers. Our anthology includes poetry, fiction, cross-genre, and creative nonfiction, work that involves more than one living writer as the primary author. While some works feature an alternating perspective, others are co-authored or group authored so that it is impossible to tell which of the named authors actually “wrote” or “created” any particular portion of the final text...

The art of the collaboration lies in creating this voice, whether a singular voice from several or a conversation to which we’re compelled to eavesdrop. Listen in. We hope, and suspect, our project will inspire new modes of collaborative creation.

--from the introduction to They Said

Contributing Writers

Kelli Russell Agodon, Anne-Marie Akin, Maureen Alsop, Kimberly Quiogue Andrews, Nin Andrews, James Ardis, Cynthia Arrieu-King, Amy Ash, Jennifer Atkinson, Devon Balwit, Amy Sayre Baptista, Tom Barlow, Tina Jenkins Bell, Andrea Blancas Beltran, Molly Bendall, Mary Biddinger, Kimberly Blaeser, Sarah Blake, CL Bledsoe, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Andrea Blythe, Mel Bosworth, Traci Brimhall, Elizabeth K. Brown, Callista Buchen, John F. Buckley, Michael Burkard, Elizabeth Jane Burnett, Kai Carlson-Wee, Anders Carlson-Wee, Tina Carlson, Brittany Cavallaro, Travis Cebula, Christopher Citro, Ben Clark, Brian Clements, Cathryn Cofell, Mackenzie Cole, Elizabeth J. Colen, Michael Collins, Juliet Cook, James Cummins, Kristina Marie Darling, Justin Lawrence Daugherty, Jon Davis, Kendra DeColo, Page Delano, Matthew DeMarco, Natalie Diaz, Dana Diehl, Cat Dixon, Tyler Flynn Dorholt, Jacqueline Doyle, Denise Duhamel, Alicia Elkort, Chiyuma Elliott, Craig Foltz, Kate Hanson Foster, Bryan Furuness, Elisa Gabbert, John Gallaher, Ross Gay, Ellen Geist, Jennifer Givhan, Benjamin Goluboff, Melissa Goodrich, Anne Gorrick, Joshua Gottlieb-Miller, Daniel Grandbois, Peter Grandbois, Hillary Gravendyk, Susan Gregory, Tracy Jane Gregory, Carol Guess, Michael Gushue, Stephen Gutierrez, Brenda Hammack, Matthew Shrode Hargis, Carla Harryman, j/j hastain, Rebecca Hazelton, Kathleen Heil, Lyn Hejinian, Derek Henderson, Tom Henthorne, Jeannie Hoag, Leslie E. Hoffman, Grant Holly, Ron Horning, Amorak Huey, Luther Hughes, Karla Huston, Laura Jones, Todd Kaneko, Megan Kaminski, Persis Karim, Ariana-Sophia Kartsonis, Mary Kasimor, Diane Kendig, Caroline Kessler, Lissa Kiernan, Annie Kim, Dean LaTray, Sarah Layden, David Lehman, Dana Levin, Susan Lewis, Rae Liberto, Sarah Lilius, Ada Limon, Katt Lissard, Janice Tuck Lively, Tony Lopez, Mark Luebbers, Jennifer MacBain-Stephens, Pushpa MacFarlane, Sarah Maclay, Felicia Madlock, Kelly Magee, Paul Marion, Holaday Mason, Ryan Masters, Carlo Matos, Melissa Matthewson, Megan McClure, Kyle McCord, Kevin McLellan, Joe Milazzo, Brenda Miller, Tyler Mills, Justin Rovillos Monson, Gabrielle Montesanti, Alicia Mountain, Erin Mullikin, Rachel Neff, GennaRose Nethercott, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Dustin Nightingale, Meg Noodin, Isobel O’Hare, Rebecca Olander, Daniela Olszewska, Martin Ott, Christine Pacyk, Gillian Parrish, Elizabeth Paul, Michael Peterson, Derek Pollard, Ethel Rackin, Stella Reed, Virginia Smith Rice, Ryan Ridge, Jay Robinson, Andrea Rogers, Sarah Lyn Rogers, Stephanie Rogers, Kathleen Rooney, Bonnie Roy, Tony Ruzicka, Brynn Saito, Shannon Salter, Elizabeth Savage, Philip Schaefer, Michael Schmeltzer, Andrew Scott, Maureen Seaton, Katherine Seluja, Mary Beth Shaffer, Martha Silano, Jonathan Silverman, Matthew Simmons, Leigh Sugar, Sylvia Sukop, Paige Sullivan, Sarah Suzor, Faizan Syed, Jill Talbot, Molly Tenenbaum, Molly Thornton, Julie Marie Wade, William Wadsworth, G C Waldrep, Trent Walters, Jeff Whitney, Wikipoesis, Quintan Ana Wikswo, Laura Madeline Wiseman, David Wojciechowski, Maggie Woodward, Gail Wronsky, Anne Yoder

Advance Praise

Carlos Fuentes argued that the most important literary occasions are those in which “genre” is recirculated. Writing survives—thrives, even—on recirculation and the reconception of genre. The collaborations collected here represent such a change, as important, in their own way, as concretism, found, sound or random poetry. Making the author plural, through joint composition, repositions the work, its voice and its experiential and emotion contexts. The more seamless these collaborations seem—and most do seem seamless—the more radical their gestures. Lyric, discursive, sometimes political these pieces manage their changes in compelling duets.

—Michael Anania

According to the Greeks, the origin of the word anthology can literally be translated as “flowergathering”. They Said gathers the most original and complementary blossoms in the literary garden and creates rare and distinctive bouquets. From poetry to creative non-fiction and more, from voices both familiar and yet-to-be discovered by some, there are splendid petals here for every reader to pluck.

—Lynne Thompson

With They Said, we're presented with an anthology of contemporary work that beautifully illustrates the generative potential and dynamic energy of collaboration—a literary art too often overlooked. For any writer or poet, it's impossible not to be inspired by the possibilities suggested here.

—Laura Cogan and Oscar Villalon

The best collaborative writing offers a view of an encounter. Is it collusion? That's a word on everyone's mind. When there are two (or more) writers in cahoots, what they accomplish together offers us a new definition of perspective. Again and again, the work of They Said blows me back—the resonance and wit of these minds intertwining makes for fantastic new writing. Over and over, in stereophonic sound.

—Christopher Salerno

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Editors: Simone Muench

& Dean Rader

Assistant Editors: Sally Ashton

& Jackie White

ISBN: 978-1-62557-701-6

FORTHCOMING IN

JUNE 2018

Price: $25.95

Pre-sale Price: $21.95