Essays on the art and craft of writing by some of the nation's finest writers make up this rich collection, from Louise Bogan's meditation on popular and unpopular poetry, to Saul Bellow's assessment of the future of fiction, to Francie du Plessix Gray's reflection on womenand Russian literature. Spanning five decades of writing, the essays address topics both timely and timeless in nature, and cover both the process and the product of writing. These essays were originally presented at the Hopwood Lecture series at the University of Michigan in conjunction with the annual awarding of the Hopwood Prizes in creative writing. The internationally recognized awards are granted by the bequest of playwright Avery Hopwood (1884-1928), who sought to encourage student work in the fields of dramatic writing, fiction, poetry, and the essay. The essays speak to the apprentice writer, finding their focus in a twinned discussion of the craft of prose and the art of poetry. The authors share an assumption that literature matters, and vitally, to the culture it reports on and sustains.

- The author's most recent novel, What Remains (Warner, 2000, 0-446-52416-6), received rave reviews and was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. His previous novels for Warner include Old Scores (1997) and In the Name of Mercy (1995). - Nicholas Delbanco is the Robert Frost Collegiate Professor of English Literature and Language at the University of Michigan. He is the award-winning author of 20 fiction and nonfiction books and has taught at Columbia and Iowa Universities, as well as at Bennington, Skidmore, Trinity, and Williams Colleges. - Delbanco is the co-founder, with the late John Gardner, of the Bennington Writing Workshops, and currently administers the prestigious Hopwood Awards at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.