September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond

This book, which is unlike any other in our literature, was written during the three months following September 11, 2001. The editor wanted to catch the first, passionate reactions of many of our finest creative writers to a matrix of grievous events that would continue to intensify in the American memory as have few others. In September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond, more than 125 fiction writers, poets, and essayists are seized in ways that often surprise themselves; together they offer a revelation of our collective psyche during a perilous time.

Over 125 American writers reflect on September 11 in its immediate aftermath.

Publishers Weekly

After September 11, poet William Heyen asked his fellow writers for contributions to an anthology that would articulate how the events of that morning "had awakened us and shaken our senses of identity and security." The result, September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond, is part reflection, part analysis, part tribute; its selections range from immediate reactions David Zane Mairowitz's letter in which he admits he thought "thank goodness... it's not the Chrysler building" to considered responses Lucille Clifton's poem that acknowledges "God has blessed America/ to learn that no one is exempt." Other contributors include Joy Harjo, Joanna Scott, John Updike and Denis Johnson. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

William Heyen is a former Senior Fulbright Lecturer in American Literature in Germany and has won awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, Poetry Magazine, and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Heyen is the author of several collections of poetry, including Shoah Train (Etruscan Press).