Dinah Lenney has served as core faculty for the Bennington Writing Seminars and in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. A longtime nonfiction editor at LARB, she herself has published several books in the genre, including Coffee (as part of the Bloomsbury Object Lessons series), The Object Parade and Bigger than Life, and co-edited Brief Encounters: A Collection of Literary Nonfiction with the late Judith Kitchen. Dinah's essays and reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post among many other publications.

Featuring micro-essays inspired by a photograph from their personal archives, this collection offers a snapshot into the lives and interests of a diverse group of writers exploring the relationship between image and word.

Introduction: a picture is worth a thousand words
Prologue: Emerson Motorworks: Rochester, Vermont, MAJOR JACKSON
1. WAY BACK WHEN
Vigilante, SONJA LIVINGSTON
Girl By Default, KATE CARROLL DE GUTES
Goodbye to Everything and Everybody, NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
2. FAMILY PORTRAITS
Freedom, GRACE TALUSAN
Axed, AIMEE LIU
Serpentine, SEJAL SHAH
On the Street with the Three Red Brick Houses, CLIFFORD THOMPSON
The Celebration, SUZANNE BERNE
3. MIRROR, MIRROR
This is the Start of a Wednesday, HANNAH HOWARD
The Distance, ALEX MARZANO-LESNEVICH
MacIntosh, ATTICA LOCKE
Torn Self-Portrait with Striped Shirt, WAYNE KOESTENBAUM
My Shadow Self, PICO IYER
4. WISH YOU WERE HERE
Garden, IVY POCHODA
Power Lines, MARA NASELLI
The Feast of San Silverio, JESSICA SILVESTER
Off Map, LYNELL GEORGE
Backcountry, STUART DYBEK
5. BEFORE AND AFTER
Richard and Gabrielle Straight, SUSAN STRAIGHT
Fifty, SVEN BIRKERTS
Finita, ADRIANA E. RAMIREZ
Trick or Treat, DIANA WAGMAN
Capitola, TOD GOLDBERG
How to Safely Transport Your Wurlitzer, EMILIE PASCALE BECK
Easton, Maryland, LESLIE JAMISON
6. ELEGIES
Tan Guapos, ALEX ESPINOZA
Memento, VANESSA HUA
Envy, AMY GERSTLER
Yamato, BRANDON SHIMODA
7. VIEWFINDERS
Guitar with Burning Candle, AIMEE BENDER
What's in the Background, AISHA SABATINI SLOAN
Categories, DINAH LENNEY
Girl with Corn, DINTY W. MOORE
Wild Turkey, DAVID L. ULIN
Postscript: Piggies, ABIGAIL THOMAS
Alphabetical table of contents
Appendix: List Of Themes
Appendix: List Of Writing Prompts
Appendix: A Very Abbreviated List of Recommended Reading
Contributor Bios
Photo Credits