THE TEN GREATEST ESSAYS, EVER

Elena Passarello

  • Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book

  • John Cage, Aria

  • Glenn Gould, “The Idea of North” (for BBC Canada, 1967)

  • The Voyager Golden Record, NASA et al

  • Lester Bangs, “Where Were You When Elvis Died?” (from The Village Voice, 1977)

  • Mud, María Irene Fornés (from 1983)

  • “Doing the Pan: Collected Dispatches from the 1901 Pan American Exposition,” Susan J. Eck (from https://panam1901.org/about.html)

  • Iggy & the Stooges’ “Post Pop Depression” tour rider

  • The Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY (Answers in Genesis, 2007)

  • Blackstar, David Bowie (ISO, RCA, Columbia, and Sony, 2016)

About Elena Passarello

Elena Passarello’s first book, Let Me Clear My Throat (Sarabande, 2012) won the Independent Publishers’ gold medal for nonfiction and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. Her second essay collection, Animals Strike Curious Poses (Sarabande, 2017), was a New York Times Editor’s choice. She serves on the board of the NonfictionNow conference, is nonfiction editor of Iron Horse Review, and co-edits the “In Place” nonfiction series at West Virginia University Press. In 2015, she received the Whiting Award in nonfiction. She teaches at Oregon State University.

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