Charles D’Ambrosio, a finalist for the 2015 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay for Loitering: New and Collected Essay, has a piece up on the PEN website about his first encounter with the essay.
Encountering the Essay
Lyz Lenz
Lyz's writing has been published in the New York Times Motherlode, Jezebel, Aeon, Pacific Standard, and others. Her book on midwestern churches is forthcoming from Indiana University Press. She has her MFA from Lesley and skulks about on Twitter @lyzl. Lyz is a member of The Rumpus Advisory Board and a full-time staff writer for the Columbia Journalism Review.