By reading and studying one major nonfiction/essay writer you can learn what writing strategies work for this professional writer. You can also learn how to improve your own writing.

Please choose one of the following mentors:

Noah Adams - Former co-host of NPR's All Things Considered. Adams' essay collections include Saint Croix Notes: River Mornings, Radio Nights and Piano Lessons: Music, Love and True Adventures.

Isaac Asimov- Best known for his science fiction, Asimov was also a prolific essayist. Many of his essays were published in his own Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and center around the sciences. This website lists his essays by subject matter and source: http://www.asimovonline.com/oldsite/essay_guide.html

John Gray, Ph.D. - The author of the highly popular Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus books.

David Sedaris - Sardonic humorist and social commentator whose SantaLand Diaries on NPR sparked national attention. Me Talk Pretty One Day and Naked, both collections of his personal essays, were bestsellers. Sedaris was named "Humorist of the Year" by Time in 2001.

Steve Martin - Best known as a comedian, Steve Martin is also a director, playwright and essayist whose collected essays appear in Pure Drivel. Martin!=s screen comedy translates well into wordplay and wit.

James Baldwin- African-American essayist whose works championed civil rights and explored the America of the mid-20th century. His Collected Essays is a good place to start.

Woody Allen - Woody Allen has written, directed and starred in more than a dozen movies and plays, including Annie Hall and Play It Again, Sam. While extremely complex (and somewhat dated), he has two best-selling books of humorous essays and anecdotes, Side Effects and Without Feathers.

Maya Angelou - Currently a professor at Wake Forrest University in North Carolina, Maya Angelou is a well known writer (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings), poet, speaker, actress, and essay writer. Wouldn't Take Nothing for my Journey Now and Even the Stars Look Lonesome are her most recent collections of essays.

Dave Barry - A Pulitzer prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald, Barry's essays are carried by newspapers across the country. He has written 23 or more books containing his humorous commentary on all aspects of American life and politics. Start by reading Dave Barry Talks Back or Dave Barry in Cyberspace.

Bill Bryson - Best-selling writer and journalist, Bryson writes about journeys. His travel memoirs include A Walk in the Woods and Neither Here Nor There. His most recent book, A Short History of Nearly Everything is a fascinating journey through the history of knowledge and science.

Art Buchwald - After World War II Buchwald began writing at the Herald Tribune in Paris. He has written 32+ books filled with his sarcastic (usually funny) commentary on our daily and political lives. His books include Laid Back in Washington, The Buchwald Stops Here, and his latest, We!=ll Laugh Again (with post 9/11 thoughts). He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982.

Annie Dillard - Annie Dillard is the author of ten books, including Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and American Childhood. Another Pulitzer Prize winning writer, Dillard writes powerfully about growing up in America and connections to nature.

Joan Didion - Didion contributes to The New Yorker She has written five novels and five books of essays. Her essays, especially her study of the American presence in El Salvador and the Cuban culture of Miami, have become highly respected pieces of political reporting. Begin with Slouching Towards Bethlehem or The White Album

Peter Egan - The guru of car essays, Egan writes for Road and Track and Cycle World. He has three books, and car lovers become book lovers when they read him. He uses some fine writing strategies. Books to study include Side Glances.-Volume I, Side Glances.Volume II (articles from Road and Track), and his latest publication Leanings (articles from Cycle World).

Ralph Waldo Emerson - This icon turned the essay into an American art form. Although it has been a century since his death, The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson still captivates and instructs us on living and writing.

Thomas L. Friedman - The winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for commentary on the world after September 11, Friedman is a highly respected writer for The New York Times. He is the author of three best-selling books: From Beirut to Jerusalem (considered the definitive work on the Middle East); The Lexus and the Olive Tree.-Understanding Globalization; and his current book of essays, Longitudes and Attitudes.

Robert Fulghum - A former cowboy, singer, artist, bartender, and parish minister, Fulghum was encouraged to publish some of his former sermons. He did. This began a career as a best-selling writer of essays, including All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, UhOh, Maybe (Maybe Not), etc. His anecdotes are largely a search for wisdom. Currently he resides on a houseboat in Seattle and calls himself "a philosopher."

Ellen Goodman - Columnist and associate editor at the Boston Globe, Ellen Goodman's column appears in four hundred newspapers across the country. Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and Humphrey Civil Rights Award, Goodman is the author of Turning Points, Close to Home, At Large, Keeping ill Touch, Making Sense, and Value Judgments.

Bob Hoover - Barnstormer, World War 11 fighter pilot, pioneering test pilot, and aerobatic genius, Bob Hoover writes with passion and knows how to tell a story. Forever Flying is a collection of his experiences and tales.

Barbara Kingsolver - Kingsolver is the best-selling/award winning writer of novels (The Bean Tree and Animal Dreams), poems, and essays. Essay books, including High Tide in Tucson and Small Wonder, ponder issues of science and modern living in poignant fashion. Kingsolver lives down the road in Tucson.

Anna Quindlen - Pulitzer prize winning columnist for commentary, Quindlen wrote columns on life, especially life as a woman, for The New York Times for many years. Currently she writes novels and a column for Newsweek. Her columns are collected in Thinking Out Loud and Living Out Loud.

Phillip C. McGraw, Ph.D. - Doctor Phil has catapulted his psychology into #1 bestsellers and into a popular TV show. While not an award-winning writer, he knows how to organize and effectively communicate his ideas. His works include Life Strategies and Self Matters.

Rick Reilly - The guru of modern sports writing is Sports Illustrated's essayist, Rick Riley. While his novels are funny (Missing Links and Slo Mo), Reilly's essays are superb. The Life of Reilly contains his best work and is finally in paperback. His latest book, a current hit in hardback, is Who's Your Caddy? Reilly has been voted the National Sportswriter of the Year eight times.

Andy Rooney - Best known as the "Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" commentator on 60 Minutes, Andy Rooney has written best-selling books for years. His essays sparkle with his wit, sarcasm, and details. He has twelve books, including: Common Nonsense, Sweet and Sour, A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney, And More by Andy Rooney, and A Few Pieces of My Mind

Henry David Thoreau - In 1845 Thoreau moved to Walden. Today Walden and Other Writings continues to inspire many readers with writings that rediscover the beauty of nature and the importance of a simple life.

Lewis Thomas - Educated at Princeton and Harvard, Lewis Thomas held numerous positions of prominence in his life including Dean of Yale Medical School and President of MemorialSloan-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC. At the same time, Dr. Thomas wrote fine essays about the science and music that he loved. See The Lives of a Cell and The Medusa and the Snail.

Naomi Shihab Nye - Better known as a poet, Nye draws on her American and Palestinian heritage in her work. She has won four Pushcart Prizes, the Paterson Poetry Prize and the Jane Addams Children's Book awards for her work. Her essay collection is entitled Never in a Hurry.

William Least Heat Moon - Moon is a Native American and the author of Blue Highways and River-Horse: Across America by Boat among others. His writings are primarily travel-oriented, although his books is far from being mere travel guides.

Calvin Trillin - Trillin is a journalist, humorist, essayist, columnist and poet. He is a former staff writer for the New Yorker and his books include American Stories and Enough's Enough (And Other Rules of Life).

Other options by subject:

History:
Stephen Ambrose
Daniel Boorstein
David McCullough
James McPherson
Barbara Tuchman
Susan J. Douglas

Adventure/Travel:
Linda Greenlaw
Rick Steeves
Tony Horwitz
Paul Theroux

Le Femme:
Linda Kerber
Alice Kessler-Harris
Kathryn Kish Sklar
Jane Sherron De Hart
Chris Cuomo
Susan J. Douglas

Political Commentary:
Molly Ivins
Bill O'Reilly
P.J. O'Rourke
Bob Woodward
Michael Moore

Disaster/True Crime
Sebastian Junger
Richard Preston
Ann Rule

Sports:
Mike Lupica
Mitch Albom
Donald Hall
Dick Schaap
Bill Plaschke

Humor:
Lewis Grizzard
Garrison Keillor
Will Rogers
S.J. Perelman
James Thurber
Laurie Notaro
Mark Twain
Chonda Pierce

Nature:
Aldo Leopold
Martin W. Lewis
Terry Tempest Williams
Leslie Marmon Silko
Peter Coyote
Wendell Berry

Misc....
Tom Wolfe
Jack Kerouac
Langston Hughes
Virgina Woolf
James McConkey
Cynthia Ozick
E.B. White
Arthur Helps
Cheryl Strayed
Donald Atrim
Barry Lopez
Rush Limbaugh III

Please remember, all writing mentors must be approved by your instructor!

The writing you examine must be non-fiction!

And, first come, first serve! No doubling up on authors. You have plenty to choose from.