I saw Matt Weiland last night speaking about the new book he co-edited with Sean Wilsey, State by State. The book is inspired by the WPA Guides that grew out of the Federal Writers’ Project in the 1930s. The edited volume features one essay for each state, written by a mix of state natives, state transplants, and correspondents tasked to explore a state.
I’m about 1/10 of the way through the book and I’ve already concluded that it’s of the same unbelievably amazing quality as the two’s previous volume The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the World Cup. Weiland and Wilsey are absolute geniuses who seem great at exploring issues that are near and dear to my heart and yet unbelievably ambiguous.
The event last night featured three of the writers from the book including Weiland. Alison Bechdel, one of the preeminent graphic novelists in the country, gave a presentation of her piece from the book and Joshua Clark, who has lived in New Orleans for 10 years and authored the piece on Louisiana, gave a short but chilling reading from his piece about ghost hunting in the ninth ward of New Orleans after Katrina.
All in all it was a fabulous event on a fabulous book. Powell’s Book presented their third “Out of the Book” film to go along with the book, screened in one day with seventeen of the writers and both editors in New York.
If you have a chance, read this book. Some of the greatest literary minds of the generation have contributed pieces and some more of those writers you may not have heard of but that shine bright with their intimate glimpses into those bizarre constructs of America, the 50 states.
