In Praise of Inadequate Gifts Release Day

We're thrilled to announce the release of Tarn Wilson's second book, In Praise of Inadequate Gifts, a memoir in essays. Dinty W. Moore, author of Between Panic and Desire, and editor of Brevity, writes the essays are told "with a clear-eyed sensibility and a belief in the power of redemption," and calls the essays "honest, powerful, and necessary." Brenda Miller, author of An Earlier Life, says, "The true gift of Tarn Wilson’s In Praise of Inadequate Gifts is this author’s compassion—toward herself, her family, her students, and the world. In a voice both companionable and smart, Wilson shows us how we can tell the stories that matter, even when our hearts have broken." Scott Russell Sanders praises Wilson's "rich collection," and compares her approach to essay writing with the work of scientists who ask "hard questions while refusing to settle for easy answers."

Rebecca McClanahan's description of In Praise of Inadequate Gifts perhaps captures it best:
"Despite a childhood with a depressive mother who could descend into 'quicksand darkness,' an absent father, the death of both parents within a year, and the dissolution of her own long marriage, Wilson holds on for a 'sweeter' life. The gifts she offers her lucky readers are hardly inadequate. Whether her subjects are mountain lions or wisdom teeth or an old laundromat where she discovers 'that strange, alternate universe which is grief,' her essays remind us that finally it is love that holds our world together, a 'love that gives without even the memory of it, like breath.'”

You can find In Praise of Inadequate Gifts at most online bookstores (links available here) or ask your favorite indie bookstore to order it for you. And you can learn more about Tarn Wilson and her writing here.