Esther Stories
(Fiction; Houghton Mifflin, 2001)
Many disparaging things are routinely said about the fiction produced by graduates of American MFA programs. While it is true that an average storyteller can become a slightly better-than-average storyteller by attending a graduate writing workshop, it is also true that fierce talent can be made to hit its stride in the strongest programs, and consequently it remains the case that much of the best short fiction by contemporary young writers has emerged in the debut collections of graduates of the top MFA workshops: Jhumpa Lahiri, Adam Haslett, Maile Meloy, Julie Orringer, Aimee Bender, Z. Z. Packer.
