Freeman's: Family: The Best New Writing on Family

by John Freeman (Editor)

Overview

Freeman's: Family is the second literary anthology in the series reviewers are calling “bold” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) and “refreshing” (Chicago Literati). Following a debut issue on the theme of “Arrival,” Freeman circles a new topic whose definition is constantly challenged by the best of our writers: family.

In an essay called "Crossroads," Aminatta Forna muses on the legacy of slavery as she settles her family in Washington, DC, where she is constantly accused of cutting in line whenever she stands next to her white husband. Families are hardly stable entities, so many writers discover. Award-winning novelist Claire Vaye Watkins delivers a stunning portrait of a woman in the throes of postpartum depression. Booker Prize winner Marlon James takes the focus off absent fathers to write about his mother, who calls to sing him happy birthday every year. Even in the darkest moments, humor abounds. In Claire Messud’s home there are two four-legged tyrants; Sandra Cisneros writes about her extended family of past lovers; and Aleksandar Hemon tells the story of his uncle's return from the Soviet gulag.

With outstanding work from literary heavyweights and up-and-coming writers alike, Freeman's: Family collects the most amusing, heartbreaking, and probing stories about family life today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802125262
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/02/2016
Series:	Freeman's Series , #2
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,011,147
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

John Freeman was the editor of Granta until 2013. His books include How to Read a Novelist and Tales of Two Cities: the Best and Worst of Times in Today's New York. He is executive editor at the Literary Hub and teaches at the New School and New York University. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Paris Review.

Table of Contents

Introduction John Freeman vii

Seven Shorts

Sunjeev Sahota 1

Angela Flournoy 4

Adania Shibli 7

Colin Robinson 9

Heather O'Neill 15

Édouard Louis 19

Nadifa Mohamed 24

Crossroads Aminatta Forna 31

Lost Letter #1 From Phillis Wheatley, of Boston, to Arbour Tanner, of Newport

Lost Letter #2 From Obour Tanner, Newport, to Phillis Wheatley, Boston Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 55

A Family Name Garnette Cadogan 61

Little Jewel Patrick Modiano 73

Nola Amanda Rea 87

Ode to My Sister Amaryllis Ode Victuals Dream Ode Sharon Olds 95

A Tomb for Uncle Julius Aleksandar Hemon 101

Tunnel Mo Yan 119

One Day I Will Write About My Mother Marlon James 131

Tell Me How It Ends (An Essay in Forty Questions) Valeria Luiselli 141

The Selected Works of Abdullah (The Cossack) H.M. Naqvi 185

Letter to a Warrior Athena Farrokhzad 217

When Living Is a Protest Ruddy Roye

Ema César Aira 229

10-Item Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale Claire Vaye Watkins 233

Wild Tracy K. Smith 243

If There Was No Moon Joanna Kavenna 245

You Better Not Put Me in a Poem Sandra Cisneros 257

Going to the Dogs Claire Messud 269

Rich Children Alexander Chee 279

Inside Voices David Kirby 287

This Old Self Helen Garner 291

Contributor Notes 297

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Freeman's: Family

"The second edition of this already celebrated literary anthology series matches its ambitious intent to an intimate theme. The assembled contributors—an impressively diverse group including Marlon James, Sandra Cisneros, and Tracy K. Smith—offer fascinating takes on the ties that bind."—O Magazine

“Strikingly international.”—Boston Globe

“Freeman draws from a global cache of talent . . . This collection takes on the family from within and without, in ways one might expect and others totally unanticipated, for an expansive reading experience.”—Kirkus Reviews

“This is a great tasting plate of the best writers working in the business today.”—The Week, “28 books to read in 2016”

“A themed literary anthology with a compellingly global purview . . . The early pages—taut and vulnerable—set the tone. What follows is less an anthology than a conversation, the sense of intimacy that sharing family stories invites in real life, captured on the page.”—Australian

Praise for Freeman's: Arrival

"There's an illustrious new literary journal in town . . . [with] fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by new voices and literary heavyweights—Haruki Murakami, Lydia Davis, Louise Erdrich—alike."—Vogue.com

“A terrific anthology . . . Haruki Murakami, David Mitchell and a host of other lively writers let loose their imaginations in editor John Freeman’s first outing with a new literary journal that is sure to become a classic in years to come.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Looking at what John [Freeman] has put together in this first edition, I’m struck by how many names I don’t know and how diverse and global it is. My only disappointment is that it’s going to be twice a year—I think we need it 4 times a year.”—James Wood, Radio Boston

“Illuminating . . . Perfect reading for our ever-accelerating times.”—NPR’s Book Concierge

“[Freeman] wants writers to be seen . . . The roster of writers included in the first issue is impressive . . . and the stories they tell in Freeman’s feel like hands reaching out from the ether to save the reader from everyday life, they connect . . . Freeman’s is very much like New York, a melting pot where folks can be themselves . . . The world has certainly arrived in the pages of Freeman’s.”—New York Observer

“Freeman’s is fresh, provocative, engrossing.”—BBC.com

“A first-rate anthology of bold, searching and personal writing by emerging and established writers on the theme of arrival . . . If this first installment is anything to go by, it has all the hallmarks of a promising new project . . . Prepare to be transported.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"Freeman's sets a new standard for literary journals. It’s a welcome addition to the ever-growing roster of publications out there today. It’s refreshing and full of nuanced stories that will linger with you long after you finish them. I can’t wait to see how this publication takes off."—Chicago Literati, 4/5 stars

“[An] infinitely relatable and beautifully crafted prose and poetry anthology . . . Freeman has assembled a thoughtful and profoundly accessible collection of work that connects our vulnerabilities, our expectations and our hopes.”—Newcity Lit

“Arrival is not a gimmick; it’s a heartbeat. Listening for its pulse from one page to the next encourages dual enjoyment, first with each individual piece, and then the pieces in conversation . . . From Bangladesh to the West Bank, Bosnia to Jamaica, Sudan to Iceland, the focus is refreshingly global.”—Australian

“[Freeman’s] latest project . . . might be his most remarkable achievement to date . . . [A] thrillingly unique collection of voices.”—Toronto Star

From the Publisher

2016-05-17
An anthology on the theme of family finds essays, fiction, poetry, and photography that examine the concept broadly but precisely.Former Granta editor Freeman draws from a global cache of talent. Patrick Modiano writes about the shame he feels after exacting some short-term revenge on his abusive parents, an impulse that causes unforeseen consequences. Ruddy Roye's photo series, "When Living Is a Protest," captures scenes in the day-to-day existence of black men. Roye writes, "I don't know if there has ever been a time when a black man has ceased to be a commodity," drawing parallels between slavery and professional sports, artists, and the imprisoned. While many focus on their own families, Alexander Chee describes a catering gig for a wealthy client: an elderly woman in a wheelchair was confronted by family members, one of them dressed like "an Upper East Side Charo—wearing the very best in platform cork wedges," who pulled her from her chair and tried unsuccessfully to wrestle her out of the mink coat she capably clung to while being repeatedly body-slammed on a nearby bed. Sandra Cisneros memorializes a series of lovers in a poem that is by turns hilarious, tender, and anatomically specific. Valeria Luiselli's "Tell Me How It Ends" begins with her waiting for a green card, but this long-form essay is ultimately about the mass deportation of children back to Mexico and Central America, taking a hard look at the impact U.S. policy is having on kids who have no other prospects than to risk everything trying to cross the border. This collection takes on the family from within and without, in ways one might expect and others totally unanticipated, for an expansive reading experience.

Kirkus Reviews