The Best Spiritual Writing Series

A new volume of the critically acclaimed spiritual writing series, with an introduction by bestselling author Stephen ProtheroBoasting an impressive selection of personal essays, articles, and poems by today’s leading luminaries, The Best Spiritual Writing 2013 captures our nation’s spiritual pulse and offers readers an opportunity to explore the most nourishing writings on spirituality published in the past year. As in previous editions, Philip Zaleski draws from a wide range of journals and magazines to build an anthology of stimulating works by some of the nation’s most esteemed writers such as Adam Gopnik, Edward Hirsch, and Melissa Range. The result is a book, ideal for gift giving, that will appeal to religious thinkers, atheists, and people of all faiths and beliefs.

Penguin’s yearly offering of outstanding essays and poetry on faith and spirituality. Every year, the acclaimed Best Spiritual Writing series offers readers the opportunity to explore the most intriguing work on spirituality published in the past year. Featuring a splendid and varied selection, The Best Spiritual Writing 2012 is an elegant collection that gathers intimate, thought-provoking work by some of the nation’s most esteemed writers, including Philip Yancey, Richard Rodriguez, and Robert Bly. Culled from a wide range of journals and magazines, these spiritual perspectives are expressed in pieces as diverse as the sources from which they’ve come. A favorite of book clubs, this makes a perfect gift for the holidays or special occasions.

“A trove of well-wrought, luminous, soul-bracing gifts.” -Thomas Lynch (on the 2010 edition)

With selection chosen from a vast range of journals and magazines, The Best Spiritual Writing 2011 gathers the finest pieces of spiritual writing to appear in American publications during the past year. The collection offers an opportunity to read intimate and thought-provoking work, ranging from poetry to short fiction to memoir to essay, by some of the nation’s most esteemed writers, including Rick Bass, Philip Yancey, Terry Teachout, Robert D. Kaplan, and many others. As Phyllis Tickle said of last year’s edition, “there is enough here to feed the hungry heart for years to come.”

The renowned nonfiction annual makes its Penguin debut

For more than a decade, Philip Zaleski has collected into a single volume the best spiritual essays and poetry of the year. The Best Spiritual Writing 2010, featuring essays by John Updike and Diane Ackerman, poems from Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney and Pulitzer Prize-winner Louise Glück, and personal reflections by Richard Rodriguez and Leon Wieseltier, is sure to expand on the series’ already wide recognition and reach the growing audience of readers searching for unsurpassed spiritual writing.

Contributors include:

Mary Jo Bang, Jane Hirshfield, Melissa Range, Rick Bass, Paula Huston, Pattiann Rogers, David Berlinski, Pico Iyer, Amanda Shaw, Joseph Bottum, Charles Johnson, Master Sheng Yen, Nicholas Carr, Jon D. Levenson, Floyd Skloot, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Philip Levine, Meir Soloveichik, Billy Collins, Wilfred M. McClay, Richard Wilbur, Chrisi Cox, Richard John Neuhaus, Seamus Heaney, Robert Pinsky