Quinn Johns is a sophomore this fall at Huron High School in Ann Arbor. Quinn spends his free time reading a variety of both fiction and nonfiction. He enjoys writing quietly during Michigan summers. His favorite piece is "We Show What We Have Learned," because of the unexpected conclusion.
Althea James has spent her whole life growing up in the same house in San Francisco. While working on this book she went to the Urban School (in SF), and this fall she is a freshman at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She enjoys storytelling, drawing, and taking the bus. She recently read the Harry Potter books for the first time and now wishes she was a wizard. Her favorite piece in this year's collection is "Art of the Steal," because it makes her want to be rebellious yet respectful at the same time, which seems like a pretty good goal in life.
Dorrian "Lyric" Lewis is a sophomore at City College in San Francisco, studying music. While working on this book she completed her freshman year, and recorded music. She is a cancer survivor, but still keeps a smile on her face. She sings and writes poetry, and performs around the Bay Area. Dorrian loves to laugh. Her favorite story in this year's book was the oral history of Adama Bah.
Michelle Li, a native of San Francisco, was a sophomore at Mission High School while editing this book, and is now a junior. She enjoys watching documentaries and eating watermelon slices. She dreams of traveling the world, to every continent. So far, she's been to North America, Asia, and Africa. Her overall favorite story this year was "Art of the Steal," because it was unlike anything she'd read before.
Tenaya Nasser-Frederick, who attended high school at his home in San Francisco while editing this book, is starting at Bard College either this fall or in the fall of 2012. He likes spending time with his cat, Seymour. He remains a devoted student of Hindustani music and Swedish massage. Tenaya cannot get enough of Percee P. His favorite piece this year was "Second Lives," because it had so many layers.
JuJu Miao is a junior this fall at Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. When she's not stressing about schoolwork, she's listening to her iPod, reading comics, doodling, or goofing off with her friends. She loves to travel, but hates airplanes, and hopes that teleportation machines will be invented in her lifetime. This is her second year with BANR and she has enjoyed meeting all the goofy/funny/smart/just-plain-awesome editors. She has not changed a lot since last year. Her favorite piece in the book is "The Imaginist," because it really shows how a little imagination can change your life.
Theo Olesen grew up in Brooklyn and Berkeley. He was a senior at Berkeley High School while working on this book, and is now a freshman at a college in New York that he does not feel comfortable naming for various unexplainable reasons. His favorite colors are black, white, and gray. His favorite story this year is "A Hole in the Head," because it's the only one with a title that makes it sound like it could have been written by Ice Cube.
Viggy Parr attended Greenhills High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while working on this book, and is a freshman at Georgetown this fall. She enjoys volleyball, photography, creative writing, community service, and science. She loves to read novels, short stories, and poetry. She plans to double major in English and Biology, then earn a Ph.D. in microbiology. "Orange" is her favorite piece in this year's collection because it is quirky and funny.
Alia Phillips went to a high school (she won't name which one) in Ann Arbor while working on this book. She is a freshman at McGill University this fall. She enjoys photography, eating, and bios that don't sound like online dating profiles. Favorite things include: alliteration, summer, and www.stumbleupon.com, but she would also settle for a soft pretzel. Her favorite piece in the book is "The Imaginist," because of how the two story lines combine in the end.
Andrew Sanchez attended Oceana High School in Pacifica, California, while working on this collection. He is beginning his first year at City College in San Francisco this fall. Andrew enjoys nineties hip-hop, green apples, and anything that expands his mind. Don't ask him what his favorite color is. Andrew's favorite story this year was "The Deep." His mind was expanded whilst reading it, thus deepening the crevices in which brain worms live.
Rachel Shevrin attended high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while working on this anthology. This last was her third year on the committee. When she is not discussing stories in the basement of 826michigan, she is probably dancing, teaching middle school kids about social justice, or taking naps in sunbeams. She hopes you've enjoyed this book, and was wondering if you would be her friend. She's a freshman at the University of Washington this fall.
Nick Shiles is also a freshman at the University of Washington this fall. He attended Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco during his tenure with The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He enjoys eating grilled chicken sandwiches, and other types of sandwiches, too. Namely turkey, or even the occasional BLT. He also enjoys tango dancing and other Latin American cultural activities. His favorite sport is curling and he hopes to one day curl like a Canadian. His dislikes include (but are not limited to): avocados, rust, newly laid concrete, mayonnaise, communism, and capitalism. His favorite story in the book this year is "Mid-Life Cowboy," because he has a special affinity for This American Life and he is very happy to see a TAL story in the collection.
Carlos Reyes "The Hammer" Tambis was born in Puebla, Mexico. He lives in the Mission District in San Francisco and attends there the School of the Arts academy, where he is now a senior. (While working on the book you have in your hand he was, logically, a junior.) He has a dog named Chloe, and his interests include: video games, movies, hanging out with friends, homeland security, sports, and good food. He plans to go to college and would love to someday live in Tokyo. His favorite thing, above all, that he read this year was Richard Yates by Tao Lin, because he—Carlos—feels he is in a similar situation. He wishes an excerpt from it would have made it into this year's anthology.
Chloe Villegas never finished that story about the lions. She was a senior at International High School in San Francisco while working on this book, and she went to her senior prom in a jaguar costume. w she js a freshman at Bard College this fall. Her favorite story this year was "Weber's Head," for its suspense. Still, she wishes the story about the cat that died and got cremated (and whose ashes were then thrown all over two stunned adults by their strange child) would have gotten into BANR that one year.
By the time you read this, Marley Walker will be a freshman at Syracuse University, majoring in Journalism and Cultural Anthropology/Geography. A native of San Francisco, she attended the School of the Arts while working on this collection. Marley has been a lifelong vegetarian, and, as a vegetarian that did not eat a lot of vegetables in her youth, her proudest moment was succumbing to the deliciousness of tomatoes on May 17, 2010. Going Zorbing is the number one thing she would like to do in the near future. For now, though, she gets her thrills from spending excessive amounts of time outdoors. It is a great day when she can lie in the grass at the park on a beautiful afternoon, spread a map out in front of her, and plan a trip. Unfortunately, this also includes pondering what measly jobs she can hold down in order to save up enough money to go to Ukraine, India, Bangladesh, Burundi, Tobago, and many, many other places. Marley's favorite trip to date was a one thousand mile bike ride around Nova Scotia. Her favorite piece in the book this year is "For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question," because it's a travel narrative, but it's journalistic and reads like good fiction.
Elise Wander is a freshman at the University of Chicago this fall. She attended Community High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while editing this anthology. When she lived in Ann Arbor, Elise drove a truck named Sebastian. She likes pencils and the piano, and spends her time stringing words together.
Karen Yu attended Galileo High School in San Francisco while working on this book. She is a freshman at the University of California, Irvine, this fall. She plans to major in East Asian studies and psychology. In two years, she intends to study abroad in Korea. She likes to listen to
music and watch Korean dramas, and she also loves to sing opera. Her favorite story in the book this year is definitely "Art of the Steal," because it gives the audience a window into how a thief thinks.
Paolo Yumol is a sunshine kind of guy. He walks into a room and you just have to say, "There he is!" Then he says, "Here I am!" He is always wearing headphones, even in his sleep. He makes you want to eat yogurt. Really. You think that I am making that up, but one day you will meet him and you will say, "Oh, so that's what that bio was talking about!" As you read these words, he is beginning his senior year at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, where he jumps on the walls and then jumps off the walls and says, "Surprise!" They love him over there. [Editor's note: This bio was written by Evan Greenwald. Paolo reports that his favorite piece in this year's book was "The Deep." "The entire story," he says, "feels like swallowing a fat, salty taco."]
Special thanks to assistant (to the) managing editor Kendra Langford Shaw, and to editorial assistants Amanda Foushee, Jill Haberkern, Jennifer Howard, Jordan Karnes, Emily McLaughlin, Nicole Pfaff Moore, Ben Shattuck, Brian Short, and Michael Zelenko. Thanks also to the following organizations, institutions, and citizens: 826 Valencia, 826michigan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Nicole Angeloro, Mark Robinson, Walter Green (who, it should be noted, designed the cover), Jared Hawkley, Charley Locke, Brian McMullen, Adam Krefman, Eli Horowitz, Andrew Leland, Andi Mudd, Russell Quinn, Jordan Bass, Juliet Litman, Mimi Lok, Chris Ying, Michelle Quint, Sunra Copeland, Greg Larson, Laura Howard, Juliana Sloane, Gerald Richards, Ninive Caligari, Leigh Lehman, Erin Archuleta, Ryan Lewis, Mariama Lockington, Lauren Hall, Miei Alegre, Kelly Martin, Anne Farah, Raul Alcantar, Valrie Sanders, Margaret McCarthy, Maria Inés Monies, Miranda Tsang, Vickie Vértiz, Justin Carder, Marisa Gedney, Emilie Coulson, Rebecca Power, Gina Gagliano, Amy Sumerton, Amanda Uhle, Catherine Calabro, Becca Pickhus, Megan Levad, Tao Lin, Daniel Gumbiner, Lauren LoPrete, Ian Huebert, Peggy Burns, Eric Reynolds, Paul Baresh, Trish Farnsworth-Smith, Merrilee Heifetz, Isaac Fitzgerald, Emily Condon, Courtney Moreno, Stephanie Long, E. G. Kaufman, Mrs. Gummidge, all the poets ever, Ibarra Brothers, Babylon Burning, and Golden Gate Copy Service. Also, William Tell.
Notable Nonrequired Reading of 2010
SALAR ABDOH
Sad Bully with a Big Badge, The Drawbridge
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
Birdsong, The New Yorker
MICHAEL AHN
Flesh, Alaska Quarterly Review
HILTON ALS
His Sister, Her Monologue, McSweeney's
GUSTAVO ARELLANO
Mi Casa Es Mi Casa, OC Weekly
RACHEL Aviv
Which Way Madness Lies, Harper's
DARRYL AYO
Little Garden, self-published mini-comic
CHRIS BACHEIDEE
Toward a Theory of Surprise, The Believer
AMANDA BALES
A Measured Yield, Southern Humanities Review
ZACH BARON
The End of the Story, The Believer
M. GARRETT BAUMAN
Free, The Common Review
VINCE BEISER
Resurrecting the Dead Sea, Miller-McCune
TJ BEITELMAN
Manna, Bellevue Literary Review
BEN BELLIZZI
Clean, Straight Lines, Monday Night
JAY BERNARD
Land Narrative, Wasafiri
Brothers from Another Planet, This American Life
JORGE LUIS BORGES (trans. by ALFRED MACADAM)
Insane Human Afternoons, The Drawbridge
RYAN BOUDINOT
Composing the Wilderness, www.therumpus.net
TARYN BOWE
Proper Breathing, The Greensboro Review
MEGAN BOYLE
Clams, www.muumuuhouse.com
T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE
What Separates Us from the Animals, Harper's
JOHN BRANDON
The Occurrences, McSweeney's
KEVIN BROCKMEIER
Ryan Shifrin, Tin House
JASON BROWN
Guests, Open City
TESS BROWN
Riddle, Green Mountains Review
LILLI CARRÉ
One Way to Disappear, PEN America
MARJORIE CELONA
All Galaxies Moving, Crazyhorse
MARJORIE CELONA
Family Stories, Glimmer Train
JULIE CHINITZ
Lou Rosenthal's Answer to Harold Rosenthal's Complaint (1980), Crazyhorse
BRYAN CHRISTY
The Kingpin, National Geographic
STEVEN CHURCH
All of a Dither, Agni
JOSHUA COHEN
The Joshuas Cohen, 2010, Puerto del Sol
AUDREY COLOMBE
White Horse, Puerto del Sol
R. CRUMB
The Sweeter Side of R. Crumb, W. W. Norton
S. J. CULVER
First-Order Differential Equations, Puerto del Sol
LAWRENCE-MINH BÙI DAVIS
Like the Locked Antlers, McSweeney's
VANESSA DAVIS
Big Fun, Make Me a Woman
ERICA JOHNSON DEBELJAK
The Apple and Paradise Too, The Pinch
JANINE DI GIOVANNI
The Book of the Dead, Granta
MARK DOSTERT
Behavior Management, Cimarron Review
BRIAN DOYLE
King of the Losers, New Letters
KATHERINE DUNN
Rhonda Discovers Art, The Paris Review
SARA EDWARD-CORBETT
The Bird, The Mouse, and the Sausage, Mome
JENNIFER EGAN
Safari, The New Yorker
JOSH EMMONS
Arising, The American Scholar
SUSAN ENGBERG
A Clean Bowl, Epoch
BRECHT EVENS
The Wrong Place, Drawn & Quarterly
B. H. FAIRCHILD
Logophilia, New Letters
KALI FAJARDO-ANSTINE
Remedies, Bellevue Literary Review
SEAN FLYNN
Boom, GQ
JOHN FRANK
Pink Suitcases, The Sun
THOMAS FRANK
Bright Frenetic Mills, Harper's
ANDREW FRIEDMAN
Alien Snow, Ghost Town
J. MALCOLM GARCIA
Bed 18, www.guernicamag.com
DAGOBERTO GILB
Shout, The Barcelona Review
ANNE GISLESON
Rise off Your Knees, New Orleans, Oxford American
RACHEL B. GLASER
The Jon Lennin Xperience, Puerto del Sol
MICHAEL HAEDERLE
The Best Fiscal Stimulus: Trust, Miller-McCune
ANTHONY HAM
Island in the Sand, The Virginia Quarterly Review
KAREN HAYS
Clockwise Detorsion of Snails, The Normal School
JAMEY HECHT
Tim the Immortal Giraffe: True Story, American Short Fiction
LACEY PRPIC HEDTKE
Likes/Dislikes,self-published zine
AMY HEMPEL
Greed, Ploughshares
SMITH HENDERSON
Number Stations, One Story
PABLO HOLMBERG
Eden, Drawn & Quarterly
SAMANTHA HUNT
KIM HYESOON
Seoul, Kora, Azalea
PYUN HYE-YOUNG
The First Anniversary, Azalea
KRISTEN ISKANDRIAN
Small Acts of Violence Leading Indirectly to the Wiring Issue that Caused the Duplex to Burn Down, Mississippi Review
MICHAEL JADA & DEREK VAN GIESON
Devil Doll, Mome
PETER JAMISON
Head Case, SF Weekly
DIMITER KENAROV
It's Impossible to Leave Iraq, Esquire
ETGAR KERET
Lieland, Zoetrope: All-Story
RACHEL KHONG
; Today Is a Fish, Phoebe
AIDAN KOCH
Green House, Mome
TED KRITIKOS
I Would Get to Try Life, Noon
MICHAEL LACEY
What's Mom Worth?, Phoenix New Times
THOMAS LAKE
Five-Year-Old Slugger, Sports Illustrated
REIE LARSEN
The Puppet, One Story
YIYUN LI
A Small Sacrifice, The Threepenny Review
TAO LIN
Richard Yates, Melville House Publishing
SAM LIPSYTE
The Worm in Philly, The Paris Review
BETH LOEEREDA
The Silver Medalist, Epoch
JOHN NOVA LOMAX
Lawn Mower Man, Houston Press
DAVID MACLEAN
The Answer to the Riddle Is Me, This American Life
WENDY MACNAUGHTON
San Francisco Civic Center Farmers' Market Farmers in Their Own Words, www.therumpus.net
MEGAN MAYHEW-BERGMAN
The Social Life of Mice, Alaska Quarterly Review
MIHA MAZZINI
That Winter, Ecotone
JOSEPH MCELROY
The Campaign Trail, Golden Handcuffs Review
SEAN MICHAELS
The Lizard, the Catacombs, and the Clock, Brick