Why is it that although Vermont is relatively distant - both geographically and metaphysically - from publishing centers as well as many issues at the heart of current literature, it is also home to some of America's greatest writers? Is there something about the place that speaks to them? In this book, twenty-one contemporary Vermont authors are profiled along with examples of their writing. Included are: Julia Alvarez, Chris Bohjalian, David Budbill, Joseph Citro, Joan Connor, David Huddle, Jamaica Kincaid, Galway Kinnell, Sydney Lea, Jeffrey Lent, David Moats, Howard Frank Mosher, Grace Paley, Jay Parini, Verandah Porche, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Ruth Stone, Abigail Stone, Phoebe Stone, Tom Smith, and Ellen Bryant Voigt. In their conversations with Yvonne Daley, these writers open their toolboxes to share their writing approaches and techniques, their tricks of the trade. Special exercises are also included for students to make this a useful resource for the classroom. Most importantly, the book provides entry into the treasure trove that is the work of a select group of gifted Vermont writers sustaining a rich literary tradition that too many of us take for granted.