We didn’t set out to publish an all-women essay section, but as we were reading for this issue, we were drawn to a number of essays about, in some way, “the senses”—hearing, sight, etc. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say they’re about “perception.” And, it just so happened that these seriously beautiful essays about serious topics—entomology, ophthalmology, archaeology, molecular biology—were all written by women.

Plus: Elissa Bassist and Cheryl Strayed talk about how to write like a mother#^@%*&; exploring the possibilities of electronic literature; a roundtable discussion about the intersection of journalism and creative nonfiction; words to avoid in your prose; and more.

From the issue:

• What's the Story by Lee Gutkind
  From the Editor
• How to Write Like a Mother#^@%*&
  An interview with Elissa Bassist & Cheryl Strayed
• Binary Truths: Creative nonfiction in our electronic age  by Eric LeMay
  Required Reading; A list with links to examples of electronic nonfiction
• Getting the Story by Matt Tullis
  A roundtable discussion.
• The Tao of Find-Replace by Annie Chuang
  “I wondered, what are creative nonfiction writers finding and replacing—with their minds, if not with the software tools? So began a series of conversations with a range of writers...”
• Resurrecting Our Printed Past
  An interview with the issue's illustrator, Stephen Knezovich