Essays from international contributors on the experiences of reading: what reading feels like, how it makes people feel, how people read, under what kinds of conditions, what drives people to read, and conversely, what gets individual and groups of readers stopped in their pursuit of the rewards of reading.

At the beginning of a new writing project - whether it's the first page of a new novel or a less ambitious project, writers often experience exhilaration, fear, or dread. For Kristjana Gunnars, the call of a new project is "like someone you don't know knocking on your door." This book is an engagement with that "stranger" called writing.