“A Fist of Muscle,” a memoir essay by Northwestern Qatar Professor Sam Meekings, has been published in the Best American Essays 2023. Published every year by HarperCollins, The Best American series is one of the most respected—and most popular—anthology collections for short fiction and nonfiction in the United States.
For each volume of the series, a guest editor selects notable works from hundreds of print and online publications published in the previous year, with each title within the series covering a specific genre, including short stories and mysteries. This year's series, edited by Vivian Gornick, renowned essayist, feminist writer, and author of Taking a Long Look, includes Meekings’ essay alongside 20 other essays published by established writers in the U.S. and around the world.
“The Best American Essays is one of the most famous and prestigious anthologies in the world, so being included in this year's volume is a huge and rare honor for a writer,” said Meekings, associate professor in residence in the Liberal Arts Program. “Only twenty essays out of thousands are selected for each volume, and so represent the best examples of the form at the time.”
"A Fist of Muscle" by Meekings is a poignant memoir that delves into the intricate layers of grief, memory, and the enduring scars etched upon the human heart when navigating the sorrows of loss and healing. Through lyrical prose and introspective reflections, the essay invites readers to a journey of reflection on the weight of grief as well as the resilience of the human spirit.
An award-winning novelist, storyteller, teacher, and poet, Sam Meekings is the author of Under Fishbone Clouds (called “a poetic evocation of the country and its people” by The New York Times) and The Book of Crows. He has also been featured on the BBC website, in The Independent, on Arena on Radio 1, and in National Geographic. He is the recipient of an award from the Society of Authors and has been published in a number of international magazines and academic journals.
As the recipients of multiple awards and recognitions, Northwestern Qatar faculty continue to be at the forefront of global research and creative scholarship production.
