Small Off Things: Meditations from an Anxious Mind

In this captivating collection of essays, Suzanne Farrell Smith tells the story of her life, not as a linear progression through time, but as a series of encounters, situations and events that reflect the absurdities and anxieties inherent in living in our world, the “small off things” that can so easily loom large and important. With a keen eye and ironic wit, she examines the surprising power even the least of our interactions can have. “At times contemplative, at times raw, these essays will stay with you long after you turn the last page.” (Risa Nye)

“These essays are honest, deep, poignant, and clever. I was engrossed from beginning to end.”

–Laurie Easter, author of All the Leavings

“Small Off Things is a great big wonder of a book… I have never read anything like it.”

–Jodi Paloni, author of They Could Live with Themselves

About the Author:

Suzanne Farrell Smith is the author of The Memory Session, a memoir, and The Writing Shop: Putting Shop Back in Writing Workshop. Her work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Fourth Genre, Post Road, River Teeth, and Creative Nonfiction, as well as several anthologies. Her essay “If You Find a Mouse on a Glue Trap,” published in Brevity and republished in The Best of Brevity: Twenty Groundbreaking Years of Flash Nonfiction won a Pushcart. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and sons.

About the Artist:

Alison Hildreth graduated from Maine College of Art (then Portland School of Art) in 1976. A painter and printmaker, she has also created large installation work and mixed media drawings. She has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Farnsworth Art Museum, and the New York and Boston Public Libraries.

Soft cover, 150 pages

Artwork by Alison Hildreth