Since the publication of her groundbreaking collection, The Boys of My Youth, Jo Ann Beard has been heralded as a master of the autobiographical essay, a form that has recently gained popularity with the works of Leslie Jamison, Eula Biss, Esmé Weijun Wang, and Roxane Gay, among others.

Now, Beard returns with nine pieces in which she investigates love and betrayal, grief and survival in the precise, searingly personal language for which she is beloved.

In these genre-defying works, Beard captures both the quietly luminous moments of daily existence and those of life-and-death decision: a man jumps from a burning building to save his own life; a woman fights off a home invader with only a shovel; and in the title, novella-length story, the narrator examines issues of love and death, friendship and betrayal.

With exquisite language and unflinching observation, Festival Days captures the pain and exhilaration of our human experience, and shows a pioneering author at the pinnacle of her talent.