Books & Writings

“This novel is aces: Courageous, imaginative, nervy, admirable.” — Carolyn See, Los Angeles Times

“Compelling. . . adventure with self-reflection and discovery.” — Bloomsbury Review

“Files’ riveting novel begins with a bang, literally and figuratively. . . Superb pacing maximizes the suspense, propelling the reader to discover exactly how Kit will resolve her memories and face an extraordinary future.” — Publishers Weekly

Available from Permuted Press as an audiobook and an e-book.

“Meg Files makes her sure mark as a sharp-seeing interpreter for women and men under special pressures. . . mature and literary.” — Ron Carlson

Write From Life

“This book is wonderfully insightful into the writing process, particularly the fears that will hinder a writer, regardless of experience. . . Give this book to anyone you love who yearns to write. Keep a copy yourself.” — Nancy E. Turner

The new, updated edition is Writing What You Know.

“(T)his book will open your eyes to a world of the deepest emotions, to a language of praise and intimacy. The Love Hunter is one of those rare books that delights, consoles, and affirms.” — Frank X. Gaspar

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“Meg Files’ poems are rich with Charles Darwin’s observations, the tour guides’ language, and her own thoughts and connections as she sees species unaware of humans and thinks about our place in the vaster world.” — Sheila Bender

Photographs by Sally Cullen and paintings by Susan Reimer

OUT OF PRINT

Lasting: Poems on Aging, deftly edited by Meg Files, is an encouraging collection of poetic interpretations and depictions of aging and the nearing of death. As a remarkable understanding of life and one’s past, Lasting is an artistic review of many excellent poets’ work, and is a uniquely engaging read.” — Midwest Book Review

“Meg Files has given us, in The Third Law of Motion, a portrait of a marriage that is as searing and emblematic as Richard Yates’ in Revolutionary Road. What emerges is a story where damaged men damage those they love, where parents look the other way, and where women provide hope and strength to one another. This is a moving, wise, and hopeful book.” — Beth Alvarado

The Secret Destination

“Three sisters, off to see the world. . . 'to a secret destination that is both arrival and end' . . . Iceland. . . imagining their father’s remains, his soul, ensconced in a glass case, beside Thor. . . and borne along by them, a relic beyond gravity. . . and they return, ensorcelled and bearing a gift for us. . . an Iceland of tern-moon and mythic Lights. . . consecrated in Susan Reimer’s paintings, and Sally Cullen’s photographs, and Meg Files’ poems.” — Ron Powers

$10

To order Contact Meg

Writing What You Know 9781621535119

New, updated edition of Write From Life

“Absolutely the most accurate, honest portrayal of writing from the heart. . . Files opens so many doors and windows, offering a true glimpse into the depths of writing and using what you know—even when you’re afraid to ‘go there.'” — Michelle Hall

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“In Lit Blue Sky Falling, Meg Files illuminates the origin and evolution of the complex connections among all living things. From the Galapagos to Iceland, she follows tracks and sagas to let us all comprehend how we are related—among species, within families, and as part of cherished friendships. These elegant, earthy poems reward each reading with insight, wisdom, and delicious language.” — Peggy Shumaker

 Order at www.finishinglinepress.com

 

hollow organ front cover

"A Hollow, Muscular Organ is a bittersweet, cannily precise anatomy of a love story — a meditation on connection and disconnection, and on writing itself, for the self, as connection and retrieval. Meg Files' riveting, wise novel, the story of Susannah and Griff, is unputdownable for its intelligence and its heart. I read it in one sitting and so will you."
— Karen Brennan

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"In this incredible chapbook, Meg Files' poems sing us goodbye. As humans take their leave from this planet by ordinary death, the animals remain. Meg Files' unpretentious Beasts will not miss us but perhaps they'll note us as beautifully as she has noted them. In these straightforward, penetrating poems, we can take some solid satisfaction knowing the beasts keep the humans alive and significant a little longer." 
— Nicole Walker

Recent Publications

Poem "Abbracciami" in Visions International, 2023

Poem "Dear Vaccine" in anthology Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic, 2022

Story "The Urn" in Chiron Review, Fall 2021

Poem "The Beasts" in Global Poemic, May 2021

Creative nonfiction "Swimming in the Pandemic" in Love in the Time of COVID: A Chronicle of 2020, February 2021

Poem "Waveson" in Verse-Virtual, February 2021

Poem "Our Friends' Death Row Son Hangs Himself" in Spillway, Fall 2020 (and Pushcart Prize nomination)

Poem “Aurora Borealis” in Cloudbank 13

Poem “Sublunary” forthcoming in A Walk with Nature anthology

Poem “Bad Mammo” in Panoply, 2018

Story “Green River” in Little Patuxent Review, 2018

Poems “Independence Day” and “With My Father at JJ’s Barber Shop” in Cloudbank, May 2018

Poem “Powdered Milk” in Miramar, Number 5, 2017

Poem “Penguin Parade” in Driftfish: A Zoomorphic Anthology, 2016

Meg Files Poem