"Brenda Miller writes with such extraordinary grace and intimacy that, despite our weariness and fears, we find ourselves falling in love with the world all over again," notes Kim Barnes. 

In her newest collection of essays, "Blessing of the Animals," from Eastern Washington University Press, Miller builds on the "delicate, elegant, and occasionally devastating" (writes John D'Agata) form that first captured national attention in 2002's "Season of the Body."

With pinpoint accuracy and lyrical honesty, Miller's work cuts to the heart and to the bone. The nineteen essays in "Blessing of the Animals"–including the two Pushcart Prize-winning essays: the title essay "Blessing of the Animals," and "Raging Waters"-.jpgerce to the center of human–and non-human–longing, desire, and change.  

Brenda Miller spends the academic year as associate professor of English at Western Washington University in Bellingham, where she is the editor-in-chief of the Bellingham Review. Her collection of essays, "Season of the Body" was a finalist for the PEN American Center Book Award and she has received a number of Pushcart Prizes for her work. Her essays have appeared in such periodicals as the Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, and the Sun. She led full-house writing workshops at Centrum last summer.