“If anyone can lure out of hiding the mysterious secrets of the things of this world, and turn the familiar unfamiliar, the everyday magical, it’s Chris Arthur. One of our greatest living essayists, he brings a rare combination of tenderness, power, care and, at times, ghoulish humor to the page.” — Phillip Lopate
In Hidden Cargoes, Arthur ranges over subjects as various as a girl’s ear, a vulture’s egg, and the letters in a Scrabble game. Whatever the topic—and Arthur’s interests are wide-ranging, to say the least—these unorthodox meditations tap into unexpected seams of meaning and mystery.
Whether he’s writing about owls, leaves, a street in his hometown, the stomach of a termite, or the coincidence of three hearts beating in unlikely synchrony, Arthur offers a virtuoso demonstration of how the creative essay can uncover the extraordinariness of ordinary things. Hidden Cargoes confirms his standing as one of the best writers of this form today.
Arthur is an Irish essayist currently based in Scotland. He’s author of several essay collections, most recently Hummingbirds Between the Pages (2018), and has published in a range of journals. His awards include: the Akegarasu Haya International Essay Prize, and the Sewanee Review’s Monroe K. Spears Essay Prize. His work has appeared in The Best American Essays and is often included in that series’ ‘Notable Essays’ lists.
