Gather at the River: Twenty-Five Authors on Fishing

From editors David Joy and Eric Rickstad comes Gather at the River, an anthology of twenty-five remarkable essays on fishing from an ensemble of contemporary authors. Their experiences explore the ways we come to water, for renewal and reverie, or to simply stand waist-deep in a river and watch the trout rise.

Gather at The River is more than a collection of big fish stories; it’s Ron Rash writing about the Appalachia of his youth and New York Times Bestselling author C.J. Box revealing the river where he wants his ashes spread. It’s Natalie Baszile on a frogging expedition in the Louisiana Bayou and a teenaged Jill McCorkle facing new realities of adulthood on Holden Beach, North Carolina. This is an anthology about friendship, family, love and loss, and everything in between, because as Henry David Thoreau wrote, “it is not really the fish they are after.”

The contributors are an eclectic mix of critically acclaimed writers, including: Natalie Baszile, Frank Bill, William Boyle, C.J. Box, Taylor Brown, Todd Davis, Scott Gould, Leigh Ann Henion, Silas House, Rebecca Gayle Howell, Gabino Iglesias, Drew Lanham, Jill McCorkle, Ray McManus, Jim Minick, Chris Offutt, Mark Powell, Ron Rash, J.C. Sasser, J. Todd Scott, Michael Farris Smith, Erik Storey, Ingrid Thoft, and M. O. Walsh.

Some of the proceeds of every sale will benefit C.A.S.T. for Kids, a public charity that joins volunteers who love to fish with children who have special needs and disadvantages for a day of fishing in the outdoors.

Praise for Gather at the River

"Novelists Joy (The Line That Held Us) and Rickstad (What Remains of Her) have pulled off the feat of assembling a fishing anthology that even non-anglers can enjoy, featuring essays from various writers that pay tribute to the beauty, peacefulness, and, sometimes, humor that accompany this pursuit."—Publishers Weekly

"As Silas House reminds us, "fishing stories are among the best kind." Anglers of all stripes will relish these delectable morsels of love."—Kirkus Reviews

"Come for the fish stories, but stay for the writing—it sparkles like the flank of a mullet, thumps like the tail of a bull redfish, and leaps off the page like a tarpon."—David DiBenedetto, Editor in Chief, Garden & Gun

Cover Image: Basecamp Printing in Charleston, WV

Interior Illustrations: Jaclyn Reyes