“Why do I love Nanci Panuccio’s stories? Don’t worry: I won’t count all the ways. I’ll just mention two. One thing I love about her work is the unassuming lyricism of her prose. In our attempt to write poetic prose, too many of us succumb to the temptation of verbal pyrotechnics, the literary equivalent of “Look, Ma, no hands!” But Nanci clearly knows that true lyricism is not a form of linguistic “dress-up”: it’s not what you put on to prettify something, it’s what’s underneath, the flesh and bones of the language: imagery, metaphor, and attention to assonance, consonance, and rhythm.”
David Jauss, author of Black Maps and Crimes of Passion
“Nanci Panuccio’s writing has authority because her details are so specific and often unexpected, whether she’s showing how a prisoner manages to get extra snacks from vending machines, or how dancers on cruise ships and at resort hotels prepare for their shows.”
Diane Lefer, author of California Transit, winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize
“Nanci’s stories are playful yet serious, precisely textured yet populated by characters dreamy, confused, lost, belligerent, and searching for some object that eludes identification, much less capture.”
Abby Frucht, author of Polly’s Ghost, Life Before Death, and Fruit of the Month, Winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Prize
“Her stories reveal her characters with all the subtlety of life. Like life, her stories don’t advertise the significance of their events, though the significance is certainly there. What’s going on at the surface of her stories is always compelling, but what’s going on underneath, sometimes beneath the characters’ own understanding, is even more fascinating, and Nanci reveals this under-story through subtle analogies, gestures, looks, word choices, even silences. As a result, her stories are simultaneously restrained and emotional, and that’s always a devastating combination.”
David Jauss
To read and listen to excerpts of Nanci’s fiction, click here.
