Art Above Everything

“Readers may wish they’d had this guide at the start of their own journeys, but it’s never too late to be reminded that yes, the road is impossible, and no, you’re not on it alone. A new kind of travel writing.”
—Booklist

“[An] inspiring account . . . A potent testament to the value of pursuing one’s passion.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Griest’s rigorous and fascinating research both proves and enacts her book’s thesis: a life devoted to art is not only possible but a ringing answer to the powers that attempt to thwart such lives and work. A deep, moving, radical book that I want to press into the hands of every young artist.”
—Melissa Febos, author of The Dry Season and Girlhood

“This book is a must-read for every woman artist! It will affirm the decisions you have made, inspire you to get back to the page or the canvas or the studio, and clarify that you belong to a glorious and global lineage of creatives. In chapter after chapter, you will, as I did, travel around the world with Stephanie Elizondo Griest as she interviews ‘art monks’—women who have dedicated their entire lives to an art form. Her lucid and lyrical reportage, coupled with memoir, left me riveted and articulated for me the many ways that we navigate the ecstasies of making art and the practicalities of paying the rent.”
—Daisy Hernández, coeditor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism

“Sensitive and gorgeously curious, Art Above Everything is a quest, a cascade of questions, and especially a celebration: of art, of lives dedicated to art, and of the difficult choices such dedication requires. This is required reading for anyone who is compelled to create.”
—Kirstin Valdez Quade, author of The Five Wounds

“Stephanie Elizondo Griest has traveled the world to give us Art Above Everything, and what a gorgeous gift it is, both a how-to for making art and a soul-steeling affirmation of this most essential human endeavor. In chapter after chapter, we encounter women whose stories and achievements testify to the miracle-producing power of grit, discipline, devotion, and sheer endurance, all told by an indomitable writer who has herself persevered through more than her share of challenges.”
—Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk