Made Priceless: A Few Things Money Can't Buy

by H.L. Hix (Editor)

Made Priceless presents snapshots of objects that their holders treasure: a 1950s swivel rocker, a fortune-cookie fortune that reads "The rubber bands are heading in the right direction" a marble with a world map painted on it, a bread-baking pan, a bar of soap, crocheted doilies, a masonry trowel… Each object has its own story, each its own meaning. The book's contributors include artists, a banker, a retired career military officer, secretaries, a pilot, stay-at-home mothers, students, professors, and others, each with a testament in praise of something priceless. The result is a remarkable collection that honors what money can't buy, and celebrates the extraordinary significance in an ordinary things.

164 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2012

About the author

H. L. Hix has published an anthology, Wild and Whirling Words: A Poetic Conversation (2004), and eight books of poetry and literary criticism with Etruscan, including Shadows of Houses (2005), Chromatic (2006), God Bless: A Political/Poetic Discourse (2007), Legible Heavens (2008), Incident Light (2009), First Fire, Then Birds (2010), As Easy As Lying: Essays on Poetry (2002), and Lines of Inquiry (2011). He has two more books forthcoming from Etruscan, As Much As, If Not More Than (2013) and I’m Here to Learn to Dream in Your Language (2014).

In addition to having been a finalist for the National Book Award for Chromatic, his awards include the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Peregrine Smith Award, and fellowships from the NEA, the Kansas Arts Commission, and the Missouri Arts Council. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, taught at Kansas City Art Institute, and was an administrator at The Cleveland Institute of Art, before accepting his current position as professor in the Creative Writing MFA at the University of Wyoming. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin and at Shanghai University.

Reviews

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made Priceless: A Few Things Money Can’t Buy edited by H.L. Hix is a collection of short essays about items writers have in their possession that they neither bought nor would they sell because they hold a value not measured by the marketplace. The book pays homage to all that is held dear in today’s society from a time long past waiting to be recaptured in memories to places you can revisit, though the light will be slightly off or the wind will blow harder. Hix has culled together a series of short essays that demonstrate the beauty we find in the most mundane things from flags to typewriters to playing cards found on the ground.

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/03/m...

[Emma Ramos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely book comprised of photos and essays on personal objects. The essays are beautifully written.