Frog: And Other Essays

by Anne Fadiman, Sam Anderson (Foreword)

A new collection of sprightly personal essays from one of America’s most beloved nonfiction writers, Anne Fadiman.

In Frog, Anne Fadiman returns to one of her favorite genres, the essay, of which she is one of our most celebrated practitioners. Ranging in subject matter from her deceased frog, to archaic printer technology, to the fraught relationship between Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his son Hartley, these essays evoke an enormous world, one rife with brilliance and art, mundanity and oddity.

The diverse subjects of Frog cling together through the quality of Fadiman’s attention, and subtly, they come to form a slantwise portrait of the artist, a writer dedicated to chronicling the world as it changes—in ways small and large—around her as time passes each day.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication February 10, 2026

About the author

Anne Fadiman is the author, most recently, of the essay collection Frog (2026). Her first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997), won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Salon Book Award. In 2017, she published The Wine Lover’s Daughter, a memoir about her father. Fadiman has also written two essay collections, Ex Libris and At Large and At Small, and edited Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love. She is Professor in the Practice of English and Francis Writer in Residence at Yale.

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne Fadiman just might be my favorite living essayist (I gift “Ex Libris” to pretty much every bookish person I know). There’s something jewel-like about her writing; the longer you look at it and the more closely you examine it, the more evident the precision and sheer craftsmanship that go into every line and line break become. And her humor! I’m convinced even her grocery lists must be funny. Every essay in this newest collection is stellar, but my particular favorites were “The Oakling and the Oak” and “South Polar Times.”

Many thanks to FSG for the advanced copy. I can’t wait to push this book on everyone I know when it comes out next February!

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything Anne Fadiman writes.

[Bre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was received as an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

This review will be short- I enjoyed this book, same as I have enjoyed all of Anne Fadiman’s work. I’m generally not a huge fan of essays, but hers always touch me and while Frog is probably below Ex Libris on my ranking, it’s still a great read.
I may add to this review as I sit with what I’ve read, but the rating should remain the same.

[Katelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this essay collection by writing professor Anne Fadiman. Fadiman's writing is smart, charming, funny and accessible. I was with her every step of the way as she discussed the pet frog her family lived with for over a decade and any other topic she chose to write about. Fadiman has perfected the familiar essay, and this is a delightful book to dip in and out of, although I couldn't help but read it straight through. This is a treat to read and upon finishing it I immediately purchased her previous essay collections.

[Theodore Hong · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible as usual. love the essay about the printer

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My full review is on the Open Letters Review website at https://openlettersreview.com/posts/f....