Body Songs

Praise for Body Songs

“The word ‘transformative’ gets tossed around so much that when one actually encounters a book that foundationally transforms our understanding of repair, COVID, and books, one is absolutely stunned. Emma Zimmerman has offered her body as witness and wonder in Body Songs, and we are so so lucky.”
—Kiese Laymon, bestselling author of Heavy and Long Division

“Body Songs transfixed me from page one. Emma Zimmerman writes with warm elegance and haunting urgency of a subject too often ignored in both literature and medicine: Chronic illness. Anyone whose life has been eroded by symptoms that won’t go away–and defy explanation–will find tremendous comfort and insight in this absorbing, beautifully written debut.”
—Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year and A Fortunate Age

“Emma Zimmerman’s Body Songs unfolds with the mystery and momentum of a novel, beginning with a primal search: to be well, to stay well, to recover what was lost. An exquisite inquiry into the unknown and the complexities of being alive. I couldn’t put it down.”
—Paul Lisicky, author of Song So Wild and Blue and Later: My Life at the Edge of the World

“In Body Songs, Emma Zimmerman accomplishes something extraordinary: she transforms the bewilderment of chronic illness into a profound inquiry about embodiment itself. Wise beyond her years, Zimmerman refuses easy answers, writing instead toward complexity, tenderness, and wonder. The result is a luminous, deeply humane book that reminds us our bodies are not machines to be fixed, but stories to be listened to. A profound debut from a remarkable new voice, Body Songs left me reading more slowly, listening more carefully, and thinking differently about what it means to inhabit a body.”
—Mira Ptacin, author of Poor Your Soul and The In-Betweens

“Part mystery, part elegy, part prayer – Body Songs traces Zimmerman’s journey from illness to health and collapses those categories in the process. Zimmerman also investigates the wellness complex, including the social and institutional forces that lead to unequal, incomplete care. Rather than solutions, she leaves us with incisive questions, deepened by conversations with patients and experts. Body Songs shows that being well is not just about being symptom-free, but about listening to your body and the world.”
—Kristin Collier, author of What Debt Demands

Emma Zimmerman is a writer, journalist, and teacher. Her work has appeared in Huffpost, the Boston Globe, Outside, Runner’s World, No Tokens, and PRISM, among other publications. She has received writing fellowships from Phillips Exeter Academy and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Emma is an alumna of Grinnell College and NYU’s graduate creative writing program. She lives in Maine, where she teaches writing and public speaking.

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