Ben Berman

“Situated somewhere between poetry and prose, memoir and philosophy, the familiar and the foreign, these mesmerising vignettes possess an uncanny power.” — Devorah Baum, author of Feeling Jewish (A Book for Just About Anyone), and director of The New Man. 

“Ben Berman is a talented word sculptor, who chisels at “straightforward prose” until he finds the story beneath the story. This experiment with structure and brevity successfully blends flash nonfiction and prose sequences into a greater whole, leaving this reader feeling entirely rewarded and enchanted.” –Tara Lynn Masih, Founding Series Editor of The Best Small Fictions

“Whether addressing his role as Peace Corps volunteer, student, teacher, writer, or father, Ben Berman finds insights that afford him a deeper sense of wholeness, of personhood, of being real. These inventive triadic entries, each grounded in a single word, are just that, entries, and we readers are welcome to open door after door in this brilliant, moving, funny, thoughtful, playful house of words.” —Richard Hoffman author of Noon at Night

“A master of linking narratives, Ben Berman reveals intimate moments in deft, yet slight, movements. These small offerings blur the lines of meanings and burrow down to the essence of things – even if the essence is in the absence of things. Berman’s stories illuminate through shards and pieces, questions and revelations.” —Michelle Elvy, Editor, Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction and Assistant Editor, Best Small Fictions

“In this sharply-observed, vulnerable, and witty series of triptychs – which span an ocean and the seasons of a life – Ben Berman slyly explores fragmentation and disconnection as the core of who we are. In fact, the many pleasures of this book lie not in one unifying idea, but in its re-considerations, its insightful flashes of insight into manhood, fatherhood, and the crossing of cultures.” —Christopher Castellani, author of Leading Men

“The joy in language is only one of the pleasures of Then Again. [Berman] seamlessly weaves disparate threads of his life together in no particular order: Peace Corps Volunteer in Zimbabwe, young husband and father of two, boy in high school. Each entry, complete in three stanzas, offers insight into apparently unconnected moments of one man’s life, but with a weight and body that make up a whole.” —Worldwide Magazine

“This fascinating set of tryptic prose sketches by US author and poet Ben Berman is barely the size of a pamphlet, yet it contains worlds. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to walk through the succession of portals so many children’s cartoons present into a multitude of lives, each lasting merely a surveyed minute, this pocket book is for you. Crossing the world both geographically and personally, the title belies itself—no two are the same.” —World Literature Today

“If you love words, Then Again is pure delight. This slim volume is voluminous and luminous. I’ve had the pleasure of tucking it inside my jacket pocket, close to my heart, as I’ve drifted from summer to autumn, and now, in October, the weather has become strangely spring again. In the way that a life can become a work of art, this hemstitched seasonal trajectory parallel’s Ben Berman’s path with his past and present self, the domestic drama of family life, of parenting, and children.” —Solstice Literary Magazine

“Then Again includes forty-two triptychs strung tightly with a thread of words. The surface structure of the book is readily visible in the table of contents, which reads like a word association game: “Breaks,” is followed by “Tears,” then “Openings.” Likewise, “Beats” follows “Switches,” then “Currents.” But dig deeper to appreciate the many layers in Berman’s linguistic tapestry. Within each story, the author proves an astonishing gymnast —semantic, geographic, philosophical, and chronological.” —Smokelong Quarterly