"In A Solemn Pleasure, Melissa Pritchard presents an undeniable case for both the power of language and the nurturing constancy of the writing life. This is nonfiction vividly engaged with the world, encompassing the author's journeys into the deeply interior imaginative life required to write fiction, a search for the lost legacy of American literature as embodied by Walt Whitman, reports from Afghanistan while embedded with a young female GI, tales of travels with Ethiopian tribes, and the heartrending story of her informally adopted son William, a former Sudanese child slave. Pritchard's passion for writing and storytelling educates, honors, and inspires"--