The iconic, extraordinary Joyce Carol Oates is the recipient of the National Book Award and five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Beautiful Days is a collection of mesmerizing stories of passion, independence, and defiance.

For over half a century, Oates has penned best-selling novels, critically acclaimed collections of short fiction, essays, plays, poetry, and a memoir. Her remarkable literary industry—which includes work as an editor and anthologist—spans forms, themes, topics and genres. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2010 by President Barack Obama.

In Beautiful Days, a collection of thirteen stories, including the 2017 Pushcart Prize-winning “Undocumented Alien,” Oates explores the most secret, intimate, and unacknowledged interior lives of characters not unlike ourselves, who assert their independence in acts of bold and often irrevocable defiance.