What inspires you? That's the simple, but profound question more than forty renowned authors answer in LIGHT THE DARK. Each author picks a favorite passage--from a novel, a song, a poem--to reveal what gets them started and keeps them going doing the creative work they love. From there, incredible stories of life changing encounters with art emerge, like how sneaking a volume of Stephen King stories into his job as a night security guard helped Khaled Hosseini learn that nothing he creates will ever be truly finished. Or how discovering Toni Morrison's Beloved in college taught Junot Diaz how art can create communities of shared experience. Here is a stunning guide to creative living and writing in the vein of Bird by Bird, Big Magic, and Daily Rituals for anyone who wants to learn how great writers find inspiration and how to find some of your own. Writer Joe Fassler has been collecting these lessons in his beloved "By Heart" series for The Atlantic, spinning conversations with hundreds of authors into motivating essays paired with striking illustrations. Light the Dark collects the best of "By Heart" and adds brand new pieces from award-winning writers like Marilynne Robinson, Junot Diaz, and Neil Gaiman.