Many well regarded writers write their fiction, prose or poetry in a language that isn't their mother tongue. In a series of lyrical essays, an international selection of writers explore the role that bilingualism has played in their creative lives. Some have struggled against their first or second languages some use one language for private or emotional expression and another for public, formal presentation. Some reflect on how the cultural possibilities of a second language offer them options they could never have experienced in their first language. Others have struggled with maintaining a coherent sense of self. For many writers the second, and literary, language has been bound up with personal experiences of exile or colonialism. Taken together, these reflections shed new light on the creative process and on the complex ways that identities are forged in the contemporary, globalized world. Contributors include Anita Desai, Ariel Dorfman, Eva Hoffman, Nuala Ni Dhomnail, Ilan Stavans and Yoko Tawanda.