For 25 % century, more than a million readers-scribes and scribblers of most ages and abilities-have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Tips that begins with the easy words of intelligence passed on from Anne’s father-also a writer-in the iconic passing that provides the publication its title:

“Thirty years back my older sibling, who was ten years old at the time, was looking to get a written report on birds created that he’d had three months to create. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, encircled by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my dad sat down beside him, place his arm around my brother’s make, and said, ‘Bird by bird, friend. Just take it parrot by bird.’”

An important volume for generations of writers youthful and previous, Bird by Bird is usually a modern classic. This twenty-fifth wedding anniversary edition will continue to spark creative minds for a long time to come.