Are you a word person? A curiosity seeker? A story explorer? Meet these twenty-six phenomenal individuals for whom love of language is an extreme sport.

Discover the real-life stories of writers so intoxicated by the shapes and sounds of language that they collected, dissected and constructed verbal wonders of the most extraordinary kind. Jean-Dominique Bauby wrote his memoirs by blinking his left eyelid, unable to move the rest of his body. Jessie Little Doe Baird revived the language of her native Wampanoag people, when she began having dreams featuring words she didn't understand. Georges Perec wrote a novel without using the letter e – so well that at least one reviewer didn’t notice its absence! A love letter to all those who are passionate about words, language, writers and stories, Alphamaniacs is a stunningly illustrated collection of mini-biographies about the most remarkable of writers and their courageous ways with words.