The Oregonian: Poems for the Pandemic
Date: June 4, 2020
Kim Stafford’s days have a rhythm, a routine. Oregon’s poet laureate wakes before dawn. He takes a long walk around his neighborhood. When he returns to his home in Southwest Portland, […]
Date: June 4, 2020
Kim Stafford’s days have a rhythm, a routine. Oregon’s poet laureate wakes before dawn. He takes a long walk around his neighborhood. When he returns to his home in Southwest Portland, […]
Date: June 4, 2020
With all that’s going on right now, it may be more important than ever to remember to take a beat and appreciate something beautiful — even if that’s just a […]
Date: June 4, 2020
It was recently brought to my attention that my characters are obsessed with bodies—their own and everyone else’s.
Date: June 4, 2020
Vietnamese-American writer Andrew Lam considers Paradise Lost “the first refugee story.” “When I learned about it, as someone who had lost his homeland, it resonated, naturally, because Vietnam was everything to my […]
Date: June 4, 2020
In dreams I walk through crowds, brushing arms, knocking elbows. Skin to skin: hands are bare. Crocuses congregate in beds, along sidewalks. Unlatching city gates,
Date: June 4, 2020
A flare of russet,green fronds, surpriseof flush againstthe bare grey cypressin winter woods. Cardinal wild pine,quill-leaf airplantor dog-drink-water.Spikes of bright bloom–exotic plumage.
Date: June 4, 2020
“Be stubborn and ultimately believe in your writing,” advises first-time novelist Mia Heavener ’00, “especially if you are having crappy writing days.” On April 13, Heavener visited Wyn Kelley’s literature […]
Date: June 4, 2020
Tess Taylor’s new poetry collection Rift Zone is published this month. She shares five books about writing place in a time of crisis.
Date: June 4, 2020
Poet Tess Taylor questioned what it means to be creative, when every day feels like a radical reinvention of life. “These days, helping myself and my family steer a way around sadness, […]
Date: June 4, 2020
LINCOLN, Neb. — My mother was born into a flu-stricken household at the height of the pandemic of 1918. Within minutes she was swaddled in a homemade quilt and placed […]
Date: September 15, 2026
The possibilities in form throughout one poetry collection feel unimaginably wide. But consistency of form can reveal the true beauty of language, particularly for readers who are otherwise disinclined toward […]
Date: September 15, 2026
It’s hard to imagine that our parents had lives and told us lies even before we were born. As we ourselves age, the gap widens between what we think we […]
Date: September 8, 2026
“Perfect for readers interested in fiction that explores the interconnectedness of Africans at home and in the diaspora across generations.” — Enobong Tommelleo (Booklist Reviewer)
Date: September 8, 2026
“…this is at heart a multigenerational family saga, set during the Cold War period in U.S. history and beautifully capturing the fear and turmoil people felt then. A great pick […]
Date: September 1, 2026
Dick Sickler is the direct object in the title of Luke Goebel’s bizarre noir novel, the man “who had helped kill hundreds of thousands of people with opioids,” as Peter […]
Date: September 1, 2026
Two impressive new poetry books by Alaska women bring the fullness of their lives — their griefs, joys and questions — into artful contemplation and play. Both books are the […]
Date: August 4, 2026
Accomplished storyteller Kristen Millares Young’s communion with an ancient mother goddess and her quest to reconcile the incongruities of her “maddening matriarchs” provide an intriguing thematic framework for her first […]
Date: August 4, 2026
Abi Pollokoff’s night myths • • before the body (Red Hen Press, 2025) is a tour de force of inventive language. She constructs an incredibly original poetic landscape via fragmentation, […]
Date: August 4, 2026
When reading the poetry of Mason, one comes to an understanding of a universality in all things. Similar, yet not, to Spinoza’s philosophy that the universe itself is God and […]
Date: August 1, 2026
“Tender and rich in their complexity, Sacks’ stories will remain with readers long after they finish the novel…”