IPPY-Winning Poets Speak Out
Date: June 5, 2020
This year’s IPPY Awards had 148 entries into our two categories: Poetry– General and Poetry–Specialty. We awarded a total of 11 medals to poetry books; two each of gold, silver, […]
News & Reviews
News:
Rattlecast: William Trowbridge
Date: June 4, 2020
Episode #39 welcomes former Missouri Poet Laureate William Trowbridge and has new book, Oldguy: Superhero—poems from which have been featured regularly in Rattle for years.
The Imagination Is Free: And So Is this Lecture
Date: June 4, 2020
David Mason gives a hypothetical “last lecture”!
The Swamp
Date: June 4, 2020
It is Fourth of July weekend, and until a few days earlier, we had forgotten that for coastal towns this is prime time for tourism. Despite the busy sidewalks and […]
C-Ville: Taking covers: Your social distancing reading list
Date: June 4, 2020
With the cancellation of the Virginia Festival of the Book, and recommendations to practice social distancing, there’s never been a better time to pick up some extra reading material. While […]
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, […]
KUER 90.1: To Be Alive — Is Power: Poetry For The Pandemic
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 […]
Ms. Magazine: A Word Person Thinks About Bodies
Date: June 4, 2020
It was recently brought to my attention that my characters are obsessed with bodies—their own and everyone else’s.
CBC: Milton’s Paradise Lost: a survival guide for a fractured world
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 […]
Black Earth Institue: Social Distancing
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,
Reviews:
Laura Kasischke’s THE LIFEGUARD got a Booklist review!
Date: March 24, 2026
Full review to come on April 1! “Wednesday, July 16, 1969. When all of America had its eyes on the moon, the Mannings inMission Hills, Michigan, suffered a wrenching personal […]
Rebecca Chace’s TALKING TO THE WOLF reviewed in Booklist!
Date: March 24, 2026
“Chace’s latest (after Capture the Flag, 2010) is told mostly through flashbacks and is heavily dependent on what the characters are thinking as they navigate the final day before their […]
David Mason’s COLD FIRE reviewed in Washington Independent!
Date: March 24, 2026
“COLD FIRE is a revitalizing collection that burns off the dross from our tired, worn-out concepts of the world, restoring for us its inherent mystery and splendor.”
Laura Kasischke’s THE LIFEGUARD receives early praise from Foreword Review!
Date: March 24, 2026
“Flush with sensory details, the sprawling, immersive prose includes both extensive information on how a lifeguard wears her swimsuit and evocative active images.”
Adela Najarro’s VARIATIONS IN BLUE reviewed in Presence Journal!
Date: March 24, 2026
“It’s a memorable poem [IGUANA DREAMS], as are many in VARIATIONS IN BLUE, Najarro’s fifth book. She is, I think, still early in her career, one that will, I hope, […]
Khanh Ha’s THE AFTERLIFE OF A THREADBARE JESTER got a starred Kirkus review!
Date: March 16, 2026
In Ha’s historical novel, a former intelligence officer’s imprisonment in a communist reeducation camp serves as a lens for examining the Vietnam War and its lasting impact. It’s 1978, and […]
Laing Rikkers’ MORNING LEAVES: CULTIVATING A LIFE OF BEAUTY, MEANING, AND JOY reviewed by Kirkus!
Date: March 12, 2026
The author lost her sister at the end of 2019; soon after, the world went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, compounding Rikkers’ already overwhelming loss with a sense […]
Adrianne Kalfopoulou THE RE IN REFUGE, reviewed in World Literature Today!
Date: March 12, 2026
At the heart of Adrianne Kalfopoulou’s The re in refuge is the experience of crossing borders—primarily international, cultural, and linguistic but also erotic, psychological, and intellectual, among others. A Greek […]
David Mason’s COLD FIRE receives early praise in Poetry Corner!
Date: March 3, 2026
Each line is a steady and reassuring four beats in length, filled with words that help move the story along.
Helen Benedict’s upcoming novel, THE SOLDIER’S HOUSE, reviewed by Booklist!
Date: February 18, 2026
Full review to come March 1! “The characters’ journeys are candid and vulnerable, rendering a pertinent, rich portrait of displaced lives reshaped by conflict and its enduring consequences.” —Booklist