BOA Blog

In a review that regards Jim Daniels' Birth Marks as an expression of "the loss of the authenticity we experienced during our youth," Heavy Feather Review analyzes the recurring motifs of authenticity and alienation in the recent poetry collection. "Employing his masterful control of language, Daniels' new book suggests that, much as we may be 'marked' during our youth by the imperfections of a dissolute society, from our subsequent perspective as adults, we may view our often flawed coming-of-age experiences as the most authentic ones of our lives." The review calls the poems "very amusing," and speculates that the "profound...

A new "Weekender" review by West Virginia's The Journal says Dariusz Sosnicki's new Polish translation The World Shared is "destined to become an international classic." Translated by Piotr Florczyk and Boris Dralyuk, the bilingual English/Polish collection is celebrated for its use of "contemporary issues such as global warming, urban life, and advances in technology" to explore the human condition. "One of Poland's foremost poets... Sosnicki is a fearless and tenacious intellectual whose poetry exhibits flashes of brilliance that illuminate our most obscure and often unacknowledged fears about contemporary life. He is also a cynic who knows how to hope. As such,...

According to American Microreviews and Interviews,  Hugh Martin's debut collection of contemporary war poetry "joins a growing field of contemporary war poetry that includes Brian Turner, Seth Brady Tucker, and others. The Stick Soldiers gives readers a broad sense of his experience in basic training, deployment, combat, and return to civilian life." Selected by Cornelius Eady as winner of the A. Poulin, Poetry Prize, Martin "helps establish the point that like any soldier, there are prewar and postwar moments, too." Reviewer Mark Allen Jenkins claims that much of the collection's strength comes from Martin's exploration of the relationships between soldiers,...

Image courtesy of BUST Magazine In a recent BUST Magazine "Feminizzle" interview by Amy Carlberg, award-winning poet Jillian Weise discusses "new words, cyborgs, and burning patriarchy to the ground." The poet offers her take on stereotypes within the writers' circle, and on the assumptions readers, reviewers, and other writers often make about speakers in her poems. Weise handles such topics as disability and discrimination, as experienced in her life and in her poetry, with the spunk and pluck of a true modern feminist, a girl defending her right to bear arms "at the shooting range, practicing [her] shot." "Moments after...

In a recent NPR interview by Bathsheba Monk of WDIY, Lehigh Valley, author Lee Upton talks on-air about her new fiction collection The Tao of Humiliation, and how she is able to juggle writing, publishing, and teaching at Lafayette College. According to novelist Monk, "Lee Upton's stories in The Tao of Humiliation are startlingly original, emotionally compelling, and delicately crafted, making them that most satisfying of finds: a great read." Click here to listen to the full interview with Lee Upton. The Tao of Humiliation is now available at the BOA Bookstore.