BOA Blog

According to a recent Brooklyn Rail review of Jewelry Box: A Collection of Histories, Aurelie Sheehan's new collection "catalogs, in part, the ephemeral treasures associated with love." "The book is written as if to disprove the fact that our trinkets are useless -- 58 stories that coalesce into a study of connection, a whole that becomes greater than the sum of its parts," says reviewer Carmen Gimenez Smith. "Sometimes dream-like, autobiographical, or poetic, the book resists mere categorization in favor of assembling a vivid collection of instances imbued with nostalgia and import." Using "messy intimacy" rather than dates and facts...

Jillian Weise's The Book of Goodbyes (BOA, September 2013) has been placed on --yet another-- "best of 2013" book list, being named one of Coldfront magazine's Top 40 Poetry Books of 2013. According to Coldfront, Weise's collection "examines the daily life and consciousness of a speaker with a disability willing to confront all taboos associated with sex, intimacy, identity, gender, and love." Weise is a braver soul than most. Taking on such subjects, she runs head-on into the realm of our discomfort. "The poet never comes off angry, and it is exciting to watch her recurring dismissals of banality. Instead...

Jim Daniels' new collection Birth Marks has seen much success since its Fall 2013 publication, so it's no surprise that the book has been named a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 by the Library of Michigan. Based greatly on his experiences growing up and living in the city of Detroit, Daniels' new book speaks directly to Michigan natives. For 2014, 20 books were selected, each celebrating Michigan people, places, and events. "The Michigan Notable Books Program helps to show what is 'great' about the Great Lakes State," said State Librarian Nancy Robertson. "It is amazing to see the quality of...

In a piece she wrote for The Story Prize blog, Aurelie Sheehan (Jewelry Box, Fall 2013) "parses the strange relationship between truth and fiction in storytelling." Early on in her writing career, Sheehan experienced the common tension between truth and fiction in storytelling, especially with the "write what you know" advice she received in college. She realized, over time, that she was consistently trying to mask the origin of her ideas, characters, and other "inspirations" gleaned from reality and lived experience. "In my new book of stories, Jewelry Box: A Collection of Histories, I wanted to work with this edge,...

Kazim Ali and Mohammad Jafar Mahallati's new translation of Sohrab Sepehri's poetry, The Oasis of Now, was recently reviewed by Mira Rosenthal for The American Poetry Review.   Rosenthal admits that reading poetry-in-translation is sometimes like "being at a wedding as someone's date" -- uncertain and with the potential for incredible social awkwardness. She also says, however, that a translator who makes clear their own connection and position on the poetry can mitigate that awkwardness, leaving readers free to sit back and enjoy the poetry. According to Rosenthal, Ali quickly establishes this connection in the book's Introduction. "Ali is clearly struck...