BOA Blog

Image courtesy of jackrichardsmith.com Naomi Shihab Nye is in Helsinki, Finland this week for the eighth annual Runokuu (Poetry Moon) Festival (August 23-29), Helsinki's only literature festival. With Runokuu calling her an "an awarded Palestinian-American poet whose poetry radiates warmth, humanity and humor," Nye will perform a reading on August 26 during the festival's "Night of the Living Poets" event. The "relationship between word and image" is the emphasis of this year's Runokuu, where there will be more than thirty events including a session on "rime bic" [rhyme and beat], and "Exhibition Alive," a literary tour that connects poets to...

The 2013 AWP Annual Conference & Bookfair is fast approaching! And we could not be more excited. Out of a record 1,300 event proposals for the upcoming AWP conference, BOA has been accepted for a panel "Come Celebrate with Us: The Multiple Legacies of Lucille Clifton," organized by BOA Publisher Peter Conners. This panel will honor the poetic legacy of Lucille Clifton (National Book Award, Robert Frost Medal, Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize) and the publication of The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 (BOA Editions, 2012). Distinguished poets, friends, and colleagues Kevin Young, Michael S. Glaser, Cornelius Eady, and Sonia...

“America made us heroines/not wives” An exclusive Publishers Weekly interview with Kevin Young and Michael S. Glaser, co-editors of The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010, was in the PW spotlight of Monday's issue. While Kevin Young discusses Lucille Clifton’s mentoring and literary influence, Michael Glaser talks about their enduring friendship. Ultimately, the co-editors and friends of Ms. Clifton tell about "the labor of love that this book represents." This new interview offers insight into the landmark volume The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 (BOA, 2012), spirit writing, the “lost poems” of Clifton, and the late poet’s literary legacy....

Want to make August hum a little longer? Join award-winning BOA poet Dorianne Laux and novelist Cai Emmons on Late Night Library, the all-hours home of debut fiction and poetry, as they discuss Keetje Kuipers’ debut poetry collection Beautiful in the Mouth (BOA, 2010). While poet Thomas Lux praises Kuipers for her “boldness of imagination… strange cadences, and wild music” in her collection, Laux and Emmons "will look at the strong and contrasting sense of place in Kuiper's work as well as the poet's deft use of language and haunting imagery." When: August 31 Where: Listen live or download the...

This just in! Lee Upton is winner of the 2nd Annual BOA Editions Short Fiction Prize for her collection The Tao of Humiliation. After receiving nearly 100 manuscripts, the collection was selected from among four finalists by BOA Publisher Peter Conners. Upton will receive a $500 honorarium and book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. in the spring of 2014. Of the collection, Peter Conners says, “What impressed me most about Lee Upton’s debut short story collection is her ability to peel back layers of experience, revealing the complexity of human emotion buried in even our simplest interactions. Upton tells a...