BOA Blog

We are proud to announce that BOA Editions has been selected to receive Writers & Books’s 2017 "Big Pencil Award," which is given to an organization that “has made significant contributions to the Rochester literary community.”The award is one of nine that will be presented to individuals and organizations that have contributed significantly to the advancement, creation, and greater appreciation of literature in the Rochester community. Writers & Books is a literary center based in Rochester, NY, that fosters and promotes reading and writing as lifelong activities. Attracting individuals of all ages and backgrounds within and beyond the greater Rochester area,...

A new *starred* review from Publishers Weekly is calling Chen Chen's When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities a "vibrant debut collection."Balancing the "politics surrounding shame and desire with hearty doses of joy, humor, and whimsy," Chen "[makes] sense of his past to imagine a better future in his poems." The review says, "To this end he recounts a personal history in which he playfully addresses deeply serious issues, particularly a longing to defy the fate prescribed to him by family members or others’ cultural ideas of normalcy . . . As a gay, Asian-American poet, Chen casts...

I used to keep a folder of hardcopy rejection letters in my file cabinet. OK, so maybe it was two or three folders. These rejections were from the era when many literary journals still required paper submissions. The folks at the post office on Telfair Square in Savannah knew me well. They didn’t even have to ask if the contents of my envelopes were hazardous. They knew that inside was nothing but a stack of paper and a self-addressed, stamped envelope that I hoped I’d never have to see again.Here’s the thing: at that magical point in literary history, journals...

Join BOA Editions for a night of drinks and discussion with acclaimed author Craig Morgan Teicher, as Read Local celebrates National Poetry Month! Delving boldly into the tangled realms of fatherhood, marriage, and poetry, Teicher’s new book, The Trembling Answers (BOA Editions, 2017), deals with the day-to-day of family life—including the alert anxiety and remarkable beauty of caring for a child with severe cerebral palsy. Called “affecting” by Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, these personal narratives brightly illuminate a life fiercely lived.This event is free and open to all.The Trembling Answers is the current Rochester Read Local book club selection. Copies are available for a discounted price at BOA Editions, Writers & Books, and...

We are pleased to announce that Chen Chen's A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize-winning collection, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, is the April pick for The Rumpus Poetry Book Club!In an essay about why he chose the book, Poetry Editor Brian Spears says, "I am drawn to poetry about the difficulties of family, about the pain of feeling one is a disappointment to their parents, about the sense of separation that can come as a result. Chen Chen’s debut collection is filled with work which explores this universe. This is tricky subject matter to tackle,...