BOA Blog

A new Booklist review calls Stephen Dobyns's forthcoming The Day's Last Light Reddens the Leaves of the Copper Beech a collection of "courageous observations about the way one endures as he considers big questions about death—of his love, his friends, and himself. [Dobyns] never hides from the tragic and the honest."Reviewer Danielle Susi notes how the collection's first poem, "Stories," sets the stage for the rest of the book. "From the very beginning of the book, the reader understands that this poem, and so many others that follow, will focus on recognizing the truth of mortality."The second section of the...

We are thrilled to announce that Nin Andrews has won the 2016 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry for her collection Why God Is a Woman. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the awards, which are given by the Ohioana Library to books and authors with Ohio roots or subjects.Other poetry finalists include Ross Gay, Tasha Golden, William Greenway, and Jeff Gundy. Winners in other categories include Mary Doria Russell, Wil Haygood, David McCullough, Loren Long, and Shelley Pearsall.Set on a magical island where women rule and men are the second sex, Why God Is a Woman is the story...

This Number Does Not Exist received another spectacular review, this time drawing attention to author Mangalesh Dabral's ability to "fulfill the role of a poet as an observer who allows us to see the world through a new set of eyes. He takes ordinary moments or mundane objects and makes them shine in a way they've never been shown before."Reviewer Stephen Alter of The Hindu--one of India's most prestigious newspapers--pays special attention to the themes in Dabral's poems, noting their variety. According to Alter, the "persistent sense of alienation and nostalgia for home is a constant theme in Dabral's poetry,...

With the 16th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize just around the corner, we are thrilled to announce that renowned poet Brenda Shaughnessy will judge this year’s contest. BOA will accept first-book poetry manuscripts for the prize from August 1 - November 30, 2016.Brenda Shaughnessy was born in Okinawa, Japan, and grew up in Southern California. She is the author of So Much Synth (Copper Canyon, 2016); Our Andromeda (2012), a finalist for the international Griffin Poetry Prize; Human Dark with Sugar (2008), winner of the James Laughlin Award; and Interior with Sudden Joy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999). The...

We are proud to announce that Nin Andrews's Why God Is a Woman has been named a finalist for the 2016 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry, given by the Ohioana Library to books and authors with Ohio roots or subjects.Other poetry finalists include Ross Gay, Tasha Golden, William Greenway, and Jeff Gundy. The lists of finalists in other categories include Gloria Steinem, David McCullough, and Karl Rove.Set on a magical island where women rule and men are the second sex, Why God Is a Woman is the story of a boy who, exiled from the island because he could not...