BOA Blog

BOA Editions and the University of Rochester invite the public for a special poetry reading at the university's Rush Rhees Library on Wednesday, April 6, from 5:30pm - 7:00pm—during National Poetry Month.This celebratory kickoff to the university's BOA Editions exhibit—running through July 29, 2016—will commemorate BOA's milestone 40th anniversary, as well as the university's recent acquisition of the press' last decade of publishing archives. Bringing together many of Rochester's brightest lights—including Mayor Lovely Warren, writers, readers, students, professors, and media—the event will feature a group poetry reading with representatives from both the university and BOA communities, followed by a light...

Derrick Austin's highly-anticipated poetry collection Trouble the Water has been in the recent spotlight, garnering a rave review from Publishers Weekly, as well as a Booklist starred review.According to PW: "Austin maintains that fraught balancing act of being lighthearted, even convivial, in the face of worry and distress. He also deftly manipulates the tension between beauty and artlessness, sensitivity and violence."This collection is well-suited to readers prepared interrogate what they love and what they distrust. In Austin’s hands, the exquisite can be ominous while the grotesque can turn charming, and his poems wisely assert that the world is unforgiving and...

Aracelis Girmay's new collection the black maria just received a new starred review from Publishers Weekly, which calls the book a "collection of lyrical, image-thick poems that balance on the knife edge separating vulnerability and unapologetic strength."Deep, connecting, and sharp in its analysis, the review continues: "The lives of Eritrean refugees and immigrants serve as the collection’s thematic foundation, though Girmay also thoughtfully dissects and examines blights of America’s current sociopolitical climate, particularly police brutality and the murders of such young black women and men as Renisha McBride and Jonathan Ferrell. . . . Girmay effortlessly slips between collective history...

Huffington Post has selected Erika Meitner as one of "14 brilliant women poets to read on World Poetry Day," which is today -- March 21.Erika Meitner is the author of Copia, released by BOA in 2014."Monday is World Poetry Day, a great time to reacquaint yourself with your favorite lines of verse before Poetry Month kicks off on April 1. Whether you're a budding Bard or a naysayer, you'd do well to know a few of the poets who are writing great work today. [These] are our favorite women poets working today, in honor of Women's History Month."Reading one of...

In a new interview with Pine Hills Review, Rick Bursky talks about a number of different topics, from what motivates his writing to the number of fountain pens he owns, and the way artichokes mate for life. The interview is funny, informative, fascinating, and eye-opening.Pine Hills Review says, "As far as I can tell, Rick Bursky has done just about everything. No, really. This is a man who has almost as many scuba dives to his name as he does published poems (that would be 190 scuba dives versus 231 published poems, at last count). In case you’re feeling unaccomplished...