BOA Blog

BOA Editions is thrilled to announce that, in honor of our 40th anniversary, we will be releasing The Word from His Song, a limited edition chapbook of new poems by Li-Young Lee!The chapbook is the eleventh installment in the BOA Pamphlet Series, which began in 1978 and has seen the publication of such poets as Donald Hall, Robert Bly, David Ignatow, Louis Simpson, W.D. Snodgrass, and Lucille Clifton. The Word from His Song features eight new poems by Li-Young Lee, bound together with a beautifully designed letterpress cover.Publisher Peter Conners says, "Since the publication of his debut collection, Rose (BOA Editions,...

 Barbara Jane Reyes' collection Diwata was recently reviewed by North American Review, which called the book an "amazing feminist tour-de-force."According to the review, “Diwata by Barbara Jane Reyes reclaims the feminine in Filipino culture and myth from Spanish colonial appropriation and Catholic missionary theocracy.”The collection focuses on Filipino life, and the mythology that surrounds diwata, the spirits that guard nature. “Reyes movingly humanizes the diwata, telling stories of when they take on human form.”In her quest to feature Filipina voices, Reyes has created a narrative that explores the ignored and sidelined: “Diwata features many female voices, not just spirits but...

G.C. Waldrep's book-length poem, Testament, was recently praised in a new Ploughshares review, which calls the book "excellent."The review says: "Waldrep writes for the ear as well as the eye, embracing musicality more freely than many current poets," and that the influencers of this poem, Lisa Robertson, Carla Harryman, and Alice Noley, are of the same vein, though not in the same manner. "In Waldrep’s poem, although references to gender, capitalism, and race are frequent (likewise for history, faith, and the Trillingesque "moral imagination"), questions outnumber answers.”On the complexity of Waldrep’s style and scope, the review says: "The scope of...

Publishers Weekly has included Aracelis Girmay’s The Black Maria on its list of "The Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2016"! Out from BOA in April, Girmay's newest collection was one of only four poetry titles selected for the list."Culled from the 14,000+ titles in PW's Spring Announcements issue, we asked our reviews editors to pick the most notable books publishing in Spring 2016," says PW.Taking its name from the moon’s dark plains, misidentified as seas by early astronomers, The Black Maria investigates African diasporic histories, the consequences of racism within American culture, and the question of human identity. Central to...

Nguyen Phan Que Mai’s The Secret of Hoa Sen was recently praised as "powerful" by David Willson of the Vietnam Veterans of America.The review notes Que Mai’s ability to express unimaginable pain in such beauty: "'Quang Tri' is another powerful one, a poem of loss and death. It should be read by those who are ignorant of the human cost of the war for the Vietnamese. 'Babylift' also brings home, in a hard-hitting but poetic way, how good intentions often sow tragic consequences."Willson discusses the effect that Que Mai’s book can have on readers who themselves served during the Vietnam...