Archive for the ‘BOA News’ Category

Craig Morgan Teicher. BOA Author.

HTML Giant has turned their “Author Spotlight” on BOA author Craig Morgan Teicher. In the interview, Craig discusses his fable collection, Cradle Book, and says things like, “Sleep and fear have always been closely related to me. What is scarier than sleeping? Who knows what somebody will do to you while you’re sleeping? Or what you will do to yourself while dreaming. Oh—sleep is the scariest thing in the world. It’s like we die every day. To me, silence, fear and sleep are pretty much the same thing.”

If you think this is a particularly insightful interview, then have we got a book – two books, actually – for you.

Craig’s new poetry collection, To Keep Love Blurry, will be published by BOA in Sept. 2012. Here’s what D.A. Powell says about the collection:

“The closing couplet of a sonnet or a Shakespearean scene signals a swift turn and the lingering note of finality that will continue to resonate so dramatically that it literally gives us pause. Teicher takes this familiar pattern as a starting point and varies his reinvention of it so thoroughly as to sound the heavens with its infinite measures. Herein, a long period of grief for which there is no comfort in form. A salacious glance at bodies reined in by exacting rhymes. A liberating push-back against the idea of economy. More play, more improvisation, and more defiantly deadpan humor–this is the vital shot-in-the-arm American poetry needs. And who would have thought it would arrive in such a disarmingly honest voice? The brilliance of these poems is how they renovate not only poetry but language, without pretense, without the declaration of war, without summoning the ghost of Shakespeare in any but the most charming ways. I could live in the mind of these poems and never want to leave. The nice thing is, as a guest at Teicher’s party in poetry’s honor: I get to dally among the roses.”

But that’s not all! Fall 2012 will also see the BOA publication of a collection of interviews with poets by Tony Leuzzi. Passwords Primeval: 20 American Poets in their Own Words features the best of 5 years of in-depth interviews that Leuzzi has conducted with some of America’s most compelling, provocative, and accomplished poets. What names? How about  Billy Collins, Gerald Stern, Jane Hirshfield, Patricia Smith, and Martín Espada, for starters? The book crosses all poetry schools to bring you dispatches from the front lines of American poetry in the words of the poets themselves.

For those keeping tabs, BOA’s fall 2012 line-up looks like this:

The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton, edited by Kevin Young & Michael S. Glaser, Foreword by Toni Morrison, Afterword by Kevin Young (published Sept 2012)

To Keep Love Blurry poems by Craig Morgan Teicher (published Sept 2012)

Theophobia poems by Bruce Beasley (published Oct 2012)

Passwords Primeval: 20 American Poets in their Own Words interviews by Tony Leuzzi (published Nov 2012)

Diadem: Selected Poems of Marosa di Giorgio translated by Adam Giannelli (published Nov 2012)

So save your pennies, poetry lovers… there’s never too much BOA and you’re gonna want all of these in your collection!

BOA author and NBCC finalist Aracelis Girmay

“There is a saying in Spanish, “Cada cabeza es un mundo,” which translates “every mind is a universe unto itself.” And Girmay’s world, universe, opens new ways of seeing the simplest things and giving them voice. Everything contains some clue of another self, body or kindred spirit. Like an archeologist, she digs deeply finding herself in every living thing, even in the inanimate. Her magic is poetry at its best.”

So concludes Gregg Barrio’s article on National Book Critics Circle finalist and Isabella Gardner Award-winning poet Aracelis Girmay’s Kingdom Animalia. The article is featured among the “Best Poetry Books of the Year” feature on Oprah.com:

Read the whole article here: [Best Poetry Books of the Year]

If for some reason you love poetry, but still haven’t read Kingdom Animalia… it’s time to rectify that situation!

Buy Kingdom Animalia at the BOA bookstore now and you’ll get 10% off the cover price while supporting independent publishing (FYI it’s much better for BOA if you buy the book directly from us than from other online stores)

[Purchase Kingdom Animalia]

Congratulations to Aracelis on her continued recognition!

The Texas Institute of Letters has named the finalists for their annual awards. We’re pleased to say that Transfer by Naomi Shihab Nye is a finalist for the Helen C. Smith Memorial Award for Poetry!

Dallas News Reports: “The Texas Institute of Letters has been promoting the state’s best writers since 1936… The competition is limited to authors who have lived in the state for at least two years or have entries pertaining to Texas subjects. Not surprisingly. some of the best-known writers in the state — such as Stephen Harrigan, C.W. Smith and Naomi Shihab Nye – are among the nominees.”

The awards will be given in San Antonio on April 14.

Here’s more information about the awards and the other finalists: Dallas News on the Texas Institute of Letters

Good luck, Naomi!

BOA poet Naomi Shihab Nye

As hardcore book fans know, the winners of the National Book Critics Circle Award will be announced tonight. No matter the results, we are so proud that Aracelis Girmay’s astounding new collection Kingdom Animalia is among the finalists. The book was published in fall 2011 as winner of BOA’s biennial Isabella Gardner Award and was immediately honored as a Rumpus Poetry Book Club selection. In the few months since publication, Kingdom Animalia has garnered rave reviews and many, many fans. We count ourselves among those fans.

On behalf of everyone at BOA, we wish Aracelis Girmay good luck tonight and we are proud to the skies to have published Kingdom Animalia.

“In Girmay’s universe, all of life and nature talks and sings. The living and the dead and the resurrected morph, shape-shift, mate, and take on new skins.” NBCC board member, Gregg Barrios, emphasizes the wonders contained in Girmay’s collection in a review of Kingdom Animalia. Read the review here.

BOA poet and NBCC finalist Aracelis Girmay

For the past year, BOA has been waging a guerilla poetry campaign around our home city of Rochester, NY. We’ve “popped up” at art galleries, the public market, inside stores and on the street. The idea is simple – go where people are congregating, stand up and proudly read a BOA poem. The campaign continued last weekend with BOA board member Jonathan Everitt and BOA marketing/production manager Al Abonado reading poems from Selected Poems by BOA founder Al Poulin at the opening of an exhibit of Robert Marx paintings at Rochester Contemporary Art Center.

Don’t adjust your computer (or your eyes), these photos were snapped on the fly with a camera phone, so they’re low quality and blurry. That said, hopefully they’ll give you a taste of what a “pop up” looks like. There were a few photographers snapping photos during the event (there’s one right behind Al!), so with any luck one of them has a better shot we can post eventually.

Jonathan Everitt "Pops Up" at ROCO

Al Abonado "Pops Up" at ROCO

Jillian Weise Wins the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award

Rochester, NY—Jillian Weise has been awarded the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award for her new collection, The Book of Goodbyes. Her book will be published by BOA Editions in fall 2013. This award is given biennially to a poet with a new book of exceptional merit. Manuscripts are solicited and there is no formal submission process for this award.

Poet, actress, and associate editor of Poetry magazine, Isabella Gardner (1915-1981) published five celebrated collections of poetry and was the first recipient of the New York State Walt Whitman Citation of Merit for Poetry. She championed the work of young and gifted poets, helping many of them find publication. This award carries an honorarium of $1000 and is sponsored by the Gardner Charitable Trust. Poets Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Michael Blumenthal (both former recipients of the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award) assisted in judging the award with the final selection being made by BOA Publisher Peter Conners.

Jillian Weise is the author of The Amputee’s Guide to Sex (Soft Skull Press, 2007) and The Colony (Counterpoint/Soft Skull Press, 2010). Her poem “Incision” was selected for Poetry Everywhere, the short film series produced by PBS and the Poetry Foundation. Her work has appeared in A Public Space, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Tin House and the anthology Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability. She studied at Florida State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Cincinnati. She traveled to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina on a Fulbright Fellowship, and spent two years as a fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She teaches at Clemson and co-directs the Annual Clemson Literary Festival.

BOA Editions, Ltd., the Rochester-based Pulitzer-Prize- and National-Book-Award-winning publishing house, received a 2001 New York State Governor’s Arts Award for overall artistic excellence. Now in its 35th year, BOA has published more than 200 books of American poetry, poetry in translation, fiction, and other literature.

BOA authors [from left]: Christopher Kennedy, Michael Waters, and Keetje Kuipers,  who will peform readings at the convention.

 Readers, writers, and other literary enthusiasts, take note: The NeMLA 43^rd Annual Convention is set to take place March 15-18 in Rochester, NY, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Riverside Convention Center, downtown.

The convention is truly a literary nirvana: from poetry, play, and fiction readings, to panels, roundtables, workshops, and more – all centering on the theme of “Creative Writing and Editing” – attendees will have much to explore, learn, and treasure through the experience.

BOA Editions will play a large part in convention, occupying a significant portion of the weekend’s Schedule of Events.

A panel workshop entitled “World of the Small Press,” designed and organized by BOA Editor Peter Conners, will be held from 11:30am – 2pm Thursday, March 15. The panel will feature Conners, as well as Chad Post of Open Letter Books, and Ted Pelton of Starcherone Books, as they clue listeners into the daily life and functioning – closely-held secrets, if you will – of small presses. This is a great opportunity for listeners to learn how to start and sustain small presses, to identify ways to develop and strengthen ties with area institutions, and to better understand the interests and purposes of small presses – which could increase chances of getting published or becoming an editor. This panel is designed to meet you where your particular interests are at, so that you will leave with a concrete plan for the next steps toward your literary future. A light lunch will also be provided – an added plus!

Thursday’s convention schedule will  also feature a “Welcome Reading and Reception”  at 7pm, with a reading by special guest Cornelius Eady, contest judge for BOA’s A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize.

In addition to the large aggregation of events for the weekend – surely to keep you busy – BOA Editions will be specially showcased on Friday afternoon, March 16, from 4:45 – 6:15pm. Readings by BOA authors Christopher Kennedy, Michael Waters, and Keetje Kuipers, will highlight the exhibition.

The Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) is a scholarly organization interested in encouraging and continuing scholarly discourse among professionals of modern languages through its annual convention.

Take advantage of this opportunity to expand your understanding of small presses like BOA, to appreciate some of the quality literature of today, and to move forward in your literary endeavors.

Click here for registration information.

Click here for the convention’s Schedule of Events.

Watch Weekly Poem: From ‘Movements Forward, Movements Away’ on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

PBS NewsHour is featuring Peter Conners, publisher at BOA Editions, as their Poet of the Week due to his imaginative prose in “Movements Forward, Movements Away.” The poem captures the reader from the beginning till end. Watch the video above to hear Peter’s reading or click here to visit PBS to read the excerpt as well.

GO PETER!!!!!

The staff of BOA Editions is gearing up for a nice holiday break. From the top to the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for supporting BOA Editions in 2011. We look forward to a 2012 full of more great books and good times. Onward into the New Year! 

Happy Holidays from BOA Editions!

The Jan/Feb issue of Poets & Writers is themed as “The New Year’s Guide to an Inspired Writing Life.” As most writers will tell you, inspiration is a mirage floating in the distance reachable only by years of hard work. However, what artist can deny that there are the occasional “flashes” that may well be described as inspiration?

Whatever your view of “inspiration” we’re pleased to have Janice N. Harrington and Deborah Brown spotlighted in the issue. Both are past winners of BOA’s A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize contest with their books Walking the Dog’s Shadow (Deborah Brown) and Even the Hollow My Body Made Is Gone (Janice N. Harrington). Harrington’s book also went on to win the prestigious Kate Tufts Discovery Award. This year, we published her second full-length collection, The Hands of Strangers: Poems from the Nursing Home. 

Janice N. Harrington

The Hands of Strangers portrays the tensions and moments of grace between aged nursing home residents and their healthcare workers.  The poems show aides as anonymous figures laboring under routines, time clocks, and a distant medical hierarchy.  They tell also tell the stories of how the nursing home industry reshapes lives, bodies, and identities of both aides and the aged. Harrington – who worked in nursing homes during college - explained the ”inspiration” for the book: “Like many of the ‘girls’ I worked with, I was young and inexperienced in a workplace that demanded empathy, skill, and compassion for the needs and stories of the elderly. I worked my way through college as a nurses’ aide.  I wrote The Hands of Strangers because I cannot forget the ‘girls’ I worked with or the ‘residents’ under my care.  I haven’t forgotten what I saw, heard, felt, or learned. Human stories hide behind the walls, the national statistics, and the isolations of institutionalized aging.  I wanted to share some of those stories.”

In Poets & Writers online feature on inspiration she begins, “Inspiration? A sleepless night helps, when my mind has nothing to do but wander. I’m also inspired by…” 

Read the rest of Janice’s inspirations here [Janice N. Harrington on Inspiration] 

Deborah Brown

Deborah Brown is profiled in the Inspiration issue’s feature “Our Seventh Annual Look at Debut Poets” in celebration of her debut collection, Walking the Dog’s Shadow. The book was selected by Tony Hoagland as winner of BOA’s 2010 Poulin Prize. Hoagland also wrote a Foreword for the collection.

In the Poets & Writers feature Brown describes how her book began to take shape. “The book evolved over years. It’s at least my third complete manuscript, and it doesn’t resemble the first or even the second very much at all. Writing the book was a matter of working on individual poems and, as my writing developed, seeing how they fit together.”

The feature goes on to talk about the writers who inspire her, the amount of time it took to write the book (”Twenty years, give or take, depending on which manuscript you count”) and other interesting tidbits about the debut author who gives her age as, “I am a member of the AARP.”

Congratulations to Deborah Brown and Janice N. Harrington for being poets who “inspire” us all!