Here at BOA Editions we are celebrating another successful year of poetry and short fiction! As 2022 comes to an end, we’ve stopped to reflect on all the note-worthy titles released. Here are the top eleven books we think have been the best this year—though we might be a bit biased…
Read on and don’t forget to browse these titles in the BOA Bookstore!
Useful Junk by Erika Meitner (April 5th, 2022)
In Orion Magazine, Marcela Sulak listed Useful Junk as one of the “28 Recommended Collections for National Poetry Month.” Sulak says, “Here, as in her previous books, I’m most amazed at how Meitner positions her mind/body in conversation with the architects of contemporary American public spaces, of contemporary thought, the poetry, art, pop music, and product advertisements—all that create what we think of as the integrated self. ”
Other coverage on Useful Junk: LitHub | Poetry Foundation | Electric Lit
Two Brown Dots by Danni Quintos (April 12th, 2022)
Cu Fleshman of Character Media included Danni Quintos's Two Brown Dots in a list of “16 API Poetry Collections to Snap For” published in 2022! In the article, it states how “Danni Quintos’ poems in ‘Two Brown Dots’ celebrate girlhood, womanhood and everything in between.”
Other coverage on Two Brown Dots: Publishers Weekly | Southern Review of Books | Cincinnati Review
Casual Conversation by Renia White (April 19th, 2022)
Casual Conversation was listed as one of the Fall 2022 Picks for Adults by the New York Public Library! Leanna Frankland mentions how “White's impressive debut collection takes readers through and beyond the concepts of conversation and the casual - both what we say to each other and what we don't, examining the possibilities around how we construct and communicate identity.”
Other coverage on Casual Conversation: Huson Review | Book Riot | Gasher Journal
Field Notes from the Flood Zone by Heather Sellers (April 26th, 2022)
The California Review of Books listed Field Notes from the Flood Zone as one of the Ten Best Books of 2022! CRB's David Starkey remarks, “I wish I could quote every line of Heather Seller’s brilliantly bleak yet bravely sardonic book of prose poems about impending climate catastrophe in South Florida."
Other coverage on Field Notes from the Flood Zone: Colorado Review | Independent Book Review | Rob Mclennan’s Blog
A Season in Hell with Rimbaud by Dustin Pearson (May 10th, 2022)
Reported in Tulsa People, A Season in Hell with Rimbaud was Oklahoma’s #1 bestseller in Fiction in May 2022!
Other coverage on A Season in Hell with Rimbaud: Poetry Daily | Southern Review of Books | The Poetry Show
Are We Ever Our Own by Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes (May 24th, 2022)
Are We Ever Our Own is part of the Washington Post’s list of “10 award-winning short story collections worth reading,” calling it “Rich with dreams and ghosts.”
Other coverage on Are We Ever Our Own: Publishers Weekly | Library Journal | Ms. Magazine
Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced An Emergency by Chen Chen (September 13th, 2022)
Electric Lit named Chen Chen’s second book, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced An Emergency, as one of the top 3 poetry collections of the year, noting that “Chen Chen’s much-lauded second collection is precise and timely, exploring what family means as a queer Asian American living through a pandemic, a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, and the legacy of Donald Trump through the inventive figure of a switchboard operator, picking up calls.”
Other coverage on Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced An Emergency: Book Riot | Boston Globe | The Guardian
A Shiver in the Leaves by Luther Hughes (September 27th, 2022)
A Shiver in the Leaves is named by the New Yorker as one of the best books of 2022, calling the collection “rapturous.”
Other coverage on A Shiver in the Leaves: Crosscut | Brooklyn Rail | Seattle Times
A Tinderbox in Three Acts by Cynthia Dewi Oka (October 11th, 2022)
Publishers Weekly calls A Tinderbox in Three Acts “inventive,” and “searing,” stating that “Oka’s powerful collection asks readers to engage with a historical reckoning.”
Other coverage on A Tinderbox in Three Acts: PEN America | Cerdan | Lambda Literary
Little Mr. Prose Poem: Selected Poems of Russell Edson (October 25th, 2022)
Bennington College included Little Mr. Prose Poem: Selected Poems of Russell Edson on their Holiday Gift Guide, calling it “... a curated collection that, ‘calls us to witness Edson’s obsessions with the curious, the absurd, and the peculiar, and the ways in which they can haunt our daily lives.’”
Other coverage on Little Mr. Prose Poem: Selected Poems of Russell Edson: Publishers Weekly | Poetry Daily
The Dug-Up Gun Museum by Matt Donovan (November 8th, 2022)
The Dug-Up Gun Museum made the American Academy in Rome’s list of “20 Best Books to Give This Season!” They mention how Donovan’s book “...confronts our country’s obsession with firearms to explore America’s political polarization and issues linked to violence, race, power, and privilege.”
Other coverage on The Dug-Up Gun Museum: Boston Globe | Seven Days | Mass Review
Written by Alayna M. Delice, Fall 2022 intern at BOA and second year student at Monroe Community College.