BOA Blog

Your Father on the Train of Ghosts was recently reviewed by Joshua Diamond of the Sycamore Review.  Diamond says that John Gallaher and G.C. Waldrep are ahead of the curve in a year of American poetry he names, "The Year of the Ghost."  He comments on the collection's ability to "navigate" readers to a familiar place by referencing automated towns, parental figures, and even a Spencer Tracy film. Calling Your Father on the Train of Ghosts "not a typical collaboration," Diamond writes, "It is also not a G.C. Waldrep or a John Gallaher book; rather a hybrid speaker emerges wearing Waldrep's hat and Gallaher's sneakers." Read...

Cutbank Literary Magazine recently reviewed Deborah Brown's Poulin Prize winning book Walking the Dog's Shadow.  Reviewer Mike Walker praises the strength of Brown's poems stating, "They stand up - they have a feeling of age and gravity to them, of footing secure and robust."  He writes that her work, centered around truth, is both intimate and powerful.  Recalling memories of old high school english teachers who taught that poetry opens doors to new worlds, Walker says, "Deborah Brown makes good on that promise.  She really does open those doors, the doors to the life of a middle-aged woman who connects with family near and far through her words, the doors...

Wyn Cooper's Chaos is the New Calm and Keetje Kuipers' Beautiful in the Mouth were recently reviewed in the Midtown Review.  These reviews compare poetry to tweets, albeit the "much more complex, resonant, and luxuriant to the ear" version of tweets or status updates, in an attempt to encourage readers to turn to p0etry in the age of shortened attention spans. The review of Cooper's poems highlights the sonic quality of his book, which "resounds deliciously" and "lingers on the tongue."  These poems are recommended as a "fine choice to begin your foray into the pleasures of poetry" that you...

[caption id="attachment_1038" align="alignnone" width="241" caption="Barbara Jane Reyes. BOA Poet. Photo by Peter Dressel."][/caption] Commonwealth Club recently announced the finalists to their California Book Awards. Included among the finalists is Barbara Jane Reyes’s Diwata. The award goes to work of exceptional literary merit by California writers and publishers. The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum, bringing together its more than 18,000 members for over 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Founded in 1903, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers,...

[caption id="attachment_1017" align="aligncenter" width="196" caption="This New & Poisonous Air. Stories by Adam McOmber."][/caption] A Cappella Zoo recently published one of the first reviews of BOA author Adam McOmber's new collection of short stories, This New and Poisonous Air. Among other high praise, reviewer Colin Meldrum likens McOmber's writing to Edgar Allen Poe, Angela Carter, and Phillip Pullman. Using magic realism, historical setting, and narrative, Meldrum confirms that McOmber's "realism is in the believable, familiar settings and characters; their magic is in the subtle presence of other realms, piquing an eerie sixth sense in the reader." He recommends it to lovers of...