BOA Blog

While everyone laments the decline of print review outlets (us included... especially newspapers!) Gently Read Literature has stepped up to the plate and delivered a monthly feast of in-depth reviews of poetry and fiction. I emphasize "in-depth" because these are no one paragraph blurb reviews. GRL consistently delivers thoughtful analysis and reviews carrying the weight their subjects (the books) demand. In their current issue, poet and critic Kurt Brown reviews Dark Things (BOA, 2009) poems by Novica Tadic, translated from the Serbian with an Introduction by Charles Simic.    Here's a little taste of how Brown views Tadic's poetry: "Tadic’s poems arise from a child-like pleasure in the grotesque,...

[caption id="attachment_998" align="aligncenter" width="157" caption="BOA poet Ales Steger. Photo by Joze Suhadolnik."][/caption] Guernica's poetry editor Erica Wright reviews The Book of Things and reveals that she's been "impatiently waiting for this collection" since January of last year!  Here's an excerpt from the review: "Henry has brought these poems to life for those of us not lucky enough to read Slovenian. Some of Henry’s translations are impressive for sheer acrobatics. “Mint” begins with the line “Mintafiction, minthane, mintabolism,” and the work of the translator can be both seen and appreciated. The translation continues with “There the smell of mint grows out of...

Eight new poetry reviews appear in this week's Publishers Weekly including one for BOA's newest Lannan Translations Series selection: The Book of Things poems by Ales Steger, translated from the Slovenian by Brian Henry. "The prolific poet Henry renders Steger's long lines in an unfailingly fluent American English.Steger's efforts sometimes bring to mind such Western European figures as Francis Ponge and Craig Raine, who also sought to make household things look new and strange. Yet Steger brings a melancholy Central European sense of history--his objects tend to remember, or cause, great pain." Read the complete review here [PW on The Book of...

Wyn Cooper recently published his fourth book of poetry, Chaos Is the New Calm.  In the past, Cooper's work has been greeted with warm admiration; in addition to his previous books, The Country of Here Below, The Way Back, and Postcards from the Interior, his poems, stories, essays, and reviews appearing in Poetry, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, Crazyhorse, Slate, and more than 75 other magazines.  This newest addition seems no exception, gaining high praise from Timothy Mayo in Verse Wisconsin.  “One can read the poems in Wyn Cooper’s new book Chaos is the New Calm as declarations of independence from an...

Powell's Books is widely regarded as one of the best independent bookstores in the country. Located in Portland, Oregon the flagship store, " fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books." If you love books like we love books, that's enough to make you start shopping around for flights to Portland! Their commitment to books extends to their website which includes a blog that features a review-a-day. Not only do these reviews highlight worthy new titles, but they also shine light on some wonderful literary journals and review outlets that may fly under...