BOA Blog

The Oasis of Now, Sohrab Sepehri's first publication in the United States, is praised by World Literature Today and Three Percent review for its ability to marry "our everyday senses and that of nature flawlessly." According to Word Literature Today's Nota Bene review: "Sepehri combines his rich knowledge of Buddhism, Sufi mysticism, and western traditions in the rapturous collection." Because of this integration of several belief systems, Sepehri is seen as an emblem of justice and peace in Iranian culture. His poetry often appeared on signs, banners, and clothing during the 2009 Iranian election protests. One of the five most...

With the 14th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize just around the corner, we are thrilled to announce that National Book Award-winning poet Mary Szybist will judge this year’s contest. Mary Szybist is most recently the author of Incarnadine, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Poetry. Her first collection of poetry, Granted, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the winner of the 2004 Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the Witter Bynner Foundation, and...

Publishers Weekly is calling The World Shared "urbane, articulate, unpredictable free verse." According to the recent review, this first American book from the "prolific and celebrated Polish poet and critic not only survives translation" but "positively flourishes in the American English that the facing-page edition provides." The World Shared carries poems by Dariusz Sosnicki, translated from the Polish by Piotr Florczyk and Boris Dralyuk. The review notes Dariusz Sosnicki's superb observation skills, "voicing the everyday absurd," and calls the poet "minatory, or mock-vatic, almost advising the impossible." His poetry is cross-cultural: "a few poems depict the American plains or address...

In a recent Publishers Weekly review that accentuates the eclecticism of his "long Technicolor lines and staunch prose blocks," Sean Thomas Dougherty is called "a blue-collar, Rust Belt romantic to his generous, enthusiastic core," and a writer who "wears his heart on both sleeves." In his new collection, All You Ask for Is Longing: New and Selected Poems, the portraits these poems paint "coalesce into a gloriously troubled American of black and white, Puerto Rican and Korean ... And for all their street energy they are determinedly literary as well: name checking Lorca, Neruda and Bjork, as well as Martin...

Author Aurelie Sheehan blurs the lines separating fiction, memoir, and poetry in her latest collection of short stories, according to a recent New Letters review. Jewelry Box: A Collection of Histories focuses on "moments, on shards, on objects--like the jewelry box of the title story," says reviewer Jacqueline Kolosov. Sheehan finds a playfulness in the voice of each story, which often complicates the boundary between narrator and author. "'Story,' one of the most self-referential pieces, opens yet another window onto Sheehan's aesthetic: 'Some days it seems I have a lot to say, that life holds important and beautiful stories,' she...