BOA Blog

photo courtesy of poesiefestival.org In perhaps one of the coolest interviews we at BOA have heard in a long time, host and notable poet Ilya Kaminsky discusses with Nikola Madzirov, award-winning Macedonian poet and author of BOA book Remnants of Another Age, "the poetics of war and its aftermath, and the nature of memory and rediscovering." The extensive audio recording of the interview is truly a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse into linguistic, cultural, and historical concepts currently ongoing in the studies of so many scholars, all from the fascinating lived experiences and memories of Madzirov. Madzirov has been called "one of the...

BOA writer Ira Sadoff is once again in the Publishers Weekly spotlight, for his new (eighth) collection, True Faith. PW praises Sadoff's acute self-awareness and observations of others, as he inspects the "world's imperfections until he reaches something spiritual.. ." Sadoff's connection to the core essence of humanity -- the wordless, "unsayable" parts-- is what pushes his readers to what PW calls "a white-hot place" where Sadoff explores "“our fevers, those hungers/ that have no words around them, no illustrations." His poems display an undeniable paradox between the frustration of longing for an explained identity, and the pleasure of utter...

The Boston Review recently took notice of BOA book Your Father on the Train of Ghosts by G.C. Waldrep and John Gallaher. The book was also just named a finalist for the 2012 Ohioana Book Award for poetry. The review is especially drawn to the book's intriguing use of the second person perspective, and speculates on whom exactly the "you" is addressing: the poem's speaker, the population at large, or "someone on the other end of the line"? It calls the poetry "an example of contemporary work that struggles to express the exhaustion of excess," but its ability to do...

Naomi Shihab Nye, called "one of the most spirited voices in American poetry" by The Philadelphia Inquirer, is consistently in the headlines for her newest collection of poetry, Transfer. While she has been best known for her poetry collections Fuel, You and Yours,  and an extensive list of other writings, The Philadelphia Inquirer calls Transfer (published by BOA in 2011) "her most powerful to date." Reviewer Thomas Devaney calls the collection an ongoing elegy, which draws on her Palestinian-American heritage to "[chart] three central journeys: the journey of her father’s life in exile in America, the journey of his death,...

According to Hayden's Ferry Review, The Innocent Party by Aimee Parkison is irresistible. Her writing is of unique experience that transcends the categorization of imaginative realism, while still doing it a lot of justice. The plot of her short story "Locked Doors" is as captivating as they come: the story is from a man's point of view, whose sister shatters emotionally into three personalities. The review comments on Parkison's characters, unforgettable and walking the line between reality and unreality through familiar and comforting narrative. Another story from The Innocent Party in the review's spotlight is " Murder on the Pasture." The...