BOA Blog

With the 17th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize just around the corner, we are thrilled to announce that renowned poet D. A. Powell will judge this year’s contest. BOA will accept first-book poetry manuscripts for the prize from August 1 - November 30, 2017.D. A. Powell is the author of five collections, including Useless Landscape, Or A Guide for Boys, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. Powell’s most recent book is Repast: Tea, Lunch, and Cocktails, a reissue of his first three collections with an introduction by novelist David Leavitt.Writing for the New York Times,...

Zach Powers's BOA Short Fiction Prize-winning collection Gravity Changes has been in the media spotlight recently, with new reviews and features from Whurk Magazine, Connect Savannah, Do Savannah, and BookRiot.In an interview with Zach Powers for Whurk Magazine, reviewer Kaylah Rodriguez says, "From the turn of the first page, there is a shift—an exquisite moment of crossing over—into a place where time and space are unrecognizable, but, for better or worse, the human condition remains. Aptly named, Gravity Changes is a stunning, whimsical collection of words that will haunt you in the best way."Anna Chandler of Connect Savannah says, "Published by BOA...

Rave new reviews have surfaced for Chen Chen's A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize-winning collection When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, including a starred review from Library Journal and another from Harvard Review.Making Library Journal's list of "Exciting Poetry for Spring: 13 Highly Recommended Titles That Will Shock You Awake," the collection is called "visually vivid, erotic and intimate, at times bitingly funny, and refreshingly world-observant."According to reviewer Barbara Hoffert, "Chen’s poems are steeped in the pain of being other as both Asian American and gay. He’s excellent at relating the confusion of childhood, recalling 'Mom &...

In yet another glowing review of Chen Chen's When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, this time from Tupelo Quarterly, reviewer Victoria Chang calls the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize-winning collection "a book that is miraculous in all its pain, trauma, and humor."She continues, "At its core, Chen’s book tackles several themes such as migration, coming of age as a gay man, Asian American experience and identity, family love and disappointment, love and unrequited love, and more. But how originally and deftly Chen writes from these experiences is what ultimately makes his book so...

Jawdat Fakhreddine's Lighthouse for the Drowning is on Frontier Poetry's list of "Summer Reading 2017." Translated from the Arabic by Huda Fakhreddine and Jayson Iwen, Lighthouse is the first US publication of Fakhreddine—one of the major Lebanese names in modern Arabic poetry.Chen Chen's A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize-winning collection When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities also got a mention. According to reviewer Josh Roark, "2017 has been a good year for poetry so far—looking at you Morgan Parker, Chen Chen, Safia Elhillo, and more—and this summer is contending to be one of the best in...