BOA Blog

A new *starred* review from Publishers Weekly is calling Chen Chen's When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities a "vibrant debut collection."Balancing the "politics surrounding shame and desire with hearty doses of joy, humor, and whimsy," Chen "[makes] sense of his past to imagine a better future in his poems." The review says, "To this end he recounts a personal history in which he playfully addresses deeply serious issues, particularly a longing to defy the fate prescribed to him by family members or others’ cultural ideas of normalcy . . . As a gay, Asian-American poet, Chen casts...

I used to keep a folder of hardcopy rejection letters in my file cabinet. OK, so maybe it was two or three folders. These rejections were from the era when many literary journals still required paper submissions. The folks at the post office on Telfair Square in Savannah knew me well. They didn’t even have to ask if the contents of my envelopes were hazardous. They knew that inside was nothing but a stack of paper and a self-addressed, stamped envelope that I hoped I’d never have to see again.Here’s the thing: at that magical point in literary history, journals...

Join BOA Editions for a night of drinks and discussion with acclaimed author Craig Morgan Teicher, as Read Local celebrates National Poetry Month! Delving boldly into the tangled realms of fatherhood, marriage, and poetry, Teicher’s new book, The Trembling Answers (BOA Editions, 2017), deals with the day-to-day of family life—including the alert anxiety and remarkable beauty of caring for a child with severe cerebral palsy. Called “affecting” by Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, these personal narratives brightly illuminate a life fiercely lived.This event is free and open to all.The Trembling Answers is the current Rochester Read Local book club selection. Copies are available for a discounted price at BOA Editions, Writers & Books, and...

We are pleased to announce that Chen Chen's A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize-winning collection, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, is the April pick for The Rumpus Poetry Book Club!In an essay about why he chose the book, Poetry Editor Brian Spears says, "I am drawn to poetry about the difficulties of family, about the pain of feeling one is a disappointment to their parents, about the sense of separation that can come as a result. Chen Chen’s debut collection is filled with work which explores this universe. This is tricky subject matter to tackle,...

Every working writer will recognize what I’m about to describe: the simultaneous anticipation, excitement, and dread when an unknown area code appears on one’s cell phone screen. Telemarketers looking for money they don’t need? Planned Parenthood looking for money they do need? Wrong number looking for someone named Lester? During that fateful four seconds before the phone switches over to voicemail, the mind reels like the Rolodexes of yesteryear: do I have any long, lost relatives now living in Rochester, New York? Did I enter any book contests out of Rochester, New York? In my case, the answers to these...