We are pleased to announce that Kazim Ali’s Sky Ward is the 2014 Ohioana Book Award winner in Poetry! The Ohioana awards have been presented annually since 1942 to talented Ohioans in recognition of their contributions to the literary and cultural life of the state. The awards are among the oldest and most…
#tbt: James Dickey, “Fox Blood”
by sgerton •
This week’s TBT selection is “Fox Blood,” from James Dickey’s 1965 collection Buckdancer’s Choice (1965), winner of the 1966 National Book Award. . Fox Blood Blood blister over my thumb-moon Rising, under clear still plastic Still rising strongly, on the rise Of unleashed dog-sounds: sound broke, Log opened. Moon rose Clear bright. Dark homeland Peeled backward, scrambling…
#tbt: Agha Shalid Ali, “Prayer Rug”
by sgerton •
This week’s Throwback Thursday selection is “Prayer Rug,” from Agha Shalid Ali’s 1987 collection The Half-Inch Himalayas (also available in a special-edition minibook). . . Prayer Rug Those intervals between the day’s five calls to prayer the women of the house pulling thick threads through vegetables rosaries of ginger of rustling peppers in autumn drying for winter…
A vivid ethnography and in-depth history of musical performance in North Sumatra
by sgerton •
We are pleased to announce a new book by Julia Byl, Antiphonal Histories: Resonant Pasts in the Toba Batak Musical Present. “Well-written, smart, and honest, Antiphonal Histories is an innovative juxtaposition of historiography, ethnography, musical analysis, and reflexive autobiography. There are also moments of poignant insight, brilliant induction, and hilarity.” —Jeremy Wallach, author of Modern Noise,…
Samuel R. Delany’s “American Shore”
by sgerton •
We are pleased to announce the release of a brand-new edition of The American Shore: Meditations on a Tale of Science Fiction by Thomas M. Disch —- “Angouleme,” with an introduction by Matthew Cheney. A keystone text in literary theory and science fiction The American Shore: Meditations on a Tale of Science Fiction by Thomas…
#tbt: Andrea Werblin, “Arguing in Public”
by sgerton •
This week’s Throwback Thursday selection is Andrea Werblin’s “Arguing in Public,” from Lullaby for One Fist (2001). . . . Arguing in Public Any plastic flower’s lame reach to heaven is any Dos Equis’ knowledge of terror, so you go a few rounds of proving emphatically nothing, grow up prickly and worn before you’ve gotten a chance…
Conversations with country music’s legendary producers
by sgerton •
We are pleased to announce a new book by Michael Jarrett, Producing Country: The Inside Story of the Great Recordings. “…you would look long and hard to find a more readable contribution to the cultural studies, or country music, canon.” Tim Holmes, Record Collector magazine Musicians make music. Producers make records. In the early days of recorded music, the producer was…
Telling Janet Collins’ story
by sgerton •
Janet Collins, renowned dancer, painter, and the first African-American soloist ballerina to appear at the Metropolitan Opera, remains largely under-recognized. Actress and mother Karyn Parsons, who played Hilary Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, hopes to remedy this by sharing Collins’ story with those to whom it might be most important—children. Karyn created a Kickstarter…
#tbt: Rachel Zucker, “Letter [Persephone to Hades]”
by sgerton •
This week’s Throwback Thursday selection is Rachel Zucker’s “Letter [Persephone to Hades]” from Eating in the Underworld (2003), a re-imagining of Greek myth. Both spare and lyrical, the poems are written as entries in Persephone’s diary and as letters between Persephone, Demeter, and Hades. Zucker also features in a recent New Yorker article by Dan Chiasson. . . LETTER [PERSEPHONE…
#tbt: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, “Worn Blues Refrain”
by sgerton •
This week’s TBT selection is “Worn Blues Refrain,” from Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ 2003 collection Outlandish Blues. Wesleyan is publishing her book, The Glory Gets, in Spring 2015. . . Worn Blues Refrain My father danced on Saturday mornings, turned his fat professor’s legs the wrong way. No rhythm self, tripping over Mama’s corns, his jitterbug like…
