New England Review

April 2021

New Books by NER Authors

It’s been a busy publication month for NER authors! Emily Pittinos, published in NER 40.1, released her debut book of poems, The Last Unkillable Thing (University of Iowa Press), a compilation of tender reflections both elegiac and ecological rooted in the domestic and natural worlds.

Essayist, poet, and pie lady Kate Lebo recently published The Book of Difficult Fruit (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), a collection of twenty-six lyrical essays (with recipes) centered on fruit, giving “insights into relationships, self-care, land stewardship, medical and botanical history, and so much more.” Her essays have appeared in NER 35.2 and 36.4.

Jehanne Dubrow’s Wild Kingdom (LSU Press) is a book of poetry that explores the landscape of academia and holds a mirror to its inhabitants, asking within its pages “how scholars and educators can work to ensure that institutions of higher learning continue to nurture students and remain places of rigorous critical thinking.” Dubrow has been published frequently in NER, most recently with the poem “What Do You Give the War That Has Everything” in NER 41.2.

In his seventh volume of poetry, Selected Poems 1983-2020 (House of Anansi Press), Steven Heighton brings together previously unpublished works as well as key poems from past acclaimed collections to create a volume that showcases what critics have called “a defining lyric poet of his generation.” Heighton’s past work has been featured in NER 35.1 and 38.3.

Dan O’Brien, acclaimed poet, playwright, and former Guggenheim Fellow in Drama, published A Story That Happens (CB Editions), a series of four essays that “offer hard-won insights into what stories are for and the reasons why, ‘afraid and hopeful’, we begin to tell them.” O’Brien’s performance piece, “The House in Scarsdale: A Memoir for the Stage” was featured in NER 38.3 and his memoir, “Dear Brother,” appeared in NER 40.2.

Finally, Rona Jaffe Foundation award winner and NER’s new staff reader in poetry, Tiana Nobile, released her debut poetry collection Cleave (Hub City Press). In its conversations, the book “grapples with the history of transnational adoption, both her own from South Korea and the broader, collective experience” while exploring the nature of familial relationships and love.

You can shop these April titles and more on the New England Review’s Author Books Spring 2021 Bookshop page.

Four Recent Poetry Collections

New Books by NER Authors

Spring continues to be a busy season for NER authors — particularly our poets! Kerrin McCadden released American Wake (Black Sparrow Press), a book of poetry that explores the author’s Irish identity as well as “family, death and grief, apologies, and all manner of departures.” McCadden’s poem, “The Magpie: A Key” was published in NER 40.3.

Diane Seuss, Pulitzer Prize finalist in poetry for her book Four-Legged Girl, recently published frank: sonnets (Graywolf Press). This candid collection of sonnets chronicles “a life at risk of spilling over the edge of the page, from Seuss’s working-class childhood in rural Michigan to the dangerous allures of New York City and back again.” Seuss’s poem “Memento Mori” was featured in NER 36.4.

Fady Joudah’s latest release, Tethered to Stars: Poems (Milkweed Editions), “inhabits the deductive tongue of astronomy, the oracular throat of astrology, and the living language of loss and desire.” Joudah’s poetry has appeared in NER 38.4.

Cortney Lamar Charleston, published in NER 37.2, released his much anticipated second volume of poetry, Doppelgangbanger (Haymarket Books). The collection “examines the performance of Black masculinity in the U.S., and its relationship to family, love and community.”

You can shop these titles and more on the New England Review’s Author Books Spring 2021 Bookshop page.

March 2021

New Books by NER Authors

Our prolific New England Review writers continue to amaze us with their March book publications.

Jessie Van Eerden, Winner of the 2019 Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction, recently published Call It Horses (Dzanc Books). According to John Englehardt, “…this novel shows us what we gain when we become outlaws in our own lives.” Jessie Van Erden shared a new look at the story of Mary and Maria in NER 40.3, and you can hear her speak more about it on episode 13 of our podcast.

Novelist and short story writer, Brock Clarke released I, Grape; or the Case for Fiction (Acre Books) where he approaches the art of fiction from different angles. Clarke has published frequently in NER, most recently with the story “Transported” in NER 35.3.

Kim Addonizio’s eighth volume of poetry, Now We’re Getting Somewhere (Norton), “…is an essential companion to your practice of the Finnish art of kalsarikännit—drinking at home, alone in your underwear, with no intention of going out.” Addonizio’s poem, “Thousands of Times Throughout the Day” was featured in NER 36.3.

Yusef Komunyakaa’s Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) is a compilation of poems from the past twenty years of his work along with new poems. A New York Times Book Review critic wrote, “He refuses to be trivial; and he even dares beauty.” Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and was published in NER 16.1!

You can shop these March titles and more on the New England Review’s Author Books Spring 2021 Bookshop page.

March 2021

New Books by NER Authors

NER authors have had a great publication month this March! Ryan Dennis, published in NER 41.4, released his first novel, The Beasts They Turned Away (Epoque Press), a literary Gothic that “confronts an apprehensive rural community caught up in the uncertainties of a rapidly changing world.”

Another author debuting in March is Cheswayo Mphanza. His poem, “Lester Leaps In,” has been featured in NER 38.2. Awarded the 2020 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, The Rinehart Frames (University of Nebraska Press) is a collection of poems that “questions the boundaries of diaspora and narrative through a tethering of voices and forms that infringe on monolithic categorizations of Blackness and what can be intersected with it.”

To cap off the list of dazzling debuts, Emma Duffy-Comparone’s short story collection Love Like That (Henry Holt & Company) has been named “Best New Book of 2021” by Vogue and Refinery29 and “Most Anticipated Book of 2021” by Lit Hub. Her works have been published in NER 36.4 and 40.3.

Finally, Kazim Ali published Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water (Milkweed Editions), a book of nonfiction that “explores questions of land and power” in dialogue with the local Pimicikamak community living near his childhood home of Jenpeg, Manitoba. The book has been featured in Ecotone as “Most Anticipated Indie Press Pick of 2021” and in the Minneapolis Star Tribune as “Book to Look Forward to in 2021.” Ali has been published in numerous NER issues such as 36.2, 38.1, and 41.1.

You can shop these March titles and more on the New England Review’s Author Books Spring 2021 Bookshop page.

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