New England Review

New Books by NER Authors

May 2023 (Part 2)

An eclectic mix of embodied prose and inventive poetry completes May’s roundup of new books by our contributors. Browse and shop these and other books by NER authors on our Bookshop.org page.

Nicole Cuffy’s gripping debut novel Dances is out now from One World. This work follows a trailblazing Black ballerina who must reconcile the ever-rising stakes of her grueling career with difficult questions of love, loss, and her journey to self-liberation. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called the work “brilliant” and praised Cuffy’s controlled and elegant prose. Cuffy’s short story “A Delivery” was first published in NER 42.3, and was discussed by the author in a “Behind the Byline” interview. 

Timothy Donnelly embraces formal constraint in his striking fourth collection, Chariot (Wave Books). Concerning itself with the work of French symbolist Odilon Redon, Jean Cocteau, and other artists and thinkers, Chariot pursues the future while prying into the past, all with Donnelly’s signature wit and variousness. Two of Donnelly’s poems appeared in issue 40.1—“Poem Written with an Arrowhead in My Mouth,” and “All Through the War,” which was selected for Best American Poetry 2020.

Propeller Publishing has just reissued Mary Rechner’s colorful short story collection, Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women. Described as “cockeyed smart, sharply written, and very funny,” by the Kenyon Review, Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women captures the coming of age of women fighting for self-determination and their own wildness. Rechner’s fiction has appeared in multiple issues of NER, most recently issue 36.3.

From poet and MacArthur “Genius” Campbell McGrath comes Fever of Unknown Origin, published at the start of the month by Knopf. Ambitious and profound, this work plumbs decay and beauty across a myriad of physical and intellectual landscapes. Pulitzer Prize winner Vijay Seshadri described the work as “powerful, supple, [and] beautifully meditated . . . one that provokes endless thought and feeling.” McGrath’s poems have appeared in several issues of NER, most recently issue 41.1.

Dear Chrysanthemums, Fiona Sze-Lorrain’s debut novel in stories, is now available, courtesy of Scribner. Composed of four interconnected stories that follow the lives of Chinese women across history, Dear Chrysanthemums stunned Shawna Yang Ryan, author of Green Island, who wrote of the work, “How can a book be simultaneously so beautiful and so heartbreaking?” Sze-Lorrain’s translation of Greta Knutson’s story “The Black Virgin” appeared in NER 40.3, and was discussed by the author in a “Behind the Byline” interview with editor Carolyn Kuebler.

Find more books by NER authors on our Bookshop.org page.

New Books by NER Authors

May 2023 (Part 1)

Start your summer reading list early with these new titles by NER authors! Part 1 of our May roundup includes innovative and sharp-witted poetry, a debut novel with profound interiority, and a memoir about growing up on a famous Rhode Island farm. Look out for Part 2, and shop these titles and more on our Bookshop.org page.

West: A Translation, Paisley Rekdal’s seventh collection of poetry, was released from Copper Canyon Press at the start of the month. Praised as “heartbreaking and intense, but also full of the pleasures of closely observed detail and imagination given free rein,” West: A Translation traces the completion of the transcontinental railroad and its connection to the Chinese Exclusion Act (Publisher’s Weekly). Former Utah Poet Laureate, Rekdal is a longtime NER contributor whose work most recently appeared in issue 39.4.

From Loom Press comes Carla Panciera’s Barnflower: A Rhode Island Farm Memoir. Author Holly Robinson described this captivating work as a love letter to Panciera’s father, “a man who became so famous among dairy farmers that he was even profiled in Esquire magazine.” A tender and sober portrait of the bond between father and daughter, Barnflower: A Rhode Island Farm Memoir captures “a vanishing part of our history.” Panciera has appeared in multiple issues of NER, most recently issue 36.2.

Graywolf Press published Jennifer Grotz’s highly anticipated poetry collection, Still Falling, in early May. Featuring three poems originally published in NER, Still Falling contends with the various facets of loss, whether it be from death, the end of a relationship, or the closing of a chapter of one’s life. The director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, Grotz’s poetry and translations have been published in multiple issues of New England Review, with her piece “Poem or Story” appearing in issue 42.2. 

Forthcoming NER contributor Karin Lin-Greenberg’s debut novel, You Are Here, is hot off the press from Counterpoint. As a once-bustling mall prepares to shut its doors for the final time, the residents of an upstate New York town must reckon with a shocking act that forces them to reevaluate who they are in this “remarkable study of ordinary people’s extraordinary inner lives” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Lin-Greenberg will make her NER debut in issue 44.2.

Ian Ganassi’s second poetry collection, True for the Moment, was published late last month by David Robert Books. Humorously wounding, inquisitive, and sharp-edged, True for the Moment was called “a book for our times, for the reality show we do not want to be part of & yet cannot avoid” by poet Mark Young. Ganassi’s translation of Book 7 of the Aeneid was published in issue 37.2, and was discussed by the author in a “Behind the Byline” interview with editor Carolyn Kuebler.

Find more books by NER authors on our Bookshop.org page.

New Books by NER Authors

April 2023 (Part 1)

Now that the days are longer, enjoy the extra hours of sunlight with a new book by an NER author! Part 1 of our April roundup includes a memoir about gradual hearing loss, fresh perspectives on the biblical figure of Eve, and much more. Be sure to shop these releases on our Bookshop.org page, and keep an eye out for Part 2.

Matthew Vollmer’s family memoir All of Us Together in the End is out now from Hub City Press. Against the lonely backdrop of the pandemic and his mother’s premature death, Vollmer probes memory and explores the ways in which loved ones maintain contact with us, even when they’re no longer with us. Vollmer’s essay “Keeper of the Flame” was published in NER 33.1 and was selected for Best American Essays 2013.  

From Norton comes Marilyn Hacker’s latest collection of poems, Calligraphies. These poems move between Paris and Beirut, combining Hacker‘s knowledge of French, Arabic, and English. Through this exploration of language, Calligraphies meditates on identity, revolution, and mourning. Hacker has contributed to several issues of NER, most recently as a translator and guest editor of Polyglot and Multinational: Lebanese Writers in Beirut and Beyond in issue 43.2.

NER contributors Nomi Stone and Luke Hankins coedited Between Paradise and Earth: Eve Poems, which was recently published by Orison Books. This anthology brings together recent and contemporary poems about the biblical figure of Eve, offering new perspectives and opportunities for her while refusing traditional narratives. Stone’s poem “Wonder Days” was published in issue 38.4, and a translation by Hankins appeared in NER 31.3.

Hot off the press from Milkweed, John Cotter’s memoir Losing Music is already moving readers. Author Justin Taylor praised the work, saying, “Losing Music is a fascinating, heartbreaking, deeply personal story from one of the most talented essayists around. It’s a book about art and illness, the betrayals of the body, and what is kept and what is lost as time goes by.” NER 42.3 featured four monologues by Cotter, including “Lemon Fresh,” which was performed by the author here.

Out now from Atria is Maggie Smith‘s highly-anticipated memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful. Beginning with the ending of her marriage, this deeply vulnerable work builds on themes of family, labor, and patriarchy. New York Times best-selling author Glennon Doyle writes that Smith “reminds you that you can . . . survive deep loss, sink into life’s deep beauty, and constantly, constantly, make yourself new.” Smith’s poem “The Hum” was published in issue 40.1.

Find more books by NER authors on our Bookshop.org page.

New Books by NER Authors

March 2023 (Part 2)

Say farewell to March with part two of our author book roundup! We’re closing out the month with five new poetry titles, and a collection of climate-oriented speculative fiction. Be sure to shop these and other books by NER authors on our Bookshop.org page.

Tanya, Brenda Shaughnessy’s sixth collection of poetry, is out now from Knopf. Dwelling in the memories of the women who set her on her artistic path, Tanya is intimacy embodied. Shaughnessy is the recipient of a 2018 Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her poem “A Mix Tape: The Hit Singularities” appeared in NER 36.4.

Ina Cariño’s sensorial debut poetry collection, Feast, released earlier this month from Alice James Books. Described as “a whole literary event” by fellow NER author Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Feast won the 2021 Alice James Award and Cariño a 2022 Whiting Award in Poetry. Their poem “Bitter Melon,” which appeared in NER 40.3, was accompanied by a “Behind the Byline” interview.

Hot off the press from Vintage is Allegra Hyde’s highly anticipated short story collection, The Last Catastrophe. These hopeful, speculative narratives wrestle with with a world transformed by climate change and “global weirding.” Hyde’s short story “Shark Fishing” appeared in issue 35.4 and was discussed in a “Behind the Byline” interview with the author.

I Feel Fine by Olivia Muenz—winner of the 2022 Gatewood Prize—is out now courtesy of Switchback Books. Prize judge Julie Carr called the work “shockingly original, haunting and strange . . . At once novelistic and radically fragmented, achingly confessional and austerely technical.” Muenz’s work is forthcoming in New England Review.

New from Yale University Press comes Mary-Alice Daniel’s Mass for Shut-Ins, the 117th volume of Yale Series of Younger Poets. Drawing on African and Western systems of myth and ritual, Daniel confronts tricontinental culture shock and her curious placement within many worlds in this strikingly original debut. Her poem “A Southern Way of Talking About Love” was published in issue 33.4.

Matthew Thorburn’s book-length sequence of poems, String, is out now from LSU Press. String tells the story of a teenage boy’s experiences in war time and its aftermath. Poet Michael Dumanis called the work “a stirring bravura performance, a love song and a song of war, a chronicle of damage, a testament to our capacity for perseverance.” Thorburn’s work has appeared in several issues of NER, most recently issue 38.1.

Find more books by NER authors on our Bookshop.org page.

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