An interesting memoir about an uncommon experience, "When Hope Is Your Only Option" is filled with deep-seated hope in the face of adversity. Jim Stavis’s memoir "When Hope Is Your Only Option" is stirring and filled with hope. In the... Read More

A clear, defined mission inspires an inventive tour of everyday objects. Cindy Helms’s "100 Things" presents a classic kindergarten milestone. Tasked with bringing one hundred things to school to celebrate the hundredth day, Kid hunts... Read More

That there’s such a stratospherically high level of difficulty in writing great poetry doesn’t get discussed much, probably out of superstition and a belief among poets that, after Homer’s singular brilliance, the gods disabled the... Read More

A young girl and boy marvel at the transformation of a single ordinary seed into an enormous tree in an amazing journey of imagination and possibilities inspired by the New Testament parable of the mustard seed. The whole park blossoms... Read More

"Redlined" offers a nuanced look at ordinary Americans during an event-laden era. Linda Gartz’s "Redlined" is an exceptionally rich and readable memoir of family, change, and coming of age in the tumultuous 1960s. While clearing out... Read More

Like angels and unicorns, fables have made themselves scarce of late, but leave it to the land and language of magic realism to bring forth a bona fide specimen. A gorgeously illustrated, book-length poem of masterful prose, there’s... Read More

Long stretches of hunger, sleep deprivation, filth, fear-filled nights under bridges, and the accompanying existential questions will leave a mark on a man, and his poetry. Kai Carlson-Wee lays it out there in this shy, wistful,... Read More

Curiosity skilled the poet. Seemingly unwilling to rein in her interests, Jen Town’s sense of wonder and delight with what catches her attention is infectious. Her work has lit up the pages of Epoch, Crab Orchard Review, Third Coast,... Read More