At some exasperating point, every wine drinker faces a wine bottle in need of opening with no corkscrew at hand. It’s a pivotal moment because only when forced to use a screwdriver, fork, or one’s teeth to carry out an inventive... Read More

Acorns, crows, lightning, and sand dollars; crickets and physics and neon-red dyed turkey feather headdresses. Such things deserve attention, but in their plain familiarity, frighten the likes of lesser poets. Deborah A. Miranda sees the... Read More

The politics of the times cry out for a poet of the political process. Maryann Corbett’s thirty-four years working for the Minnesota legislature—helping to make government more of the people than by the attorneys—steeps her poetry... Read More

Cyrille Martinez’s clever and incisive novel "The Dark Library" creates a surreal microuniverse of books, manuscripts, readers, librarians, and historians. In the Great Library, neglected works are becoming resentful and anguished.... Read More

Valentina Loffredo’s "Reality, Curated", with photographs from her exhibition series As For Me, I’m Very Little, is dominated by bold colors and patterns. Its entries invite closer examination and interpretations of their subtle... Read More

Secrets past and present intertwine in Sara Foster’s fascinating psychological mystery, "The Hidden Hours". Last night, Eleanor was rescued from loneliness at her company Christmas party by Arabella, one of the publishing house’s... Read More

Rachel Genn’s novel "What You Could Have Won" explores love, fame, dependence, and emotional manipulation with compassion and sparkling wit. Astrid is a rock star with a drug problem. She is also in love with Henry, a shady... Read More

Jerald Walker’s essay collection concerns family, academia, and the uncomfortable realities of racism. The provocative essay “How to Make a Slave” reminisces about a Black history school project on Frederick Douglass, during which... Read More