Poetry is a high wire act, performance art—for some writers. J. K. Kennedy finds it to be her path to clarity, a clearing of destructive thought clutter, a crystallization of love, limitlessness, and the beauty of human existence.... Read More

Poets come equipped. Where mortals lower their lids in terror, poets play a game of stare down—making hay through the pain, lemonade of loss, fun of fear—never ever looking away. Steely Andy Young lives in New Orleans after a... Read More

In "The Other Altar", Nicholas Gulig reminds us there is always another way, word, time to discover in grief a never-known strength. The author of North of Order and Orient, Gulig is the 2023–24 poet laureate of Wisconsin. Thai... Read More

In Raj Tawney’s perceptive novel "All Mixed Up", a multiracial boy contends with bullying and finds friendship in the aftermath of 9/11. Kamal’s father is from India. His mother is a New Yorker with Italian and Puerto Rican roots. At... Read More

Stewart C Baker’s "The Butterfly Disjunct" is an intriguing short story collection in which characters navigate futuristic worlds and fight to survive unjust and tyrannical systems. The collection makes intriguing use of story forms,... Read More

The Book Lover’s Almanac is a delightful daily compendium of literary facts and anecdotes. The monthly sections open with a rundown of prominent authors’ births and deaths and the dates when famous works were first issued or... Read More

Elegiac in tone, Jessica Kirkness’s "The House with All the Lights On" is a touching family memoir in which language and technology enable connections with deaf grandparents. Kirkness grew up next door to her grandparents, immigrants... Read More

In Charleen Hurtubise’s novel "The Polite Act of Drowning", a small-town accident reawakens past traumas, forcing a girl to reckon with the chaos of her dysfunctional family and come to terms with her evolving identity. On a family... Read More