The Colorado Authors League (CAL) supports and promotes its community of published writers while connecting with and adding value to the reading world. Formed in 1931, authors become members to: keep up with changes in the craft of writing, publishing, and marketing, gain greater visibility for their writing, join a group of like-minded people who love writing. View our flyer to see new releases by members and a link to our website.
Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.
The Murmur of Everything Moving: A Memoir, Nonfiction by Maureen Stanton
University of Georgia Press, March 2025
When Maureen Stanton’s boyfriend, Steve, at 29, was diagnosed with cancer, they embarked on an all-out effort to save his life. Meanwhile, Steve’s childhood friend, Joey, a drug addict, sold Steve’s pain medication to pay for Steve’s experimental treatments. This beautiful and aching memoir is an odyssey through the difficult but exquisite terrain of love—romantic, brotherly, spiritual—in the face of mortality.
Winner of the Donald Jordan prize for Literary Excellence, the Sewanee Review nonfiction prize, and featured in New York Times “Modern Love” column, The Murmur of Everything Moving is a riveting memoir of love, loss, and longing. Novelist, Stephen Kiernan, who judged the DLJ contest, called it “beguiling, vivid, rich with loving devotion… a wonder of a book.” Andre Dubus III called it “a love song and tribute, a hymn of praise for each sacred moment given us .. heartbreakingly beautiful.” Publisher’s Weekly Booklife called it “a stunning, true romance … a cinematic, powerful memoir of caregiving.”
Maureen Stanton is the author of three award-winning nonfiction books. Recognition for her writing includes the Iowa Review Award, The American Literary Review Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacDowell Colony.
The poems in this John Murphy’s newest poetry collection, Notes, focus on artists and producers in the popular music industry, covering all major genres: rock, jazz, and blues, as well as influential record producers.
Artists featured in the poems include Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, Cleo Laine, Chuck Berry, Brian Wilson, Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, Paul McCartney, Tubby Hayes, Phil Spector, Blossom Dearie, Graham Nash, Bob Harris, and more.
“Notes takes us on a journey of appreciation of some of the key figures who made significant contributions to popular music in the 20th century… he writes not only as a poet but also as a seasoned musician of many years standing.” —David Mark Williams, author of The Odd Sock Exchange and Papaya Fantasia
“Notes interweaves two of John Murphy’s loves drawn from a lifetime as a poet and musician… Choosing exemplars from Doris Day to Dylan his writing honours its massive contribution to contemporary culture.” —Pippa Little, author of Time Begins to Hurt
“Murphy’s ear is true…he re-animates the great singers and songwriters, in his own affectionate tributes.” —Hannah Stone, editor of Dream Catcher.
Poetry Dust is more than a poetry collection—it’s an immersive experience which blends over 60 never-before-published poems with over 60 bold, vibrant art pieces, each carefully designed to complement the text. This book was created in the hopes of igniting inspiration, for art lovers, seekers, and those drawn to the unseen emotions that connect us all. It journeys through themes of life, change, time, truth, loss, resilience, and the extraordinary beauty found in the often difficult contrasts of life.
My early years were spent traveling with nomadic parents across Central and South America and beyond. This constant movement shaped my creative spirit and deepened my awareness of impermanence—the fleeting nature our lives, of time, and experience. I am forever drawn to the exchange and connection between the physical and the unseen, the tangible and the metaphysical.
This book marks my first published collection, and I invite readers to pause, reflect, and allow inspiration to grow. Whether you are a lifelong poetry reader or new to the genre, my hope is that it will stir the soul, and remind us that art is a living thing, passing from contact to contact, ever growing and reshaping itself in new creations.
Turning the calendar to a new year is also a great time to be turning the pages on some new books! To help you achieve that goal, check out our monthly round-up of New Books. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages selects from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles and recent reviews.
If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.
Why We Eat Fried Peanuts: A Celebration of Family and Lunar New Year Traditions by Zed Zha, illustrated by Sian James becker&mayer! kids (Quarto), January 2025
Readers are invited to join Mèng, a Chinese American girl, as she prepares for the Lunar New Year with her family. Through Mèng’s conversation with her father, readers will learn about the rich significance of ancestral stories, the history of the Mandarin language, and the traditional foods that make the holiday so special. Mèng’s father shares the inspiring tale of Tài Nǎi Nai, Mèng’s great-grandmother, whose act of bravery a century ago left a lasting legacy and offers timeless lessons for today’s generation. As Mèng learns, food plays a vital role in the celebration, with fried peanuts serving as a special snack tied to the family’s traditions. The story concludes with a simple, fun recipe for fried peanuts, offering a hands-on way for readers to bring the spirit of the Lunar New Year into their own homes.
Worlds End by George Myers Jr. Paycock Press, January 2025
Richly illustrated in color, George Myers Jr.’s novel Worlds End is a singular achievement, a one-of-a-kind tale about a time-obsessed historian and naturalist who’s trying to have his ephemeral life’s work included in his town’s time capsule. The illustrated Worlds End is told episodically through the items in the narrator’s map cabinet, where he has stored his research and memories about vanishing species, Mary Shelley, a beekeeper’s wife, a World War I ambulance driver, Marco Polo, and a woman with a prehensile ponytail. Myers blends the real and remembered in a haunting story about all that slips away. Myers also the author of Fast Talk with Writers and Mixers: On Hybrid Writing.
The Canine Collection: Horror Stories Spotlighting Man’s Best Friend by Laura Shell Black Bed Sheet Books, March 2024
From veterinary assistant and exciting rising author, Laura Shell, comes Canine Collection, a fast-paced selection of four horror/paranormal stories featuring our beloved canines. In “My Sister’s Keeper,” a lonely woman worries that her vampire sister will turn on her new best friend, that just happens to be a dog. Will the vampire sister accept the canine as a pet or as a source of nourishment? In “The Shape of the Shift,” a shapeshifter is surprised to learn that the people around him aren’t what they appear to be, including the love of his life. In “Jinn or Jinx?,” the wishes granted by an ancient Jinn not only come with bizarre consequences but also reveal dark family secrets. In “Immortal Me,” a woman discovers she is immortal after surviving a brutal beating. While she tries to keep her newfound persona a secret, her attacker learns the truth and comes after her for a second time, but she has a few surprises for him.
The Colorado Authors League (CAL) supports and promotes its community of published writers while connecting with and adding value to the reading world. Formed in 1931, authors become members to: keep up with changes in the craft of writing, publishing, and marketing, gain greater visibility for their writing, join a group of like-minded people who love writing. View our flyer to see new releases by members and a link to our website.
Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.
In Ismail Gaspirali’s 1890s story The Muslims of Darürrahat (the Peaceful Country), the not entirely intrepid narrator, Mullah Abbas Efendi, arrives in the imaginary land of Darürrahat. He has been led there by mysteriously appearing guides, who take him from Alhambra palace in Andalusia through an underground tunnel, where he emerges in Darürrahat to find a Muslim utopian country filled with progressive people and dotted with beautiful Islamic architecture and technologically advanced cities. As in most works of utopian imagination which are also aimed squarely at social critique of the author’s present day, there is nothing simple about this world or this literary work.
The Muslims of Darürrahat first appeared in serialized form in the widely circulated Central Asian newspaper Tercüman, which was edited and largely written by Crimean Tatar educator, journalist and Muslim reformer Ismail Gaspirali. This is the full story’s first appearance in English, translated by Çiğdem Pala Mull and the centerpiece of a book edited by Sharon Carson to include introductory materials, a contextual timeline, and three interpretive essays exploring the story as a work of nineteenth century utopian imagination which has some compelling resonance in our time.
Published in collaboration with North Dakota Review, The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota offers readers free digital downloads of titles which can also be purchased as low-cost paperbacks.
Meet Me at the Library: A Place to Foster Social Connection and Promote Democracy by Shamichael Hallman Island Press, October 2024
Libraries have a unique opportunity to bridge socioeconomic divides and rebuild trust. But in order to do so, they must be truly welcoming to all. They and their communities must work collaboratively to bridge socioeconomic divides through innovative and productive partnerships.
Shamichael Hallman argues that the public library may be our best hope for bridging divides and creating strong, inclusive communities. While public libraries have long been thought of as a place for a select few, increasingly they are playing an essential role in building social cohesion, promoting civic renewal, and advancing the ideals of a healthy democracy. Many are reimagining themselves in new and innovative ways, actively reaching out to the communities they serve. Today, libraries are becoming essential institutions for repairing society.
Drawing from his experience at the Memphis Public Library and his extensive research and interviews across the country, Hallman presents a rich argument for seeing libraries as one of the nation’s greatest assets. As an institution that is increasingly under attack for creating a place where diverse audiences can see themselves, public libraries are under more scrutiny than ever. Meet Me at the Library offers a revealing look at one of our most important civic institutions and the social and civic impact they must play if we are to heal our divided nation.
Language Like Water explores the conflicts, challenges, and connections in a daughter’s relationship with her mother over the span of a lifetime. The poems resonate with longing and struggle as the daughter seeks to understand and restore her complicated mother, an enigmatic figure who struggles with depression. Ultimately the daughter recognizes her own strengths as she acknowledges and inscribes moments and memories of sharing and connection.
Bisbing Books has this to say: “Language Like Water is a moving, deeply personal glimpse into the mother-daughter relationship. The complexity of this bond is explored through sharp, evocative imagery that digs deep into the emotional terrain of love, guilt, memory, and loss. There’s a sense that words carry weight far beyond their surface meaning. Read these poems.”
The Bold, the Brave, and the Wrinkled: Retirement Just Got Rowdy!
Barry and Beth, high school sweethearts separated by time and circumstance, find themselves reunited at the Blue Loon Village senior living center in Minneapolis. Unwilling to settle into lives of boredom, the two become Silver Squad vigilantes and embark on an epic road trip across America. No one they meet will ever be the same!
“A smart, funny tale of a Good Samaritan crime spree.”—Kirkus Reviews (Recommended)
“[A] sparkling road-trip comedy of retiree crimefighters taking the U.S. by storm.”—BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly (Editor’s Pick)
“An original and fun read (think senior citizen versions of Thelma & Louise) from start to finish, The Silver Squad: Rebels With Wrinkles by author Marty Essen is a deftly crafted and extraordinary story that will have a very special appeal to readers with an interest in inherently fascinating novels that imaginatively blend later-in-life romances with elements of an action/adventure.”—Midwest Book Review
“A delightful mix of observational humor, introspection, and respectful affection for the older generation, The Silver Squad: Rebels With Wrinkles is a scenic road trip through the country with a gratifying destination.”—Indies Today (5 Stars)
Corn Dance: Inspired First American Cuisine by Loretta Barrett Oden with Beth Dooley The University of Oklahoma Press, October 2023
Corn Dance: Inspired First American Cuisine tells the story of Loretta’s journey and of the dishes she created along the way. Alongside recipes that combine the flavors of her Oklahoma upbringing and Indigenous heritage with the Southwest flair of her Santa Fe restaurant, Loretta offers entertaining and edifying observations about ingredients and cooking culture. What kind of quail might turn up in your vicinity, for instance; what to do with piñon nuts, sumac, or nopales (cactus paddles); when to add a bundle of pine needles or a small branch of cedar to a braise: these and many practical words of wisdom about using the fruits of the forest, stream, or plain, accompany Loretta’s insights on everything from the dubious provenance of fry bread to the Potawatomi legend behind the Three Sisters—corn, beans, and squash, the namesake ingredients of Three Sisters and Friends Salad, served at Corn Dance Café and now at Thirty Nine Restaurant at First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, where Oden is the Chef Consultant.
Turning the calendar to a new year is also a great time to be turning the pages on some new books! To help you achieve that goal, check out our monthly round-up of New Books. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages selects from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles and recent reviews.
If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.
Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education by Jesse Hagopain Haymarket Books, January 2025
In just the last few years, scores of states have introduced or passed legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about structural racism and other forms of oppression. Books have been cut from curricula and pulled from school library shelves. Teachers have been fired and threatened with discipline.
Long-time organizer, writer, and high school teacher Jesse Hagopian argues in Teach Truth that our democracy is at stake, not to mention the annihilation of entire systems of knowledge that challenge the status quo. Hagopian explores the origins, philosophy, and manifestations of these attacks, and the Right’s effort to regulate knowledge as an attempt to maintain its power over the American capitalist system, now and into the future.
Yet the struggle for a liberatory education has a long history in the United States, from the days when it was illegal for Black people to be literate, to the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, to Black Lives Matter at School today. Teachers, students, and their allies are already building a movement – in the classroom, on campus, and in the streets – to defend antiracist education.
Unit 29: Writing from Parchman Prison VOX Press, December 2024
Unit 29: Writing from Parchman Prison is a collection of writings from Mississippi inmates housed in the infamously brutal Unit 29 at Mississippi State Penitentiary, known as Parchman Farm. The book is the culmination of three years of working with incarcerated students through VOX’s prison outreach program, Prison Writes Initiative. Comprised of writings from over thirty inmates, this collection delves into the after effects of the infamous December 2019 riots through April of 2020, and how the humans housed there deal with the conditions as they try to survive one of the country’s most notorious prison facilities. The collection is not a comfortable literary work but rather a cry for help from deep within a monstrous and insatiable beast known as Unit 29, Parchman.
No matter where you are, no matter the weather, the idea of hibernating with a stack of good books to read sounds enticing right about now. To help you achieve that goal, check out the November 2024 New Books Received.
Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles. If you follow our blog or a subscribe to our weekly newsletter, you can see featured titles with descriptions and links to their blog posts.
For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.
Bloodied, embattled, but still singing, Matthew Cooperman’s the atmosphere is not a perfume it is odorless addresses us: “America, aren’t you tired of being a gun ode?” In one register, a chromapoetics that examines the “red, white and blue” as an embodied, if problematic nationalism, in another, an extended ode project that conjures our troubling emblems of Empire, the poems in atmosphere—in their various configurations of apostrophe, atomization, song, dialectic, citation & eucharism—attempt to neutralize the personal, cultural and environmental dis-ease of 21st century America. Whitman, who provides the title, hovers near, reminding us of the dreams and responsibilities of freedom: “…absence, inspiration / it’s everyone’s problem.”
A durational project written over twenty years, Cooperman’s collection feels uncannily pointed at NOW. And the ode’s the hour’s vehicle. And what of the ode? An ancient three-part Greek lyric form, or could be. It could be sung, or danced, depending on the occasion, joy or lamentation. The ode is also a plea for what’s missing, a supplication through the mouth to what might deliver us from harm. Cooperman’s eighth book sings anodyne into a darkening wind.
In a time when women’s rights and autonomy are under siege, Unsolicited Press is dedicating 2025 to amplifying womxn’s voices in literature. Through its “Year of Womxn” initiative, the press will release a catalog exclusively featuring works by womxn writers, all marked by bold red covers. This striking color, inspired by historic feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, symbolizes liberation and rebellion, making each cover a powerful protest and a testament to womxn’s voices. “Womxn are the backbone of publishing. They create, they support, they elevate the industry but are too often sidelined. Our 2025 Year of Womxn catalog is our way of championing their unparalleled creativity and storytelling,” said the team at Unsolicited Press.
Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.
The Colorado Authors League (CAL) supports and promotes its community of published writers while connecting with and adding value to the reading world. Formed in 1931, authors become members to: keep up with changes in the craft of writing, publishing, and marketing, gain greater visibility for their writing, join a group of like-minded people who love writing. View our flyer to see November 2024 releases by members and a link to our website.
Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.
The 19th print issue of Booth includes interviews with Jo Ann Beard and Viet Thanh Nguyen; a comic by Jesse Lee Kercheval; nonfiction by Jerilynn Aquino, and K.S. Dyal; fiction by Mialise Carney, Courtney Craggett, Sam Fouts, Rachel Salguero Kowalsky, Justin Noga, Adrian Perez, Tim Raymond, Dan Reiter, Claire Stanford; and poetry by nicole v basta, Michael Beard , Willow James Claire, Hannah Cohen, Fee Griffin, Naomi Leimsider, Hannah Marshall, Calgary Martin, Erin Pinkham, Maggie Yang, and Mimi Yang.
Included with this issue is Table Talk &. Second Thoughts a new memoir in prose poems by Michael Martone, serving up toothsome anecdotes of brief encounters with other writers. Each impromptu sketch, spanning 1976 to 2016, traces a memory menu of quotidian details, slightly seasoned, glimpses of the daily downtime between all the bon mots.
After a brief hiccup, in which an irate dragon must be placated, this MG/YA fantasy begins—as now told by Christie and her new co-author, Marcus A. Dragon.
In the land of Deweydaire, which is ruled by (anthropomorphic) dragons, things are not fair. Humans work while dragons play. Princess Meredith, a dragon, leads others in fighting against the injustice, supporting the human cause. How could she have foreseen that she, like her human friend, young Peter Porter, would fall afoul of her bully cousin, Prince Rupert? Or that he would go to such lengths to silence her voice? Will intrepid Peter and the underrated court-jester Felix be able to help Meredith break the power of an illegal spell? In this Year of the Wood Dragon, The Voice of the Wooden Dragon is an entertaining-yet-inspiring story of transformation and new beginnings.
This is Christie and Lane Waldman’s debut novel as an author-illustrator team. Christie’s stories for children may be read at Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things, Skipping Stones, and East of the Web. Lane is also a writer whose sci-fi/fantasy stories have appeared in Uncanny, Daily Science Fiction, and Capricious, among other places.
Fall is the time to fatten up your reading list. To help you achieve that goal, check out the October 2024 New Books Received. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles.
If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.
The world is all we know, claims the philosopher Wittgenstein. But Professor Dean Kirby is painfully learning this is not so, for his new neighbor in the mid-state swamps of Florida has turned his wife into a zombie, has turned him into something taunted by a darkly evil alter ego, and she has driven his son into suicidal insanity. On top of this, she’s opened a cavern that leads to the primal murderer Cain on her creepy, statue-filled property.
Rumors persist those statues stalk the swamps nightly, and that they could have been involved in the sacrificial murder of a child. When the police prove to be no help, a strange airline attendant and her beguiling daughter with the oddest interest in ancient Egyptian mummification arrive, but even they might be too late to help Professor Kirby and his family.
Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline by Dave Birkett Reedy Press, October 2024
In Detroit Lions, An Illustrated Timeline, award-winning reporter Dave Birkett vividly recounts the most important people, games and moments of the franchise’s first 90 seasons, from the early days of Earl “Dutch” Clark, the team’s first superstar, to the 10 Hall-of-Famers who played for the team in the ‘50s, to the spine-tingling performances of Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson and the team’s resurrection under beloved head coach Dan Campbell.
The Whole Catastrophe by Jami Macarty Vallum, September 2024
In her aptly titled fourth chapbook, The Whole Catastrophe, Jami Macarty takes readers on a road trip to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico while reflecting on fragility of life, greed of corporations, and the disasters we must withstand, from plastics pollution to toxic feedlots to carbon monoxide poisoning. Mourning the death of a dear friend and threats of fragile ecologies are reasons for despair but not to disengage. In The Whole Catastrophe, resisting destruction means caring for the interdependent parts of wonder, annotating birds on their migratory course, waving hello to grief, and knowing catastrophe like a constellation above.
Jami Macarty is the author of The Long Now Conditions Permit, winner of the 2023 Test Site Poetry Series Prize (forthcoming University of Nevada Press), and The Minuses (Center for Literary Publishing, 2020), winner of the 2020 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award – Poetry Arizona. Jami’s four chapbooks include Mind of Spring (Vallum Chapbook Series, 2017), winner of the 2017 Vallum Chapbook Award. To learn more about Jami’s writing, editing, and teaching practices, visit her author website.
On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence by Nicole Bedera University of California Press, October 2024
The debate over campus sexual violence is more heated than ever, but hardly anyone knows what actually happens inside Title IX offices. On the Wrong Side by sociologist Nicole Bedera provides the first comprehensive account of the inner workings of the secretive Title IX system. Drawing on a yearlong study of survivors, perpetrators, and the administrators who oversaw their cases, Bedera exposes the structures that predictably punish survivors who come forward in the service of protecting—or even rewarding—their perpetrators. In doing so, she reveals that the system tasked with ending gender inequality on campus only intensifies it, upending survivors’ lives and threatening the degrees that brought them to college in the first place.
Dr. Nicole Bedera is a sociologist and cofounder of the antiviolence consulting practice Beyond Compliance. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan and has spent more than a decade studying sexual violence and advocating for survivors in media outlets including the New York Times, NPR, and Harper’s BAZAAR.
Power Point is a groundbreaking collection of feminist poetry by Jane Muschenetz, including Best of the Net nominated, “100% Mom” (Whale Road Review), Pushcart nominated, “Failure to Thrive” (Meat for Tea), and several genre/discipline bending poems that intersect economics, science, popular art, and literature. Too often, women and change-makers are dismissed as “hysterical, emotion-driven, irrational.” Power Point turns this notion on its head, presenting meticulously researched “data poems” to make the case for a more compassionate world. Blending traditional and hybrid formats, Muschenetz exposes the status quo as a malleable and subjective reality that can and must be questioned and improved. Muschenetz, an MIT trained Business Strategy Consultant, used Microsoft PowerPoint™ software to create several of the ‘pointed’ poems about ‘power’ dynamics in this collection.
It’s time to stock your fall reading list, and to help you with that task, check out the September 2024 New Books Received. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles.
If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.
Just YA: Short Poems, Essays, & Fiction for Grades 7-12 Seela Books, September 2024
Just YA: Short Poems, Essays, & Fiction is a powerful collection of literature celebrating the diverse and dynamic experiences of contemporary youth. This open-access anthology features short texts that can be read in a single class period and are designed to spark deep conversations. Organized around themes of identity, love, place, justice, and the future, these works offer inclusive and affirming perspectives. With contributions from acclaimed young adult authors, flash fiction writers, and teacher-poets, Just YA provides educators with contemporary texts that resonate with and inspire today’s students. All content is freely available online, encouraging widespread access and use, including 50 pages of instructional materials for teachers.
Contributors include Kristin Bartley Lenz, Tamara Belko, Joe Bisicchia, Stefani Boutelier, Taylor Byas, Dana Claire, Mary E. Cronin, Chris Crowe, Kacie Day, Sarah J. Donovan, Carlos Greaves, Zetta Elliott, Federico Erebia, Kennedy Essmiller, Jen Ferguson, Glenda Funk, Hope Goodearl, Jennifer Guyor Jowett, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Christine Hartman Derr, Melissa Heaton, Rajpreet Heir, Jamie Jo Hoang, Julia Horton, Val Howlett, Valerie Hunter, Stacey Joy, Shih-Li Kow, Laura Kumicz, Sandra Marchetti, Lee Martin, S Maxfield, Jonathon Medeiros, Linda Mitchell, Alana Mondschein, Erin Murphy, Aimee Parkison, Alicia Partnoy, Sonia Patel, Darius Phelps, Brittany Saulnier, David Schaafsma, Laura Shovan, Kate Sjostrom, S., Samuel Stinson, Rachel Toalson, Padma Venkatraman, Karen J Weyant, Kayla Whaley, Emanuel Xavier, Aida Zilelian, and Laura Zucca-Scott.
Set in a provincial capital, in the penultimate throes of the Greek Civil War, New Moon: Day One is semi-autobiographical, a tale of two protagonists on the brink of manhood. They speak in bluntly human tones, but in precincts that echo of death the impulse to life is declared.
The elements of a screenplay are recast by Valtinos as a novel. Interposed with bursts of dialogue, and reading like stage directions, intimate scenes alternate with a wide-screen view. Fade-outs, as blank pages, punctuate the whole. Though the gaze is that of a camera—of pristine detachment—the energy is propulsive. The thread of a breathless suspense is drawn through a complex collage. It seems to precisely catch the rhythm of human becoming.
“Thanassis Valtinos is a masterful storyteller who has vividly captured in his novels and short stories some of the most turbulent and tragic periods in Greece‘s recent history. In “New Moon” he tells a coming-of-age tale of two boys who struggle to deal with their emerging sexual impulses as they try to survive the brutalities of a vicious civil war. A searing story by Greece’s premier living novelist at the top of his game.” —Nicholas Gage
This new book of poetry by David Chorlton continues his firm legacy as a great Southwestern poet whose current Arizona roots have established him in the deserts, the wildlife, and all its surprising vegetation revived after each year’s monsoon season. These poems bring a recognition of what’s been lost among all he loves and what he discovers each day as a kind of supplement to that loss.
Born in Austria in 1948, David Chorlton grew up in Manchester, close to rain and the northern English industrial zone. In his early 20s he went to live in Vienna and stayed for seven years before moving to Phoenix with his wife in 1978. In Arizona he has grown ever more fascinated by the desert and its wildlife. Much of his poetry has come to reflect his growing concern for the natural world. He now lives in Ahwatukee in Phoenix, within easy reach of South Mountain which dominates a 20,000 acre desert park within the city.
The Colorado Authors League (CAL) supports and promotes its community of published writers while connecting with and adding value to the reading world. Formed in 1931, authors become members to: keep up with changes in the craft of writing, publishing, and marketing, gain greater visibility for their writing, join a group of like-minded people who love writing. View our flyer to see new releases by members and a link to our website.
Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.
Words That Mend: The Transformative Power of Writing Poetry for Teachers, Students, and Community Wellbeing by Sarah J Donovan, et al. Seela Books, September 2024
A compelling look at writing poetry as a powerful transformative agent to support teachers, their students, and community. Words That Mend includes practical ways for teachers to engage in poetry writing providing prompts, instructions, and invitations for teachers to nurture their writing lives. The authors candidly share their personal stories of trauma, pain, and loss, as well as incredible stories from the classrooms and community events. These teachers warmth and love for teaching emphasize that processing traumatic or tragic events through poetry writing has become a step toward recovery and rediscovering hope at a time when the teaching profession most needs it.
Additional authors include Jennifer Guyor Jowett, Denise Krebs, Tamara Belko, Barbara Edler, Wendy Everard, Kim Johnson, Leilya A. Pitre, and Margaret Simon.
This guide to publishing poetry is designed for the poet on a journey from facing a pile of poems to celebrating at a book launch. If you have been writing poetry for some time and have accumulated a volume of work, this guide is designed to meet you where you are in your book creation or publication process. It is organized into five sections to mimic the distinct phases of conceiving, arranging, editing, publishing, and promoting a poetry collection. Each section provides a mix of theoretical materials and practical assignments to demystify and ground the publication process.
90 Ways of Community: Nurturing Safe & Inclusive Classrooms Writing One Poem at a Time by Sarah J Donovan, Mo Daley, Maureen Young Ingram Seela Books, September 2024
For writing poetry in grades 6-12, this indispensable resource guides teachers through a year-long journey of poetic engagement, fostering a safe and inclusive environment where every student feels valued and heard. Grounded in social emotional learning and trauma-informed pedagogy, the authors provide practical, adaptable lessons that seamlessly integrate poetry writing into any curriculum.
With a clear framework developed by experienced educators, 90 Ways of Community is designed for teachers at all levels, from novices to veterans. Each chapter begins with a heartfelt “Dear Teacher” letter, offering context and support, while thematic clusters of prompts inspire creativity and connection. The book covers a wide range of topics, from celebrating individuality to extending community and healing through poetic expression. The authors draw on real classroom experiences and the collective wisdom of a community of teacher-poets.
90 Ways of Community is more than a collection of prompts—it’s a roadmap to building a classroom culture where poetry becomes a vital tool for learning and growth. Join in nurturing the hearts and minds of students, one poem at a time.
Informing the storyline for The Little Ambulance War of Winchester County, I.M. Aiken worked on ambulances off and on since the 1980s, starting in the Boston area where she was born and raised. She served one tour in Iraq with the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division, and now lives in Vermont.
This novel is based on her 40 years of work in the paramedic field and centers on main character Alex Flynn. Following in the footsteps of their beloved Boston cop father, Alex trains as an EMT and spends years chasing emergencies in an ambulance. But the person Alex becomes is a far cry from the hero they signed up to be.
Over four decades in public safety, Alex encounters a changing America, where veterans are left to rot on streets, women are welcome in dangerous fields but abusers still walk free, and service providers are subjected to intense public scrutiny while being denied the resources they need. After moving from bustling Boston to small town Vermont, Alex discovers an escalating feud between emergency operators and must decide which to protect: their community or their legacy.
Still plenty of time to enjoy summer reading. To help you achieve that goal, check out the August 2024 New Books Received. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles.
If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.
In the close-knit community of Hentsbury, racism and the local paper mill’s oppressive control over the town collide in a gripping tale set in the 1990s in southern Arkansas along the fictional Mud River.
Rae-Ann, owner of a convenience store and unofficial mayor of Hentsbury, finds her life intertwined with Vernon’s when a budding romance between them hits an unexpected roadblock. Their love story takes an abrupt turn when chemicals from the mill’s runoff claim the life of Rincon, a young black boy battling acute asthma. In a harrowing failed rescue attempt, Vernon, the plant’s Environmental Officer, relives the trauma of holding the dying boy in his arms.
As the community grapples with this tragedy, Vernon stumbles upon a back-door deal between state and local officials who ask him to suppress critical information about the mill’s dangerous hydrogen sulfide emissions. With the rising tensions, Rae-Ann begins to question whether Vernon will stand by his principles.
In the end, it’s Rincon’s determined grandmother, along with Rae-Ann and her older sister, who rallies the town to take action. Their efforts lead to the arrival of an EPA investigatory team, but not without consequences. When the dust settles, Vernon loses his job, but he and Rae-Ann embark on a new chapter in life together.
Wrongland balances on an edge of migration and return. It crosses from an Albania recently rid of Hoxha to a Greece riven by tensions that ultimately drive the protagonist on to America. But homecoming is the pivot — one stuck in an unavoidable vying between alternate worlds.
The reader, a simple stranger, is introduced to Ters, a city configured by remnants from the past, a locale scored by evil — at times, gripped by good.
Gazmend Kapllani is the author of two collections of poetry in Albanian and four published novels (written in Greek and Albanian). His literary work centers on borders, totalitarianism, migration, identity, and how Balkan history has shaped private and public narratives and memories.
Home, Rewritten: Celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander Voices Fleeting Daze Magazine, May 2024
“Created in 1992, AAPI Heritage Month celebrates the immense culture and history fostered in the AAPI community. With the growing population of the AAPI community, AAPI media has been embedded into American society and heavily influenced its culture. However, AAPI artists constantly face stigmatization and microaggression in their work, especially when Asian artists deviate from the traditional ‘Asian ideal.’ This unwelcoming environment diminishes the diverse voices representing the AAPI community, leaving the American population vulnerable to homogeneity and narrow-mindedness. As editors-in-chief stemming from an AAPI background, we felt motivated to use the platform we’ve created to uplift AAPI youth voices undermined in society. We realized that allowing Asian artists to express their heritage genuinely and candidly brings true representation that society is working towards.”
“This project has been a long time in the making,” say Editors-in-Chief Rosie Hong and Caroline Zhang, “and we are so proud to be able to highlight AAPI voices and share with the world how we have redefined our homes and families through our experiences growing up.”
White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy by Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove Liveright / W. W. Norton, June 2024
One of the most pernicious and persistent myths in the United States is the association of Black skin with poverty. Though there are forty million more poor white people than Black people, most Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, continue to think of poverty—along with issues like welfare, unemployment, and food stamps—as solely a Black problem. Why is this so? What are the historical causes? And what are the political consequences that result?
These are among the questions that the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, a leading advocate for the rights of the poor and the “closest person we have to Dr. King” (Cornel West), addresses in White Poverty, a groundbreaking work that exposes a legacy of historical myths that continue to define both white and Black people, creating in the process what might seem like an insuperable divide. Analyzing what has changed since the 1930s, when the face of American poverty was white, Barber, along with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, addresses white poverty as a hugely neglected subject that just might provide the key to mitigating racism and bringing together tens of millions of working class and impoverished Americans.
Unsolicited Press is set to release enchanting literary fiction this year including THE HEDGEROW by Anne Leigh Parrish, LINES by Sung J. Woo, and DEVIL ON MY TRAIL by Danial DiFranco. See our flyer and learn more at our website.
Want early access to our eLitPak flyers? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! You can also support NewPages with a paid subscription and get early access to the majority submission opportunities, upcoming events, and more before they are posted to our site.
Summer + Reading = Happy Place. To help you achieve that goal, check out the July 2024 New Books Received. Each month we post the new and forthcoming titles NewPages has received from small, independent, university, and alternative presses as well as author-published titles.
If you are a follower of our blog or a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, you can see several of the titles we received featured. For publishers or authors looking to be featured on our blog and social media, please visit our FAQ page.
Stephen C. Pollock’s poetry collection Exits explores the beauty and frailty of life, the cycles of nature, and the potential for renewal. It also responds to contemporary anxieties surrounding death and the universal search for meaning.
Musical and multilayered, Exits features a potpourri of styles, ranging from traditional forms to free verse to hybrid works. Many of the images are drawn from nature. In addition, each poem is paired with a piece of artwork intended to resonate with the writing and enhance the reader’s experience.
Exits has been honored with the Gold Medal for poetry in the 2023 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards and the Silver Medal for poetry in the 2024 Feathered Quill Book Awards. Echoing these accolades, Midwest Book Review declares: “Exits is a book that has profoundly impacted the literary world.”
“Pollock’s poetry is brilliant” —Kristiana Reed, editor-in-chief, Free Verse Revolution
“Exits exemplifies the musicality of language” —Foreword-Clarion Reviews
“Full of wit, insight and provocative imagery, Exits is a masterful collection” —IndieReader, 5.0 stars
Rendered Paradise by Susanne Dyckman & Elizabeth Robinson Apogee Press, April 2024
In Rendered Paradise, poets Susanne Dyckman and Elizabeth Robinson invite the reader into the worlds of three major women artists: Vivian Maier, Agnes Martin and Kiki Smith. Dyckman and Robinson bring a radical collaborative approach to this gathering: through their shared vision, contemplation, and creation, each artist’s works are encountered as unique presences coming alive in fresh and unexpected ways. “We have seen so many instance of men writing about men,” says Editor Edward Smallfield, “and have had many fewer opportunities to read women writing about women. The writing changes as the poets move from one artists to another, so that the focus of the language is the work of art, not the preferred vocabulary of the poets.” This remarkable book isn’t “about” the artworks it engages with, but is its own work of art, new and wondrous.
At the age of seven, Jennifer Coleman is severely burned in a house fire that kills her sister. Despite the barriers of her scarred face and her tragic childhood, she reaches the pinnacle of achievement as a classical concert pianist, but at a deep psychological cost.
During Jennifer’s meteoric rise as a virtuoso pianist, her disfigurement takes on mythic proportions. She is internationally loved and admired, but unable to love herself. At a pivotal point in her career, she meets an extraordinarily creative, suicidal musician named Felix, who challenges Jennifer’s beliefs and falls deeply in love with her. Will Jennifer be able to learn from Felix’s example before she self-destructs?
Cadenza is symphonic. It succeeds not only as an absorbing, psychologically nuanced novel, but also as a tragic fable of ambition and virtuosity. Its extraordinary heroine offers profound truths about purpose, memory, trauma, and the transcendent powers of art and love.
— Lauren Acampora, author of The Hundred Waters
“An engrossing epic of artistic triumphs and personal disasters, unflinching in its depiction of scars both physical and emotional, Cadenza reads like a piano concerto playing in a house on fire.”
Killer Insight by Karoline Anderson Flare Books, September 2024
When a local woman’s body is found in a shallow grave on one of Seattle’s pristine hiking trails, Detective Kaitlyn Kruse and her partner Joe Riley are under pressure to find her killer as swiftly as possible. But more than one body is recovered at the site, and – alarmingly – they all look a bit like Kaitlyn.
Fortunately, Kaitlyn has a secret weapon. She dreams of her past lives, and their memories are always eager to help her solve the crime at hand. But Kaitlyn’s dreams are getting more desperate every night, like one of her past selves is trying to tell her something, and a shady black sedan is tracking her every move. It may be too late to stop the inevitable – but Kaitlyn is determined to get justice for the dead before she becomes one of them.
In this rousing crime debut with a touch of the supernatural, the first in her Detective Kaitlyn Kruse series, Karoline Anderson proves she’s got a knack for the thrill.
Killer Insight is Karoline Anderson’s debut novel as well as the inaugural publication from Flare Books, an imprint of Jessica Powers’ Catalyst Press founded in 2017.
8000 Mile Roll: A Motorcycle Memoir by M. Scott Douglass Paycock Press, April 2024
In 2021, in the fading days of the pandemic, M. Scott Douglass took a motorcycle ride across America. The ride itself took 24 days and covered 8001 miles through 24 states with extended stops in the Grand Canyon area and his native state of Pennsylvania. This book is a journal of that adventure, the places where he went, and the people he met along the way. North Carolina Poet Laureate Joseph Bathanti says, “It’s impossible to read and not conjure Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to Be Wild,’ the revving, reverberating anthem to the iconic film Easy Rider.” And check out Charlotte Readers Podcast Episode 385 which features Douglass in conversation with Landis Wade.
