Katy Haas
Guilty Prayer
February 25, 2021"Guilty Prayer is most stunning for how much it fits into a small space. All of this, no doubt, in praise of Steve Henn’s brilliantly malleable poetic voice, which shifts tones, moods, and paces seamlessly between pages and between lines. I love this book for how it faces me, how it speaks to me, how it trusts me with what it knows. Reading this has made me a more generous person." —Hanif Abdurraqib
Mother Body
February 25, 2021Mother Body is an intersectional exploration of the trauma and agency held within a body defined by its potential to mother. As Mother Body unfolds, it tasks its reader to understand the expected and unexpected manifestations of motherhood, through menstruation and womb work, but also generational, societal, and literary mothering. With a variety of forms and modes, these poems unpack the experiences of a fat, black woman's body while also manifesting joy, resistance, and celebration. Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.
Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat
February 25, 2021Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat is a heart-wrenching reconciliation and confrontation of the living, breathing ghosts that awaken Black women each day. This debut poetry collection summons multiple hauntings—ghosts of matriarchs that came before, those that were slain, and those that continue to speak to us, but also those horrors women of color strive to put to rest. Khalisa Rae examines the haunting feeling of facing past demons while grappling with sexism, racism, and bigotry. This book calls out for women to speak their truth in hopes of settling the ghosts or at least being at peace with them. Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.
Arsenal With Praise Song
February 25, 2021Rodney Gómez's Arsenal With Praise Song somehow manages to yoke together lament and celebration, reproach and veneration across the borders of eras and nations. Set in the stark desert landscape of the México–U.S. border all too familiar to so many refugees and migrants, these poems scrutinize human bodies and the body of the earth as the sites of great injustices and violences—political, social, and spiritual—and as the vehicles that carry our collective legacy generation to generation. Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.
Young Blood
February 25, 2021Sipho, a seventeen-year-old from Umlazi, South Africa, drops out of high school and joins a carjacking syndicate to make a name for himself and escape his family’s low-income life. Sipho learns the tricks of the dangerous trade under the guidance of gang leader Sibani, while partying heavily and chasing women nightly. Candid and unapologetic, Young Blood is the story of the intricate balance of circumstance and choice, swift gain and incredible loss. Both a red-hot crime novel and a coming-of-age story, Young Blood reveals the devastating violence and raw beauty of life in South Africa’s townships. Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.
The Alleged Woman
February 25, 2021Breaking News! Biden Ballots! FBI finds nearly seven million Joe Biden ballots in Alabama woman's car trunk! Sumter County, Alabama: FBI agents found the trunk of a Sumter County woman's black Nissan Altima filled with ballots listing Joe Biden for President. In the Altima's glove compartment, the agents also found eleven books of first-class stamps depicting Elvis. And that’s only the start! Soon, New York lawyer Rudy Gullibilliani travels to Sumter County, Alabama, in an effort to rectify if not clarify matters. As Mr. Gullibilliani states, “I know criminals very well. That’s why I’m here.”
Nonfiction Posted February 25, 2021
February 25, 2021A Mano / By Hand, Nicole Cecilia Delgado, Ugly Duckling Presse
Electric Sarcasm, Dimitra Ioannou, Ugly Duckling Presse
Glamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pains of the Real Vampira, Maila Nurmi, Feral House Press
Invisible Horizon: A Religious Pamphlet, Sibyl Kempson, Ugly Duckling Presse
Letters: The classroom is burning, let's dream about a School of Improper Education, KUNCI Study Forum & Collective, Ugly Duckling Presse
Of Forest and of Farms: On Faculty and Failure, Adjua Gargi Nzinga Greaves, Ugly Duckling Presse
Please Plant This Book Coast to Coast, Susan Kay Anderson, Finishing Line Press
Say Translation Is Art, Sawako Nakayasu, Ugly Duckling Presse
The Semblable, Chantal Maillard, Ugly Duckling Presse
Slow Down and Walk: A Conversation, Nadine George-Graves & Okwui Okpokwasili, Ugly Duckling Presse
Sound Like Trapped Thunder, Lind Peterson, Seneca Review Books
Poetry Posted February 25, 2021
February 25, 2021Abracadabra Sunshine, Dexter L. Booth, Red Hen Press
American Quasar, David Camps, Red Hen Press
Anything That Happens, Cheryl Wilder, Press 53
Are You Somebody I Should Know?, Dell Lemmon, Box Turtle Press
Arsenal with Praise Song, Rodney Gomez, Orison Books
Bewildered by All This Broken Sky, Anna Scotti, Lightscatter Press
Birds of New Jersey, Susan Rothbard, The Broadkill River Press
A Camera Obscura, Carl Marcum, Red Hen Press
Cleave, Darla Himeles, Get Fresh Books
The Definition of Empty, Bill O'Neill, University of New Mexico Press
Duende de Burque: Alburquerque Poems and Musings, Manuel González, University of New Mexico Press
The Dust, J.R. Solonche, Dos Madres Press
The Era of Discontent, Brianna Noll, Elixir Press
Extremely Lightweight Guns, Nikki Moustaki, Red Hen Press
Ghost in a Black Girl's Throat, Khalisa Rae, Red Hen Press
Glorious Veils of Diane, Rainie Oet, Carnegie Mellon University Press
God Is a Bitch Too, María Paz Guerrero, Ugly Duckling Presse
Gone to Earth: Early and Uncollected Poems 1963-1975, Eleanor Wilner, Red Hen Press
Guilty Prayer, Steve Henn, Main Street Rag
How to Feed a Horse, Jeanice Dewey, Red Hen Press
Imagine Us, The Swarm, Muriel Leung, Nightboat Books
Kaputniks, Peter Jay Shippy, Saturnalia Books
The Knives We Need, Nava EtShalom, Carnegie Mellon University Press
The Lamps of History, Michael Sandler, FutureCycle Press
Lexicon, Allison Joseph, Red Hen Press
Liberamerica, Monchoachi, Ugly Duckling Presse
The Lyme Letters, C. R. Grimmer, Texas Tech University Press
Mother Body, Diamond Forde, Saturnalia Books
No Knowledge Is Complete Until It Passes Through My Body, Asiya Wadud, Nightboat Books
Oh You Robot Saints!, Rebecca Morgan Frank, Carnegie Mellon University Press
The One Certain Thing, Peter Cooley, Carnegie Mellon University Press
Original Grace, Gary Lemons, Red Hen Press
Permanent Volta, Rosie Stockton, Nightboat Books
Singer Come from Afar, Kim Stafford, Red Hen Press
A Slow Green Sleep, Jonathan Weinert, Saturnalia Books
A Theory for What Just Happened, Laurie Blauner, FutureCycle Press
Velroy and the Madischie Mafia, Sy Hoahwah, University of New Mexico Press
Words Like Love, Tanaya Winder, University of New Mexico Press
Fiction Posted February 25, 2021
February 25, 2021The Alleged Woman: A True Tale of Ballot Intrigue, Joe Taylor, Livingston Press
Come On Up, Jordi Nopca, Bellevue Literary Press
How Not to Drown, Jaimee Wriston, Alcove Press
How Other People Make Love, Thisbe Nissen, Wayne State University Press
The Man Who Loved His Wife, Jennifer Anne Moses, Mayapple Press
Minor Characters, Jaime Clarke, Roundabout
Nesting Habits of Flightless Birds, Chris Haven, Tailwinds Press
Remember My Face: A Willie Cuesta Mystery, John Lantigua, Arte Publico Press
The Remnants of Summer, Dawn Newton, Apprentice House Press
The Root of Everything & Lightning, Scott Alexander Hess, Rebel Satori Press
Strange Children, Sadie Hoagland, Red Hen Press
To Live and Die in El Valle, Oscar Mancinas, Arte Publico Press
The Ways We Get By, Joe Dornich, Black Lawrence Press