Happy winter solstice from the Cleveland State University Poetry Center! We’ve put together an end-of-year list of interviews, reviews, things-to-look-forward-to, and other Rust Belt hijinks.
2015 Catalog News:
We’re hearing stellar reports from critics and readers about the 2015 spring catalog. Broc Rossell’s Festival was reviewed at The Iowa Review, New Orleans Review, and dubbed “scrap-wire perfectivity” by C.D. Wright; Siwar Masannat was interviewed at the Woodland Pattern blog and her book 50 Water Dreams appeared on Ching-In Chen’s list of notable 2015 books at The Volta. Lee Upton’s Bottle the Bottles the Bottles the Bottles was reviewed at NewPages, American Microreviews, The Literary Review, and Publisher’s Weekly.
I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky, translated from the Russian by Philip Metres and Dimitri Psurtsev, appeared on the SPD bestsellers list this fall (along with titles by Siwar Masannat and Lee Upton) and is on the longlist for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. Phil Metres discusses translation at The Sound of Applause.
Kristina Marie Darling at Tupelo Quarterly says “Three recent [CSU Poetry Center] titles in particular place diverse and often very different artistic traditions in dialogue with one another, envisioning poetry as a rhetorical space where disparate cultures, mediums, and historical milieu can exist side by side. Lee Upton’s Bottle the Bottles the Bottles the Bottles, Broc Rossell’s Festival, and Arseny Tarkovksy’s I Burned at the Feast, newly translated by Philip Metres and Dimitri Psurtsev, each initiate provocative dialogues between literary and artistic communities in a way that is altogether refreshing.”
Forthcoming Books:
Leora Fridman, Lo Kwa Mei-en, and Martin Rock, winners of our 2015 poetry book competitions, answer questions about their forthcoming titles in this digital chapbook just published by the good folks at Essay Press. While you’re at it, check out the companion interview at The Conversant in which Lily Hoang, winner of our fist-ever essay collection competition, discusses her forthcoming book of nonfiction.
Leora Fridman’s My Fault, Lo Kwa Mei-en’s The Bees Make Money in the Lion, Martin Rock’s Residuum, and Lily Hoang’s A Bestiary will be published in April 2016; drop us a note if you’re interested in review copies or more information.
Book Competitions:
Our 2016 book competitions will open for submission on January 1st, 2016. The judges this year will be First Book Poetry: Daniel Borzutzky; Open Book Poetry: Emily Kendal Frey, Siwar Masannat, & Jon Woodward; and Essay Collection: Chris Kraus. We can’t wait to start reading your work!
For more thinking on our Essay Collection Competition check out last year’s post at Essay Daily.
Other Updates:
Congrats to Wendy Xu, whose second book, Phrasis, will be published by Fence Books in 2017. Check out new titles by Nin Andrews, Phil Metres, Sandra Simonds, and Shane McCrae. S.E. Smith’s I Live in a Hut and Chloe Honum’s The Tulip-Flame were recently reviewed in Galatea Resurrects. Chloe Honum won the 2014 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award for Poetry. Rebecca Gayle Howell is interviewed at The Adroit Journal and Render/An Apocalypse is reviewed in the Denver Quarterly. Shane McCrae published 30 stunning paragraphs of memoir at Essay Press. Lizzie Harris’ Stop Wanting is reviewed in Pleiades.
The Lighthouse Reading Series, named the best new reading series by Cleveland Scene, will be back in action next semester with this lovely line up; we’ll be back at the CSU Galleries on Friday, February 12th with Morgan Parker and Emily Pettit.
And, last but not least, thanks to our NEOMFA students and CSU volunteers who help keep this magnificent literary machine in motion.
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