In June, the One World Cafe Virtual Reading Series welcomes American-born architect, author, and artist Hollace M. Metzger, performing works from her latest audio collection, “TranSynPhony”. Comprising 164 poems and 6.4 hours of spoken texts, the work represents an unprecedented effort. Originally from a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Metzger received her BArch degree in architecture [...]
by Hannah Eason Summer can play havoc with the senses. In North Carolina, early May, on the sunned campus of UNC-Chapel Hill, this matter is brought to the fore. This is where I’ve come to meet Minrose Gwin, Kenan Eminent Professor of English, Co-Editor of The Southern Literary Journal and author of the new novel [...]
Bold Strokes Books, 2009 Review by Mayra David A warning: the cover of the book posits: “Imagine if you could choose your parents…and your sex!” In fact, the author did not imagine any such thing. The narrator, Spanky, is a Floating Soul that has been “dripped” out of The Known into the Land of Forgetting [...]
Closed Histories Noemi Press, 2008 Disposition for Shininess (not pictured) Factory Hollow Press, 2008 Arisa White’s Disposition for Shininess and Sara Veglahn’s Closed Histories are two incredibly different chapbooks from two seemingly (on the page) different writers. While White’s poetics veer towards the lyric narrative, Veglahn’s work is determinedly lyric, with narratives always harkening in [...]
Finishing Line Press, 2009 Review by Jamie Elizabeth Marko The question of identity is a constant struggle for most Americans. We boldly declare our heritage, if we are lucky enough to know it, assuming that our ancestral homes innately impart some deeper meaning to our sense of self. What does it mean to be Irish? [...]
Plain View Press, 2009 Review by Hannah Eason The ravages of World War II in contemporary art is not new. Many memoirs and documentaries have taken as their subject the deleterious effects of the war on families, particularly those within the Jewish community. auf Wiedersehen is the true account of the war as told by [...]
ed. by Leslie McGrath and Ravi Shankar Drunken Boat Press, 2010 Review by Hannah Eason Wanting to read this poetry collection within a fair context – other than the context of my unfamiliarity with Hindu American poetry, that is – I often read over notes provided by the editors who collaborated to bring these last [...]
Plainview Press, 2010 Reviewed by Georgia Ann Banks-Martin She Did What? Many books have been written and praised for their complex depictions of women. However, few writers are able to present readers with characters who seem as realistic and multifaceted as Christine Hamm does in her new book of poems, Saints and Cannibals. In the [...]
BlazeVox, 2009 Review by Georgia Banks-Martin I live in Paran Larissa’s Shmailo’s collection of poems, In Paran is a mix of vibrant and audacious selections narrated by people that we might say are just a little odd due to their unabashed frankness. Yet, there is something about the people we meet in In Paran that [...]
Lauren Sardi interviews Patricia Leavy, feminist sociology professor and author. Leavy has become known for advocating innovative and artful approaches to conducting social research as a means of getting at the complexity of lived experience and linking the “inner worlds” of women to the social contexts in which they live.
Heidi W. Durrow discusses her novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky—winner of the 2008 Bellwether Prize for Fiction.
It is hard not to believe we’re in a time of empowerment of those less powerful, and to be swept up in the fervor escalating the world over. In 2011, we witnessed the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street protests and most recently, one of the largest protests of women in Egypt’s long history against the [...]
Caroline Palmer looks at the motivations of Minneapolis-based choreographer Ananya Chatterjea and the work of Ananya Dance Theatre (ADT).
Natsuo Kirino’s novels are not for the faint-hearted, nor are they for westerners loath to abandon the cultural stereotype of the Japanese woman as a delicate and beautiful “oriental flower”. Wendy Nakanishi explores the role of women in Japanese culture and society through Kirino’s popular works of crime and suspense.
