The Feminist Know-It-All: You know her. You can’t stand her. Good thing she’s not here! Instead, this column by gender and women’s studies librarian Karla Strand will amplify stories of the creation, access, use and preservation of knowledge by women and girls around the world; share innovative projects and initiatives that focus on information, literacies, libraries and more; and, of course, talk about all of the books.
Each month, I provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups. The aims of these lists are threefold:
- I want to do my part in the disruption of what has been the acceptable “norm” in the book world for far too long—white, cis, heterosexual, male;
- I want to amplify indie publishers and amazing works by writers who are women, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, APIA/AAPI, international, queer, trans, nonbinary, disabled, fat, immigrant, Muslim, neurodivergent, sex-positive or of other historically marginalized identities—you know, the rest of us; and
- I want to challenge and encourage you all to buy, borrow and read them!
Happy April, and Happy National Poetry Month. Since my dormant love of poetry was reignited, I’ve found it so refreshing and inspiring to read beautiful collections each year and share them with you.
Below are some of the most exciting and extraordinary I’ve read in the last year.
In 2021, I tried something a bit different with the poetry list: Instead of the usual blurb, I focused my thoughts about each collection into three words. Readers responded so well to it, I decided to keep doing it. Sometimes the words are nouns, sometimes verbs, sometimes adjectives—and I may have just made up some words too. Since I find it challenging to be succinct, this is a valuable exercise in imagination, reflection and, well, restraint.
Speaking of restraint … I have to seriously think about which titles to include on this list. Many fantastic collections are being released, but unfortunately, I couldn’t include them all. I’ve included the 78 below for a variety of reasons: because they meet my criteria (above), because they are especially unique, because I wanted to shine a light on them, they are from debut authors, indie publishers, or because they stood out to me for any other reason. The ones that are currently available are presented first in alphabetical order; forthcoming titles are then listed by on-sale date.
So I hope you enjoy and find some collections below that will have you reflecting on how poetry moves you, challenges you and represents you.
All We Are Told Not to Touch
By Leticia del Toro. Finishing Line Press. 42 pages. Out now.
Waves, loss, shine.
*
Altar of the Imagination
By Marisa Urrutia Gedney (@_m_u_g_). Finishing Line Press. 44 pages. Out now.
Generations, wisdom, liberation.
*
American Sex Tape
By Jameka Williams (@meka_will_write). University of Wisconsin Press. 88 pages. Out now.
Unwieldy, unwilling, unruly.
*
The Animals of My Earth School
By Mildred Kiconco Barya (@MidiBarya). Terrapin Books. 96 pages. Out now.
Primacy, satiation, paradise.
*
Bianca
By Eugenia Leigh (@eugenialeigh). Four Way Books. 124 pages. Out now.
Noisy, unrelenting, healing.
*
Bluest Nude: Poems
By Ama Codjoe. Milkweed Editions. 120 pages. Out now.
Creation, mo(u)rning, grounding.
*
Brown Girl Chromatography: Poems
By Anuradha Bhowmik (@bhowmikky). University of Pittsburgh Press. 80 pages. Out now.
Aspiration, translation, permutation.
*
Cenizas: Poems
By Cynthia Guardado (@TheGuardedPoet). University of Arizona Press. 80 pages. Out now.
Descent, grief, portal.
*
The Certain Body
By Julia Guez (@G_U_E_Z). Four Way Books. 64 pages. Out now.
Entropy, form, (re)emergence.
*
Concentrate: Poems
By Courtney Faye Taylor (@thecourtcase). Graywolf Press. 96 pages. Out now.
Innocent, forever, Latasha.
*
Decade of the Brain: Poems
By Janine Joseph (@ninejoseph). Alice James Books. 100 pages. Out now.
Lull, impact, reconciliation.
*
Exiles and Pleasures: Taunggyi Dreaming
By Jaspal Kaur Singh (@jaspaltaunggyi). Finishing Line Press. 124 pages. Out now.
(Inter)connected, (in)visible, (in)divisible.
*
Feast
By Ina Cariño (@ina_carino). Alice James Books. 100 pages. Out now.
Body, bloom, ritual.
*
Figment
By Leila Chatti (@laypay). Bull City Press. 48 pages. Out now.
Shadow, ink(ling), familiar.
*
Fire Cider Rain
By Rhiannan Ng Cheng Hin (@rhiannan_nch). Coach House Books. 104 pages. Out now.
Sands, daughters, tides.
*
God Themselves
By Jae Nichelle (@CropTopAssassin). Andrews McMeel Publishing. 128 pages. Out now.
Sanctity, litany, testimony.
*
HARROWINGS
By Cecily Nicholson (@_c_n_). Talonbooks. 112 pages. Out now.
*
Cultivation, divination, restoration.
*
I’m Always So Serious
By Karisma Price (@ItsKayPrice). Sarabande Books. 92 pages. Out now.
Lyrical, ample, beloved.
*
Landsmoder
Written by Elena Salamanca. Translated by Ryan Greene. Not a Cult. 85 pages. Out now.
Myth, erasure, fury.
*
The Listening Skin
By Glenis Redmond (@glenismakingpoetryreign). Four Way Books. 140 pages. Out now.
Spirit, bones, Chiron.
*
Lotería: Nocturnal Sweepstakes
By Elizabeth Torres (@MadameNeverstop). University of Arizona Press. 128 pages. Out now.
Borders, rituals, revelations.
*
Muscle Memory
By Jenny Liou (@jennyjadeliou). Kaya Press. 100 pages. Out now.
Expectations, uncertainty, surrender.
*
Muse Found in a Colonized Body
By Yesenia Montilla (@yeseniamontilla). Four Way Books. 108 pages. Out now.
Breath, bodies, bounty.
*
Museum of Things
By Liz Chang. Finishing Line Press. 34 pages. Out now.
Object, meaning, humanity.
*
My Dear Comrades
By Sunu P. Chandy (@sunuchandy). Regal House Publishing. 148 pages. Out now.
Contrast, nostalgia, refusal.
*
night mode
By Caelan Ernest (@transputation). Everybody Press. 96 pages. Out now.
Archive, rupture, self.
*
No Sweet Without Brine: Poems
By Cynthia Manick (@cmanick). Amistad. 144 pages. Out now.
Memory, tenderness, breath.
*
Nothing Follows
By Lan P. Duong. Texas Tech University Press (Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network Series). Out now.
Feral, scarred, legacy.
*
Prescribee
By Chia-Lun Chang (@chialun.chang) Nightboat Books. 88 pages. Out now.
Empire, voice, defiance.
*
Relinquenda: Poems
By Alexandra Lytton Regalado. Beacon Press. 96 pages. Out now.
Forgetting, forgiveness, return.
*
Rupture Tense
By Jenny Xie. Graywolf. 120 pages. Out now.
Fugitive, distance, foretelling.
*
Sappho: A New Translation of the Complete Works (2nd Edition)
Written by Sappho. Edited by André Lardinois. Translated by Diane J. Rayor. Cambridge University Press. 214 pages. Out now.
Dawn, fragment, love.
*
The Sky Watched: Poems of Ojibwe Lives
By Linda LeGarde Grover. University of Minnesota Press. 128 pages. Out now.
Seasons, community, miigwech.
*
Spells, Wishes, and the Talking Dead: ᒪᒪᐦᑖᐃᐧᓯᐃᐧᐣ ᐸᑯᓭᔨᒧᐤ ᓂᑭᐦᒋ ᐋᓂᐢᑯᑖᐹᐣ mamahtâwisiwin, pakosêyimow, nikihci-âniskotâpân
By Wanda John-Kehewin (Cree). Talonbooks. 120 pages. Out now.
Trauma, truth, time.
*
stemmy things
By imogen xtian smith. (@imogen_xtian) Nightboat Books. 144 pages. Out now.
Sound, vision, (trans)formation.
*
summonings
By Raena Shirali (@RaenaShirali). Black Lawrence Press. 122 pages. Out now.
Rage, ash, empathy.
*
The Symmetry of Fish
By Su Cho (@su__cho). Penguin Books. 80 pages. Out now.
Speaking, meaning, understanding.
*
The Threshold: Poems
Written by Iman Mersal (@ImanMersal). Translated by Robyn Creswell. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 128 pages. Out now.
Defiance, howl, home.
*
Togetherness
By Wo Chan (@TheIllustriousPearl). Nightboat Books. 88 pages. Out now.
Fever, yolk, pulse.
*
Unshuttered: Poems
By Patricia Smith (@pswordwoman). TriQuarterly. 120 pages. Out now.
Silenced, origins, sacred.
*
Urbanshee
By Siaara Freeman (@ThatsWhatSiSaid). Button Poetry. 128 pages. Out now.
Balm, blunt, beyond.
*
Village
By LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs (@LaDiggaReport). Coffee House Press. 112 pages. Out now.
Heard, witnessed, survived.
*
What Things Cost: An Anthology for the People
Edited by Rebecca Gayle Howell (@RebeccaGayleHowell), Ashley M. Jones and Emily J. Jalloul. University Press of Kentucky. 352 pages. Out now.
Labor, extraction, release.
*
Woman Without Shame: Poems
By Sandra Cisneros (@OfficialSandraCisneros). Knopf. 176 pages. Out now.
Seen, heard, shameless.
*
World
Written by Ana Luísa Amaral. Translated by Margaret Jull Costa. New Directions. 144 pages. Out now.
Simplicity, complexity, gratitude.
*
The Shared World: Poems
By Vievee Francis. TriQuarterly. 144 pages. Out Apr. 17.
Inheritance, discovery, mercy.
*
Buffalo Girl
By Jessica Q. Stark (@jezzbah). BOA Editions. 136 pages. Out Apr. 18.
Hunger, wolf, mother.
*
Burning Like Her Own Planet
By Vandana Khanna (@vankhanna). Alice James Books. 100 pages. Out Apr. 18.
Divinity, (un)tethered, aflame.
*
Trace
By Brenda Cardenas (@cardenasbrendae). Red Hen Press. 120 pages. Out Apr. 18.
Elegy, ekphrasis, echoes.
*
Return
By Emily Lee Luan (@_EmilyLuan). Nightboat Books. 112 pages. Out Apr. 23.
Parting, sinking, gasping.
*
Nomenclatures of Invisibility
By Mahtem Shiferraw (@MShiferraw). BOA Editions Ltd. 88 pages. Out Apr. 25.
Seed, shift, exodus.
*
Diving At The Lip Of the Water
By Karen Poppy. Beltway Editions. 86 pages. Out May 1.
Swagger, transience, liminality.
*
Phantom Pain Wings
Written by Kim Hyesoon (@PoetKimHyesoon). Translated by Don Mee Choi (@DonMeeChoi). New Directions. 208 pages.
Grief, translation, reclamation.
*
Flare, Corona
By Jeannine Hall Gailey (@webbish6). BOA Editions. 104 pages. Out May 9.
Radiate, ennervate, illuminate.
*
I Am the Most Dangerous Thing
By Candace Williams. Alice James Books. 100 pages. Out May 9.
Memory, (in)validity, radiance.
*
Slows: Twice
By T. Liem (@uh_tasse). Coach House Books. 96 pages. Out May 9.
Elemental, innovative, otherwise.
*
Song & Dread
By Otoniya J. Okot Bitek (@jobitek). Talonbooks. 96 pages. Out May 9.
Pandemic, precarity, (extra)ordinary.
*
apocrifa
By Amber Flame (@TheAmberFlame). Red Hen Press. 96 pages. Out May 16.
Longing, wandering, loving.
*
Things I Didn’t Do with This Body
By Amanda Gunn (@AmandaTheGunn). Copper Canyon Press. 80 pages. Out May 23.
Flesh, kin, refuge.
*
Bread and Circus
By Airea D. Matthews (@aireadee). Scribner. 112 pages. Out May 30.
Commodification, division, legacy.
*
Ephemera
By Sierra DeMulder (@SierraDeMulder). Button Poetry. 80 pages. Out June 6.
Impermanence, audacity, buoyancy.
*
Freedom House
By KB Brookins (@EarthToKB). Deep Vellum. 120 pages. Out June 6.
Falling, forgetting, rebuilding.
*
A Plucked Zither
By Phuong Vuong (@writephuong). Red Hen. 96 pages. Out June 6.
Roots, echoes, (e)motions.
*
Remedies for Disappearing
By Alexa Patrick (@GetFreeAlexaP). Haymarket Books. 90 pages. Out June 6.
Remnant, mirror, return.
*
‘Āina Hānau / Birth Land
By Brandy Nalani McDougall (Kanaka ‘Ōiwi). University of Arizona Press. 160 pages. Out June 13.
Land, breath, redemption.
*
Milk Tongue
By Irène Mathieu (@gumbo_amando). Deep Vellum. 120 pages. Out June 13.
Haunches, wellspring, wanting.
*
Negative Money
By Lillian-Yvonne Bertram (@lillianyvonnebertram). Soft Skull. 112 pages. Out June 27.
Extraction, abstraction, value.
*
Song of My Softening
By Omotara James (@OmotaraJames). Alice James Books. 100 pages. Out June 27.
Rare, turned, restored.
*
Because You Were Mine
By Brionne Janae (@BreezyJanae). Haymarket Books. 80 pages. Out July 4.
Skin, pendulum, sacrifice.
*
Binded
By H Warren. Boreal Books. 80 pages. Out July 11.
Thread, riot, be.
*
The Kingdom of Surfaces: Poems
By Sally Wen Mao (@SallyWenMao). Graywolf Press. 112 pages. Out Aug. 1.
Futility, plunder, tanager.
*
Teeter
By Kimberly Alidio. Nightboat Books. 128 pages. Out Aug. 15.
Heritage, depth, intimacy.
*
Under a Future Sky
By Brynn Saito (@BrynnSaito). Red Hen Press. 112 pages. Out Aug. 15.
Eternity, ceremony, oasis.
*
I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times: Poems
By Taylor Byas (@TaylorByas3). Soft Skull. 128 pages. Out Aug. 22.
Moaning, shapeshifting, quietude.
*
Plantains and Our Becoming: Poems
By Melania Luisa Marte (@melatocatierra). Tiny Reparations Books. 160 pages. Out Aug. 22.
Customs, blessings, homecomings.
*
fox woman get out!
By India Lena González (@itsyagurlindia). BOA Editions. 96 pages. Out Sept. 12.
Sorrel, cast-iron, fiercer.
*
Grand Tour: Poems
By Elisa Gonzalez (@athenek). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 112 pages. Out Sept. 19.
Transformation, transparency, transcendence.
*
Removal Acts
By Erin Marie Lynch (Standing Rock Sioux) (@lyncherinmarie). Graywolf Press. 136 pages. Out Oct. 3.
Bloodlines, fringes, meanings.
*
I’m also looking forward to:
- Florida Water: Poems by Aja Monet (Haymarket, Sept.)
- Have You Been Long Enough At Table by Leslie Sainz (Tin House, Sept.)
- Sex Augury by C Bain (Red Hen, Sept.)
- Time Without Keys: Selected Poems by Ida Vitale (New Directions, Sept.)
- The Limitless Heart: New and Selected Poems (1997-2022) by Cheryl Boyce-Taylor (Haymarket, Oct.)
- On | (Un-) Becoming by Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa (Button, Oct.)
- People You Know, Places You’ve Been by Hana Shafi (Book*Hug, Oct.)
- Survival Takes a Wild Imagination by Fariha Róisín (Andrews McMeel, Oct.)
- Uiesh / Somewhere by Joséphine Bacon (Talonbooks, Oct.)
- People Not Things: Love Poems and Paintings for Humanity by Genesis Be (Andrews McMeel, Nov.)
Up next:
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