Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin

by
Staff
From the January/February 2011 issue of
Poets & Writers Magazine

Growing up during the ’70s, it was tough to avoid the specter of disaster.” Disaster Preparedness (Riverhead Books, January 2011) by Heather Havrilesky. First book, memoir. Agent: Gary Morris. Editor: Megan Lynch. Publicist: Katie Grinch.

“The war was over.” Hating Olivia (Harper Perennial, December 2010) by Mark SaFranko. Fourth book, novel. Agent: Uwe Stender. Editor: Amy Baker. Publicist: Gregory Henry.

“Rose is the name of a flower / or a dead girl.” Sobbing Superpower (Norton, December 2010) by Tadeusz Różewicz. Thirty-ninth book, thirty-fourth poetry collection. Translator: Joanna Trzeciak. Agent: None. Editor: Jill Bialosky. Publicist: Winfrida Mbewe.

“I am turning 65 years of age.” I Love a Broad Margin to My Life (Knopf, January 2011) by Maxine Hong Kingston. Seventh book, fourth memoir. Agent: Sandra Dijkstra. Editor: Deborah Garrison. Publicist: Michelle Somers.

“this little one’s snout in the bones” Bringing the Shovel Down (University of Pittsburgh Press, January 2011) by Ross Gay. Second book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Deborah Meade. Publicist: Maria Sticco.

“The car arrived and his wife held the baby on her hip and waved to him as he trotted down their steps.” Baby and Other Stories (Word Riot Press, December 2010) by Paula Bomer. First book, story collection. Agent: None. Editor: Jackie Corley. Publicist: Jackie Corley.

“I’m a terrible influence on W., everyone says that.” Spurious (Melville House, January 2011) by Lars Iyer. First book, novel. Agent: None. Editor: Dennis Loy Johnson. Publicist: Nathan Ihara.

“EACH BON MOT HAS COST ME A PURSE OF GOLD.” Of Indigo and Saffron (University of California Press, January 2011) by Michael McClure. Twenty-eighth book, twenty-first poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Leslie Scalapino. Publicist: Heather Vaughan.

“Agnes Scofield didn’t know—nor would she have cared—that at precisely the moment she gave up her pretense of disinterest and lost touch altogether with her common sense, the Mississippi River reached its lowest level in history farther south in Memphis, Tennessee.” Being Polite to Hitler (Little, Brown, January 2011) by Robb Forman Dew. Eighth book, sixth novel. Agent: Miriam Altshuler. Editor: Judy Clain. Publicist: Carolyn O’Keefe.

“There was something small—and apparently alive—at the bottom corner of the cot.” A Man in Uniform (Crown, January 2011) by Kate Taylor. Second book, novel. Agent: Ron Eckel. Editor: John Glusman. Publicist: Ellen Folan.

“Otherwise elsewhere—someone somewhere other than here— / the stable-hand for an equestrian team or the bodhisattva / stretched out by the river or the sleepwalking knife-thrower, / the dubious bridegroom or the dental hygienist or steamfitter—” Otherwise Elsewhere (Graywolf Press, January 2011) by David Rivard. Fifth book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Jeffrey Shotts. Publicist: Erin Kottke.

“On the subway Sophie recited the list of stations like a poem.” Binocular Vision (Lookout Books, January 2011) by Edith Pearlman. Fourth book, story collection. Agent: Jill Kneerim. Editor: Ben George. Publicist: Emily Louise Smith.