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New Issues Poetry & Prose releases four new booksApril 6, 2009 KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University's New Issues Poetry & Prose is releasing four new poetry collections this spring. The book titles and their authors are "Hilarity" by Patty Seyburn, "Dirt Angels" by Donald Platt, "A Million in Prizes" by Justin Marks and "Zero at the Bone" by Stacy Cassarino. "Hilarity" is Seyburn's third book of poetry and winner of the 2008 Green Rose Prize, awarded for a full-length collection of poetry by an established poet. Seyburn is an assistant professor at California State University, Long Beach, and co-editor of POOL: A Journal of Poetry based in Los Angeles. Poet David Citino notes that Seyburn's poems are "filled with a strange, ambitious and compelling music made of the mythic, momentous and mundane days of our lives." "Dirt Angels" also is being released as part of the Green Rose Series. Platt, a Purdue University professor, has written three previous books of critical acclaim. Award-winning poet Eavan Boland has heralded this fourth collection as a book that is a "marvelous to-and-fro between the darkness of loss and the exuberance of language." "A Million in Prizes" and "Zero at the Bone" are debut collections of poetry. "A Million in Prizes" was selected by Carl Phillips as winner of the 2008 New Issues Poetry Prize, an award for a first book of poetry. Phillips, in his judge's citation, writes, " 'A Million in Prizes' seduces in the best possible way: subtly, with a poignant wit, and a sly charm." Marks is the founder and editor of Kitchen Press Chapbooks in New York City. Cassarino's "Zero at the Bone" takes its title from an Emily Dickenson poem. She is a recipient of the "Discovery"/The Nation Prize and the Astraea Foundation Writer's Fund. Glyn Maxwell, an accomplished British poet, praises Cassarino's voice, saying, "It ranges far and near, from the grasp and sigh of creaturely love to the dizzying spaces of American distance, whiteness, silence." Cassarino is a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles. The books have a WMU student touch. Graphic design students at the WMU Design Center in the Frostic School of Art create the cover art for New Issues titles. New Issues Poetry & Prose Publications are made possible by support from WMU and funding from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. For more information about the press and its titles, call Marianne Swierenga at (269) 387-8185 or visit New Issues Poetry & Prose online. Media contact: Mark Schwerin, (269) 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu WMU News |
