Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry

“For nearly 40 years Armantrout has made a poetics of not finding the right words–of finding, in fact, the ‘wrong’ ones . . . Armantrout restores the strangeness of experiences we take for granted.”—Michael Robbins, Chicago Tribune “Hoopskirts, star jasmine, synchronized swimming, Russian icons, a ceramic fish face, electrons & photons: in these poems, everything is interconnected, thought through, deeply felt & expressed in the most precise and necessary words. Armantrout is one of our most inventive & magnetic poets, & she never disappoints: with inspired patience, she embraces the strangeness of our familiar world & refashions it into something new & utterly transporting.”—Lydia Davis The post Rae Armantrout : Partly – New & Selected Poems appeared first on Tin House.

“What is a dog if not god? In Afterglow, Eileen Myles steps up to the challenge for writers to function as prophets. Ghostwritten in part by deceased pit bull Rosie, this ‘dog memoir’ explores—among other things—geometry, gender, mortality, evil, aging, and plaids. Myles makes new rules for what prose writing can be. Afterglow is Myles’s funniest, profoundest work yet.”—Chris Kraus “Only Eileen Myles could reinvent the memoir again so stunningly; Afterglow is the sort of multidimensional love story you could only expect from one of our greatest experimental writers living today!”—Porochista Khakpour The post Eileen Myles : Afterglow appeared first on Tin House.

“I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting. With brilliance and beauty, Celeste Ng dissects a microcosm of American society just when we need to see it beneath the microscope:  how do questions of race stack up against the comfort of privilege, and what role does that play in parenting?  Is motherhood a bond forged by blood, or by love?  And perhaps most importantly:  do the faults of our past determine what we deserve in the future?  Be ready to be wowed by Ng’s writing—and unsettled by the mirror held up to one’s own beliefs.”—Jodi Picoult The post Celeste Ng : Little Fires Everywhere appeared first on Tin House.

“Spells is a fascinating hybrid text, not simply illustrated by a collection of photographs but created in response to them, a collaboration between Peter Rock and five photographers. The result is a novel unlike any I’ve read before, that weaves elements of realism, fable, prose poetry, and essay through the supporting structure of images to create something beautiful and unsettling.”—Cari Luna “Rock’s prose calls to mind Kazuo Ishiguro, not just for its spareness but also for its mix of wonder and creepiness.”—New York Times The post Peter Rock : Spells appeared first on Tin House.

“Sinclair crafts her stunning debut collection around the beauty & brutality of the word cannibal, whose origins derive from Columbus’s belief that the Carib people consumed human flesh. Attacking this dehumanizing judgment born from white entitlement & denouncing the idea that blackness is synonymous with savagery, Sinclair ponders such questions as, How does a poet get inside the head of Shakespeare’s Caliban? How would Caliban define blackness without the filter of a white man’s bias? . . . Through her visceral language Sinclair paints the institution of white supremacy as not just an individualized phenomenon, but as a ruthless & menacing force.”—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review The post Safiya Sinclair : Cannibal appeared first on Tin House.

Award-winning poet, Matthew Zapruder, challenges misconceptions about poetry, emphasizing focusing on words rather than hidden meanings. He discusses poetry's transformative power, the complexities of interpretation, and the intimate connection between reader and poet through language. The conversation highlights the interplay of chaos and order in poetry, exploring symbolism, politics, and personal experiences in poetic expression.

“As a descendent of Chantal Akerman and Unica Zürn—among others—Yanara Friedland reimagines the origin myth. Friedland’s permeable pages allow the reader entryway into a ‘mirror [that] becomes an open door,’ a door through which we hear the echo of Ana Mendieta telling us ‘There is no original past to redeem: there is the void.’ Uncountry is an invitation to that void, and Friedland serves as dream guide through this blend of the personal, political, and stunningly poetic”—Lily Hoang Uncountry: a Mythology is winner of the Noemi Press Fiction Prize The post Yanara Friedland : Uncountry appeared first on Tin House.

Poet Mary Ruefle discusses her creative process, labels on her work, menopause's transformative nature, language complexities, color pieces in 'My Private Property', and the interplay of happiness and sadness.

In the court of the King, everyone knows their place. But as the Artist wins hearts & egos with his ballads, uncomfortable truths emerge that shake the Kingdom to its core. Part surreal fable & part crime romance, this prize-winning novel from Yuri Herrera questions the price of keeping your integrity in a world ruled by patronage & power. “A powerful & memorable meditation on the social & economic value of art in a world ruled by the pursuit of power.”—Publisher’s Weekly “Yuri Herrera must be a 1000 years old. He must’ve traveled to hell, & heaven, & back again. He must’ve once been a girl, an animal, a rock, a boy, & a woman. Nothing else explains the vastness of his understanding”—Valeria Luiselli The post Yuri Herrera : Kingdom Cons appeared first on Tin House.

“[Gregory Pardlo] explores what is American, what is African American, what is the Other, what is city, what is suburban, what is personal & what is persona. Digest offers a changing, rich landscape of verse both haunting, funny, & rigorously intellectual—Jerry Magazine “[Pardlo] renders history just as clearly & palpably as he renders NYC or Copenhagen or his native New Jersey. But mostly what he renders is America with its intractable conundrums & clashing iconographies. With lines that balance poise & a jam-packed visceral music & images that glimmer & seethe together like a conflagration these poems are a showcase for Pardlo’s ample & agile mind, his courageous social conscience, & his mighty voice.”—Tracy K. Smith The post Gregory Pardlo : Digest appeared first on Tin House.