Editor's Corner

Maura Stanton, Immortal Sofa, poems: In poems both humorous and elegaic, Maura Stanton gathers strange facts, odd events, and overlooked stories to construct her own vision of immortality. (Illinois)

Jayne Anne Phillips, Lark And Termite, a novel: In this extraordinary novel of war, resolution and recognition, generational inheritance, and the power of loss and love, Phillips tells the story of two siblings struggling to understand the secrets of their family history. (Knopf)  

Gerald Stern, Save the Last Dance, poems: Stern’s latest is an intimate, yet always universal and surprising, book that’s rich with humor and insight. (Norton)

Tobias Wolff, Our Story Begins, new and selected stories: The ten spare, elegant new stories, collected with twenty-one stories from Wolff’s three previous collections, offer moments of realization, along with an expert use of irony and empathy to explore facets of contemporary life. (Knopf)

C. D. Wright, Rising, Fall, Hovering, poems: Wright’s language is sharpened with political ferocity as she overlays voices from the borderlands between nations, to reveal the human struggle for connection and justice during times of upheaval and grief. (Copper Canyon)

Jorie Graham, Sea Change, poems: Bringing readers to the threshold at which civilization becomes unsustainable, Graham questions how the human spirit might persist in a world where the future is no longer assured. (Ecco)

Rita Dove, American Smooth, poems: The poems in Dove’s gorgeous eighth collection move through history, music, war, and motherhood in an ever graceful choreography. (Norton)

Edward Hirsch, Special Orders, poems: With a mixture of grief and joy, Hirsch assesses “the major triumphs, the major failures” of his life so far, revealing a new fearlessness in confronting his own internal divisions. (Knopf)

George Garrett, Empty Bed Blues, stories: The fifteen stories in Garrett’s thrilling collection are deeply concerned with the old verities of love and death. (Missouri)