Members and friends, we hope you’re doing well! Our members have been busy this past week with reviews of books by authors including Jamaica Kincaid, Sujata Massey, andré carrington, Dorothy Tse, and Liesl Ujvary, and interviews with writers such as Emily Franklin, Aram Mrjoian, and Crystal Simone Smith. Take care, and thanks for reading!
Member Reviews/Essays
Krista Timeus Cerezo reviewed Aside From My Heart, All Is Well, written by Héctor Abad and translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean, for Words Without Borders.
Edna Bonhomme reviewed Jamaica Kincaid’s Putting Myself Togetherfor The Nation.
Ron Slate reviewed The Reservation by Rebecca Kauffman; True Mistakes by Lena Moses-Schmitt; Talking Classics by Mary Beard; and Every Time We Say Goodbye, written by Ivana Sajko and translated from the Croatian by Mima Simić, for On The Seawall.
Linda Hitchcock reviewed Lyla Lane’s The Best Little Motel in Texas, Sujata Massey’s The Star from Calcutta, and Stacy Hackney’s The Primrose Murder Society for BookTrib.
Sullivan Summer reviewed Audiofuturism: Science Fiction Radio Drama and the Black Fantastic Imagination by andré carrington for the Ancillary Review of Books.
JD Scott reviewed Jake Rose’s Joan for Zona Motel.
Joyce Sáenz Harris reviewed Patrick Strickland’s new story collection, A History of Heartache, for The Dallas Morning News.
Bruce Krajewski reviewed David Bather Woods’ Arthur Schopenhauer: The Life and Thought of Philosophy’s Greatest Pessimist for the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Chris Barsanti reviewed Monsters in the Archives by Caroline Bicks for PopMatters.
Julia M. Klein reviewed Judy Batalion’s The Last Woman of Warsaw for the Forward.
Nicole Schrag reviewed City Like Water, written by Dorothy Tse and translated from the Chinese by Natascha Bruce, for On the Seawall.
Erik Gleibermann reviewed The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon for The American Scholar.
Marcie Geffner reviewed Honeysuckle, a debut fantasy novel by Bar Fridman-Tell, for the Washington Independent Review of Books.
Katherine Beaman reviewed Good & Safe, written by Liesl Ujvary and translated from the German by Anna-Isabella Dinwoodie and Ann Cotten, for Diagram.
Member Interviews
Marlene L. Daut interviewed Alex Gil about his unearthing and subsequent translation of Aime Cesaire’s 1943 “lost” play, And the Dogs Were Silent, for Public Books.
For their Book Cougars podcast, NBCC member Chris Wolak and Emily Fine spoke with Sara Catterall about her new biography, Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon, and with Emily Franklin about her new novel, Love and Other Monsters.
Natalia Holtzman interviewed debut novelist Aram Mrjoian about his book Waterline for Hour Detroit.
Sullivan Summer interviewed poet Crystal Simone Smith about her new book, Common Sense (1776): Addressed to Today’s Citizens of America: An Erasure, for the New Books Network.
Member News
Michael O’Donnell’s second novel, Concert Black, will be published on Tuesday, April 21, by Blackstone Publishing. The book follows a prizewinning biographer as she sets out to write about the eminent conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He tries to stop her in order to preserve a decades-old secret. Booklist calls Concert Black “a compelling, beautifully crafted story of the human costs of ruthless ambition and flawed genius.”
Jason Berry was interviewed by Howard Hunter at the New Orleans Book Festival.
Meg Lemke moderated a Children’s Book Council panel with this year’s three winners of the Graphic Novel Advocate award: Gina Gagliano, Maia Kobabe, and Andrea Miller.
Jeanne Bonner’s translation of an excerpt of a book by Italian author Edith Bruck was longlisted for the Best Literary Translations, which is published each year by Deep Vellum. The translation excerpt, from Bruck’s short story collection, Two Empty Rooms, was published by Jewish Currents last year and can be read here.
Brink, edited by NBCC member Hannah Bonner, is officially open for The Brink Poetry Prize. The winner will receive $500, publication in the journal, and four copies of the issue in which their work appears. Donika Kelly is the judge for this year’s contest. Submissions are open through April 30, and more information about submitting can be found here. Also, during the month of May, former NBCC board member Victoria Chang is teaching a four-week online class for Brink titled “Magical Intention in Poetry.” More information about the class and registration can be found here.
McKenzie Watson-Fore is moderating a virtual critical panel with four small-press authors, hosted by Charis Books. The event is titled “A Song of Mothers and Daughters,” and will take place on Friday, May 8, at 4:30 p.m. Pacific/7:30 p.m. Eastern. Attendance is free but registration is required—you can register here.
Join Viva La Book Review’s Bill Marx for his free workshop, “Survival Strategies for Reviewers,” this Friday, April 24, at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. Attending reviewers are invited to contribute their own stories about navigating the review-publishing world—from collaborating with editors and submitting book reviews to sharing career advice they’ve gained along the way. Register here and add it to your Google Calendar: Have a survival story to tell? Write to contactvivalabookreview@gmail.com.
“Vintage Esterbrook Fountain Pens” by Joe Haupt is licensed under CC BY 2.0.