Books Acquired Recently: AWP Edition Plus One

AWP:

I just attended the Associated Writing Programs (AWP) conference for the first time this past week. It was a fantastic conference, and one of the best things about it was the huge book fair. There was so much literature to choose from that it became an overwhelming task. I thus developed the following buying strategy: I would stop at publisher tables that looked interesting and ask them if they had any queer texts. If they did, I would consider those texts. I came away with some exciting-looking books by authors that I mostly have never heard of before (and therefore some of the books do not have annotations).

Cho, Tom. Look Who’s Morphing. 2009. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2014.

Cho presented at the same panel as Sassafras Lowrey did (mentioned below). I made a note to look up his work because he discussed the work of Tom of Finland, which I care deeply for. When I went to buy Lowrey’s book I happily discovered Cho’s book right next to it on the table.

Gaydos, Rebecca. Güera. Oakland: Omnidawn Publishing, 2016.

Guzman, Dena Rash. Joseph. Oakland: Hologram Press, 2017.

I attended a poetry reading including Guzman on Thursday morning and she had copies of her new collection for sale. I enjoyed listening to her, bought the book, and discovered that it is even better than it seemed to be at the reading!

July, Miranda. It Chooses You. San Francisco: McSweeney’s Books, 2011.

I love July’s work and was excited to get this book for only $10.00.

Lowrey, Sassafras. Lost Boi. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2015.

I heard Lowrey speak at a panel, and ze said that this novel was on sale at the book fair. After hearing hir speak I wanted to read hir writing immediately. I’m halfway through the novel (a BDSM-inflected retelling of Peter Pan) and it is amazing! When I got home this afternoon I went online and ordered the rest of hir books.

Mondrup, Iben. Justine. Translated by Kerri A. Pieroe. Rochester, NY: Open Letter, 2016.

Parzybok, Benjamin. Sherwood Nation. Easthampton, MA: Small Beer Press, 2014.

Ratzlaff, Keith. Dubious Angels: Poems After Paul Klee. Tallahassee, FL: Anhinga Press, 2005.

Ratzlaff is a Mennonite poet who I had dinner with on Friday night (there were a number of Mennonite writers and literary critics at the conference who all got together for dinner). He mentioned that his books were available at the book fair and I got this volume on sale for $5.00. I finished reading it this morning and quite enjoyed it.

Plus One:

Spark, Muriel. The Comforters. 1957. New York: New Directions, 2014.

Last night I visited Kramer Books with a friend. While browsing their fiction section I came across a book by Muriel Spark (who I love) that I haven’t read yet and decided to buy it.