Yesterday I attended the second annual Albany Book Festival at SUNY Albany. It was an excellent time, with readings by big-name authors, writing workshops, and a large book fair of local authors and their work. I showed great restraint and only bought four books, all of which I was able to get inscribed.
Bartow, Stuart. quaking marsh. Winchester, VA: Pond Frog Editions, 2018.
Bartow and Ungar ran a haiku workshop that I attended and enjoyed. They had a table together at the book fair and I bought a book from each of them. They had a deal where each book was $15.00 or two for $25.00.
Jimenez, Stephanie. They Could Have Named Her Anything. New York: Little A, 2019.
Jimenez and Moraga spoke on a Latina writers panel. I had not heard of Jimenez before but her novel takes place in New York City, so I look forward to reading it.
Little A is amazon.com’s relatively new publishing arm. I appreciate that despite their evilness they are willing to publish new authors of color.
Moraga, Cherríe. Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.
Moraga is a foundational queer Latinx writer and I was excited to buy her memoir and get to meet her briefly.
Incidentally, it drives me nuts that FSG does not use the Oxford Comma in their name.
Ungar, Barbara Louise. Charlotte Brontë, You Ruined My Life. Washington, D.C.: The Word Works, 2011.
I bought this particular book of Ungar’s because of the title. It is about divorce, a topic I am unfortunately familiar with. I am already more than a third of the way through the collection and enjoying it thus far.
Daniel Shank Cruz 