Explore Booksellers in Aspen recommends a historical novel, poetry examining violence and philosophical perspectives on the universe.
poetry
Colorado’s new poet laureate is easy to understand — but hard to hear
Andrea Gibson’s written and spoken word poetry delves into issues that affect Coloradans’ daily lives
“The Long Devotion” reflects on the intersection of motherhood and art
For “The Long Devotion,” co-editors Emily Pérez and Nancy Reddy spent years collecting observations of poets on balancing — or not — the demands of family and craft.
Poets wondered: Is motherhood the enemy of art-making?
Is motherhood the enemy of art-making? A writing panel brought Emily Pérez and Nancy Reddy together — and the duo soon began “The Long Devotion,” a years-long anthology project to explore this and more.
What the staff at Explore Booksellers suggests you read this February
The folks at Aspen’s Explore Booksellers recommend a page-turner mystery, nuanced short stories about men and women and a remarkable collection of poetry.
SunLit Interview: When prose failed her after her son’s death, a Colorado mother turned to poetry
Diane Alters, a Colorado Springs-based former journalist and college professor, turned to poetry in 2012 when her son, Armando Alters Montaño, 22 and known as Mando, died suddenly and violently in Mexico City. Already an accomplished student journalist, Montaño had recently graduated from Grinnell College, interned with the New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher […]
SunLit Excerpt: “Breath, Suspended” charts in poetry the depths of a mother’s grief
This Face You sit in a glass-walled officeat the morgue in Mexico City,studying a cadaver photographof a face you love. You are tryingto convince the coroneryou know this face,this young man who was smilingthe last time you saw him.In your face she has glimpseda blankness, a momentaryrefusal to acknowledgethat the photograph depictsyour son. You barely […]
SunLit Interview: Poet Carol Guerrero-Murphy’s urgency moved her to self-publish
Carol Guerrero-Murphy has a significant history of publishing while teaching creative writing from preschool through graduate levels in southern Colorado. She is semi-retired, writing and teaching in the Adams State Prison College Program and is affiliate faculty in the Western Colorado University MFA creative writing program. She is a professor emerita from Adams State University […]
SunLit Excerpt: The prose poems of “Bright Path, Dark River” meditate on family life and death
Spring Tea Time, 4 o’clock We sit in the west courtyard. We chat about the times we have nearly died over our long lifetimes. Death is a tossed stone. Memory is a pool. The melanoma incident. The two bloody births. The numerous fatal car accidents mitigated or avoided. The angioplasty. Open heart surgeries. Several resistant […]
SunLit Interview: In “Slow Arrow,” Kathryn Winograd wove threads of her mother’s voice
Kathryn Winograd is the author of six books, and her essays have been noted in Best American Essays, and published in numerous journals and anthologies. Her poetry has received three Pushcart Prize nominations and been published in places as diverse as The New Yorker and Cricket Magazine. She currently teaches for Regis University’s Mile High […]