Synopses & Reviews
"Forty years old and flourishinga remarkable record for a small nonprofit pressAlice James Books deserves praise and admiration."Maxine Kumin
A compilation of archival materials accompanies this collection of forty years of Alice James Books poetry. Nearly 150 authors are represented in chronological order. Maxine Kumin states, "the list of authors is remarkable for its breadth, variety, and passion. The assortment is idiosyncratic, the range of voices and styles embraces the familiar personal narrative voice and the innovative." Contributors include Jane Kenyon, Fanny Howe, Forrest Gander, Jean Valentine, B.H. Fairchild, Matthea Harvey, Brian Turner, and Cole Swensen.
Anne Marie Macari's most recent book She Heads into the Wilderness was published in 2008 by Autumn House Press. She is also the author of Gloryland (Alice James Books, 2005), and Ivory Cradle, which won the APR/Honickman First Book Prize in 2000. Macari founded and teaches in the low-residency MFA program in poetry and poetry in translation at Drew University.
Carey Salerno is the executive director of Alice James Books. She earned an MFA in poetry from New England College and teaches in the BFA program at the University of Maine at Farmington. Her first poetry collection, Shelter, won a 2007 Kinereth Gensler Award and was published in 2009.
Former US Poet Laureate Maxine Kumin, winner of the Pulitzer and Ruth Lilly prizes, is the author of Where I Live: New and Selected Poems 19902010 (W. W. Norton and Company), her seventeenth volume, which won the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry.
Review
Alice James Books has been one of the major forces in American poetry for the past four decades
. This is an essential book for readers who want to understand and enjoy contemporary American poetry.” Publishers Weekly, starred review
". . . a wild stretching voice through time and knowledge. . . . Lit from Inside is an enticing pick for any literary poetry collection. . ." The Midwest Book Review
The history of American poetry is the history of the small press, and Alice James Books, true to its origins in the Seventies as a collective operation, is a large and very distinctive chapter in that history, well deserving of this anthology showcasing its poets and work, both experimental and traditional, that ranks among the most important of the past four decades. The next time a student poet asks me for an anthology that will teach her the art in its most exemplary and current state, this is the one I will hand her.” B.H. Fairchild
The founding members of Alice James Books welcomed me, in 1975, to a crew of feisty individuals committed to poetry. Unfettered by demands of market or profit, the press publishedfor forty years tantalizing collections. Culture; family; feminism; friendship; history; passion; racism; war: its all in this anthology, a rewarding testimony to the independent spirit.” Robin Becker
Synopsis
This distinctive anthology from a foremost American literary press is a must-have for all serious readers of contemporary poetry.
About the Author
Anne Marie Macari's most recent book, She Heads Into the Wilderness, was published in 2008 by Autumn House Press. She is also the author of Gloryland (Alice James Books, 2005), and Ivory Cradle, which won the APR/Honickman First Book Prize in 2000. Macaris work has been widely published in magazines including Poetry International, The American Poetry Review, Five Points, TriQuarterly, Bloomsbury Review, Shenandoah, The Cortland Review, The Iowa Review, and in anthologies including From the Fishouse (Persea Books, 2009) and Never Before: Poems About First Experiences (Four Way Books). Macari founded and teaches in the low-residency MFA program in poetry and poetry in translation at Drew University.
Carey Salerno is the Executive Director of Alice James Books. She earned an MFA in Poetry from New England College, and teaches for the BFA program at the University of Maine at Farmington. Her first poetry collection, Shelter, won a 2007 Kinereth Gensler Award and was published in 2009. Salerno lives in western Maine with her husband and two dogs, Daisy and Gatsby.
Former US Poet Laureate, Maxine Kumin, winner of the Pulitzer and Ruth Lilly prizes, is the author of Where I Live: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 (Norton), her 17th volume, which won the 2011 L.A. Times poetry book prize. She has taught at MIT, Brandeis, Princeton, Columbia, Washington University of St. Louis, and served on the Bread Loaf Writers Conference faculty for seven years. She and her husband live on a farm in New Hampshire.