Is anything the matter? Drawings by Laylah Ali University Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Massachusetts Amherst February 14 to May 9, 2025 As I stepped into the main gallery of the University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA), I was confronted with the question—Is anything the matter?—splayed across the entry wall. Instinctively, . . .
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A Review of Nnedi Okorafor’s Death of the Author “Creation flows both ways” remarks Ankara, the robot and author of the novel embedded within Nnedi Okorafor’s latest speculative masterpiece, Death of the Author. This sentiment, something “humanity could never bring itself to believe,” is a prescient reminder that the act of creation . . .
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A Review of Aria Aber’s Good Girl (Hogarth 2025) “I wanted to take pictures, I thought, because exile made my parents’ lives a mystery to me. I wanted to archive my life, to have irrefutable testimony,” says Nila, the protagonist of Aria Aber’s debut novel, Good Girl. Good Girl tracks the artistic . . .
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A Review of Joseph Fasano’s The Last Song of the World (BOA Editions, 2024) Like a deep breath, like a flower that blooms against the relentless elements of an inhospitable season, Joseph Fasano’s The Last Song of the World begins with “Sudden Hymn in Winter,” a short but powerful poem, functioning almost as the collection’s own . . .
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Are you in a beer slump, do you steerClear of tastes unlike those you hold dear?Well, I have a solution:New Beers Resolutions!I tried it; there’s nothing to fear. 1.If you like a clean lager (no frills),Here’s a beer that might just fit your bill:For Rebellion Red LagerHas a touch of swaggerWith sweetness . . .
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Jon Hoel: The natural world is pretty frequent in your work over the years; in these recent poems, though, there are two terms specifically I wanted to ask you about, “decolonization” and “land back.” Both are ideas many people are likely familiar with, but some might not be. I was curious what . . .
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A Review of Ayşegül Savaş’s The Anthropologists (Bloomsbury, 2024) “The green jacket, the ceremonial stones, breakfast with Manu, the Dame on the terrace, and the shapes of poems,” goes Ayşegül Savaş’ magpie-like narrator Asya as she meticulously collects objects and moments with her partner Manu to build their nest, two ex-pats in an unnamed . . .
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Phil Elverum, photo by Katy Hancock Poems are songs, songs are poems. This dictum may infuriate anyone who has ever penned an editorial on Leonard Cohen’s songs or anyone who was irate when the Nobel committee declared Bob Dylan was literature. Those familiar with the history of songwriting, however, might be inclined . . .
Read MoreI think I can finally stand meWithout a glass or a stein.– Barton Sutter, “Sober Song” Well, you know that a Sober OctoberFor this beer reviewer’s a Noper.Yet again—just for you—I’ve imbibed more such brews.Let me be your NA beer decoder. You can still do your work with these beers,Fill your glasses . . .
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A Review of Fadi Azzam, Huddud’s House. Translated by Ghada Alatrash. Northampton: Interlink Publishing, 2024. What does it mean to truly belong? Is it the soil beneath our feet? Or is it the echoes of our memories, the whispers of our ancestors, and the silent pull of our heritage? In a world fractured . . .
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