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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Photograph of Witness. Courtesy of the Author. “What’s the problem of women? Knowledge! What’s the problem of women? Their head, that’s why they want to cut their head.”—Nawal El Saadawi In the early morning of July 8, as Hurricane Beryl cast the coast of Texas in darkness and disarray, a statue was beheaded on . . .
Read MoreFrom the mountains and prairies, to ocean’s white foam:Hail the beers of America. Let your tastes roam!‘Twixt Atlantic, PacificCome brewers prolificWith tributes for toasting this spacious-skied home. So gallantly streaming, beers pourInto glasses and cups for the Fourth.From the crisp, from the tart,to the hoppy—the heartOf the country pumps out brews galore! . . .
Read MoreAnd pints that instantly glow,On the counter, in pyramids of crowns…—Émile Verhaeren, trans. Jacob Siefring Tripelicious is how I describeThese Belgian-style beers I imbibe.As I sip golden glow,I will rhyme and bestowApprobations with Tripel Ale vibes. 1St. Vrain is a river and beer.Lightly fruity, the latter will cheer—fully tickle the tipOf your tongue as . . .
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It must be awful to be a Republican these days. So many reasons to be terrified: immigrants flooding across our borders, gender subversion from within, swarthy people rising from below, and so few of “our nation’s core principles” left unassailed. Even Sean Hannity, culture warrior supreme, can’t seem to keep up. How . . .
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A review of Bianca by Eugenia Leigh (Four Way Books, 2023) “Trauma” and “grief,” or rather such shallow incarnations of serious psychological phenomena that they merit air quotes, have become trendy concepts in recent 21st century discourse and media. Movies and television use the traumatic past as a major plot revelation (The Matrix Resurrections, Succession, Yellowjackets), or . . .
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A Review of Under Our Skin, by Joaquim Arena, translated by Jethro Soutar (Unnamed Press, 2023) I like to say that Joaquim Arena’s memoir/travel narrative Under Our Skin, translated by Jethro Soutar and published by Unnamed Press, arrived to me at the perfect time, because I had been learning about extraordinary historical figures from . . .
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A Review of I’ll Give You a Reason by Annell López (The Feminist Press, 2024) Annell López’ short story collection, I’ll Give You a Reason, brings us to the heart of the Ironbound, an immigrant neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey. These stories explore race, colorism, Blackness, identity, sex, and gentrification, among other topics. López gives . . .
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Editor’s note: The full version of this essay will be published in a new collection of essays: Natalia Ginzburg’s Global Legacies, edited by Stiliana Milkova Rousseva and Saskia Elizabeth Ziolkowski (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). [1] For a long time Natalia Ginzburg avoided talking openly about her Jewish origins. She interrupted her silence, or rather, her . . .
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Countée Cullen, c.1927 Review of Countée Cullen’s Harlem Renaissance by Kevin A. Brown. Forthcoming in 2024 from Parlor Press. Will our life’s work be considered a lead melody or an accompanying harmony in the symphony of history? Does it matter if one plays first or fourth chair in the orchestra if we are talking . . .
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