In This IssueBOA Celebrates 40 Years with a BOA Benefit Birthday Bash

Featured Titles andUpcoming Events

Ryan Habermeyer WinsBOA Short Fiction Prize

theBOAhemian

the e-newsletter of BOA Editions, Ltd. | volume 5 | issue 3 | fall 2016

BOA’s Featured Titles

TransferPoems by Naomi Shihab Nye

The Day’s Last Light Reddens the Leaves of the Copper Beech

Naomi Shihab Nye was a featured guest on a recent episode of On Being with Krista Tippett. During the episode, which aired over 400+ public radio stations around the country, Nye talked about her father, who was a refugee Palestinian journalist, and how through poetry, she “carries forward

his hopeful passion, his insistence, that language must be a way out of cycles of animosity.” According to On Being, “Naomi is wise and compelling, bringing poetry down to earth in a beautifully practical way. . . . [She] is a breath of fresh air in the midst of these complicated times, and her rational, compassionate spirit is a welcome respite from the chaos of the daily news cycle.” Click here to listen to the episode.

Poems by Stephen Dobyns

Dinah Cox’s story collection Remarkable has been in the recent spotlight with glowing new reviews and author interviews. According to Publishers Weekly, Cox’s stories are “sharp and sur-prising, venturing fearlessly into unexpected territory. . . . The stories neither revere nor despise their Oklahoma

setting, even as many of Cox’s delightfully odd characters feel stuck there and dream of someday getting out. . . . This is a daring and confidently written collection.” Lambda Literary also has praise for the collection, saying, “Cox writes thoughtfully and carefully, show-casing her deftness with language and nuance, and the multidimensional nature of her ordinary characters.”Cox was recently interviewed by Late Night Library, which is available online.

Just released in September, The Day’s Last Light Reddens the Leaves of the Copper Beech, by Stephen Dobyns, is already garnering high praise. According to Booklist, this is a collection of “cour- ageous observations about the way one endures as he considers big questions about death . . . Dobyns’s

brave and sincere poems will remind readers of their own humanness.” West Virginia newspaper The Journal calls the poems “unflinchingly beautiful as Dobyns explores the transience of life on earth. These are poems for those who respect honesty.”

RemarkableStories by Dinah CoxWinner of the BOA Short Fiction Prize

Along with poetry readings, we’ve marked the 40th anniversary by publishing a limited edition chapbook, The Word from His Song, featuring new work by seminal BOA poet Li-Young Lee; we’ve given away signed copies of that chapbook to monthly winners of our #BOATurns40 Share Your Story campaign (still on through December!); and we’ve received birthday wishes and testimonials via social media that continue to arrive from around the world.

Truly, BOA’s 40th anniversary has been a chance for the entire poetry community to connect to and celebrate our ongoing passion for the written word.

The BOA Benefit Birthday BashThroughout 2016, there have been numerous commemorations of BOA’s landmark 40th anniversary. In Los Angeles, an array of BOA poets—Aracelis Girmay, Li-Young Lee, Nikola Madzirov, Michael Waters, and Jillian Weise—stood onstage at the annual AWP Conference and read from their BOA books. In New York City, the lineup included Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Aracelis Girmay, Erika Meitner, Craig Morgan Teicher, and Michael Waters, and the celebration happened as part of the Bryant Park Reading Room. This month the celebratory readings continue, as the Twin Cities Book Festival presents a reading by Ray Gonzalez, Janice N. Harrington, and Michael Waters, titled “40 Years of BOA Editions,” held at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on Saturday, October 15.

BOA author Janice N. Harrington

BOA staff & board members: Jenna Fisher, Daphne Morrissey, Melissa Hall, Boo Poulin, Christopher Cebula, Janice N. Harrington, Grant Holcomb, Angela Bonazinga, Jack Langerak, and Peter Conners | Event Photos by Gerry Szymanski

Here at BOA headquarters, we wanted to make sure we celebrated our anniversary in our hometown of Rochester, NY, too. On Sunday, September 25, we got that chance! The BOA Benefit Birthday Bash brought together local supporters with BOA staff and board members to toast (with champagne!) 40 years of publishing the best poetry and fiction the world has to offer. It was particularly fitting to have award-winning author Janice N. Harrington at the Birthday Bash to read her poetry, sign copies of her three BOA books, and give a special craft talk to early party goers.

Harrington’s first book, Even the Hollow My Body Made Is Gone, was published as the fifth winner of our annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. That outstanding debut went on to win the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Harrington followed that collection with The Hands of Strangers: Poems from the Nursing Home (2011), a lyrical, narrative collection inspired by her work as a nurse’s aide in the 1970s. Her most recent book, Primitive: The Art and Life of Horace H. Pippin, documents the history and work of a celebrated, often misunderstood painter who is regarded as one of the best-known African American painters of his time. Adrian Matjeka says of the book: “In her innovative and incisive third book of poems, Primitive, Janice N. Harrington shows us the great revelations possible in the intersections of history and poetry. These elegantly-crafted poems explore the aftermath of war, Jim Crow America, and American visual art through the life and art of the painter Horace H. Pippin.”

BOA staff & board members blow out the candles on BOA’s 40th birthday cake

Along with Harrington’s art talk and reading, we screened our BOA Editions 40th Anniversary Film, a short documentary about BOA’s history that features interviews and event footage filmed throughout 2015. The brief, poignant film united everyone in the room in a shared knowledge of the history of BOA’s place in American letters.

By the time the candles on the birthday cake were lit, a heartfelt rendition of “Happy Birthday” was sung, and champagne glasses were raised in toast, it was clear that BOA’s mission to bring

“high quality literature to the public” had gone well beyond the printed page, and straight into the hearts of literature lovers in Rochester, and across the world.

—Peter Conners, Publisher

BOA’s MissionBOA Editions, Ltd., a not-for-profit publisher of poetry and other literary works, fosters readership and appreciation of contemporary literature. By identifying, cultivating, and publishing both new and established poets and selecting authors of unique literary talent, BOA brings high quality literature to the public.

BOA Editions, Ltd.250 North Goodman StreetSuite 306Rochester, New York 14607boaeditions.org585.546.3410

Upcoming BOA Events

BOA Staff

BOA Board of DirectorsJack Langerak, Board Chair Boo Poulin, Honorary Vice ChairChristopher Cebula, TreasurerAngela Bonazinga, SecretaryMarijana AbabovicJeffrey ClarkGrant HolcombHon. Teresa D. JohnsonYisrael LevinDaphne MorrisseyChalonda Roberts James

Peter ConnersPublisher

Melissa HallDirector of Development and Operations

Jenna FisherDirector of Marketing and Production

Check out our interactive Author Events Map for the latest listings of BOA author events and readings taking place all over the country (and world)!

BOA Author Events

BOA SupportersClick here to see the most current list of our generous donors and supporters.

Help support our mission:

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Publications by BOA Editions, Ltd. are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Stay Connected—Keep in Touch

First Friday with Dinah CoxAnderson Arts Building, Rochester, NYNovember 4, 2016 | 6:00pm

BOA author Dinah Cox will read from her new book Remarkable for an Anderson Alley Artists’ “First Friday” event at the Richard Margolis Studio (Floor 4, Studio 9). Monroe Community College will also feature Cox for its reading series on November 3, 2016, at 7:00pm. This event is free and open to the public.

Holiday Gala at BOA EditionsAnderson Arts Building, Rochester, NYDecember 2, 2016 | 6:00pm

Join us for the annual Anderson Alley Artists’ Holiday Gala, as local artists and studios open their doors to celebrate the season with the public. Stop by the BOA office (suite 306) to mingle with the BOA staff and board, and enjoy special holiday pricing on BOA titles! This event is free and open to the public.

Read Local with Aracelis GirmayThree Heads Brewing, Rochester, NY December 3, 2016 | 6:00pm

BOA poet Aracelis Girmay will read from her new book the black maria for Rochester’s Read Local initiative, a book club and event series run by Writers & Books. Stop by, grab a drink, and meet the author! Follow Read Local’s Facebook page for event updates. This event is free and open to the public.

Ryan Habermeyer Wins BOA Short Fiction PrizeWe are pleased to announce that Ryan Habermeyer is the winner of the sixth annual BOA Short Fiction Prize for his collection, The Science of Lost Futures. The collection was selected by Publisher Peter Conners from 147 submissions. Habermeyer will receive a $1,000 honorarium and book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. within the American Reader Series in spring 2018.

Of the collection, Peter Conners says: “Ryan Habermeyer is not only a gifted literary writer, but also a yarn spinner of the first order. How else to explain an author who can tell a compelling tale about a foot that mysteriously washes up on shore, ‘…twice as tall as the nearest water tower, and as wide as a cluster of neighborhood streets.’? Habermeyer mixes the unsettling void of Franz Kafka with the tall tale skills of Mark Twain, and tosses in a dash of George Saunders’s contemporary satire for good measure. The result is this funny, poignant, and strikingly original story collection that announces the debut of a young fiction writer with imagination to burn.”

A finalist and three runners-up were also selected: The Secret of Mayo by Andrew R. Touhy (finalist); A More Active You by Meagan Cass; I Cover the Rest by Jenn Stroud Rossmann; and The Visibility of Things Long Submerged by George Looney.

Ryan Habermeyer earned his MFA from the University of Massachusetts and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Missouri. His work, twice-nominated for the Pushcart Prize, has appeared most recently in Cream City Review, Carolina Quarterly, Los Angeles Review, and Chattahoochee Review. He lives with his wife and children in Columbia, MO, where he teaches creative writing and is finishing his first novel.

Established in 2010, the annual BOA Short Fiction Prize publishes short fiction collections within BOA’s long-running American Reader Series, which was originally established in 1994 as a vehicle for prose about poetry and poetics. The series was later expanded to include short fiction, which BOA recognized as a valuable and underserved literary genre.

BOA Editions will accept manuscripts for the seventh annual BOA Short Fiction Prize between April 1 and May 31, 2017. An entry form and a $25 fee are required. Complete eligibility requirements and guidelines are available at boaeditions.org.

F A L L / W I N T E R2016 CATALOG

BOA’s new title catalog is available electronically, making it easier for you to stay up-to-date on new and forthcoming titles! The Fall/Winter 2016 catalog features:

• The Day’s Last Light Reddens the Leaves of the Copper Beech, poems by Stephen Dobyns• The End of Pink, poems by Kathryn Nuernberger; winner of the 2015 James Laughlin Poetry Award• Mandatory Evacuation, poems by Peter Makuck• Primitive: The Art and Life of Horace H. Pippin, poems by Janice N. Harrington• Seed in Snow, poems by Knuts Skujenieks; translated from the Latvian by Bitite Vinklers

Click here to see what’s new from BOA!

BOA’s Fall/Winter 2016 Catalog