Author Archive
The Sisters Brothers
The Sisters Brothers Patrick DeWitt Ecco, April 2011 336 pages $24.99 This post was written by Lisa Peet. If the Western exists to glorify the outsider, then it should be noted that Eli Sisters, narrator of Patrick DeWitt’s terrific The Sisters Brothers, is an outsider several times over. He
Radial Symmetry
Radial Symmetry Katherine Larson Yale University Press, March 2011. 96 pages $18.00 This post was written by Tory Adkisson. In her recent collection of poems, Radial Symmetry, Yale Younger Series-winner Katherine Larson examines our culture’s increasingly stark division between scientist and artist, and ultimately makes a strong case for
As Though She Were Sleeping
As Though She Were Sleeping Elias Khoury (translated by Humphrey Davies) MacLehose Press, May 2011 368 pages $23.83 This post was written by M. Lynx Qualey. Translator Humphrey Davies has called Elias Khoury’s 2007 novel, As Though She Were Sleeping, “one of the least linear books ever put down
The Architect of Flowers
The Architect of Flowers William Lychack Mariner Books, March 2011 176 Pages $14.00 This book review was written by Walt McGough. “Still with us?” asks the narrator of “Stolpestad,” the first story in William Lychack’s collection The Architect of Flowers. That the question comes only two paragraphs into the book
If You Knew Then What I Know Now
If You Knew Then What I Know Now Ryan Van Meter Sarabande Books, April 2011 176 pages $15.95 In “First,” the opening essay of Ryan Van Meter’s autobiographical collection, Van Meter’s five-year-old self tells his best friend Ben that he loves him. When Ben responds the same way, Van
40th Anniversary Interview with DeWitt Henry
In honor of our 40th anniversary, the guest editor of our commemorative Summer 2011 issue, DeWitt Henry, answered a few questions about the past, present, and future of our beloved literary magazine. To read more about the 4oth anniversary and upcoming events, read the partner to this interview post,
Editor in Chief, Ladette Randolph, reads at Newtonville Books
We would like to congratulate our editor-in-chief, Ladette Randolph, on the release of her novel, A Sandhills Ballad, in paperback. To celebrate, Ladette will read from the novel on April 13th at 7 pm at Newtonville Books in Newton, MA. She will read along with Monica McInerny, author of At
Interview with Valerie Brennan, cover artist for the Colm Toibin Issue
Valerie Brennan is the artist whose painting appears on the cover of our Spring 2011 issue, guest edited by Colm Toibin. I (the web/marketing editor here at Ploughshares) asked her a few questions about this particular painting, current inspirations, and her work in general. Ploughshares: First off, is there
Ed Skoog on his poems “Lighting” and “Get Free”
Ed Skoog’s poems, “Lighting” and “Get Free” appear in the Winter 2010-11 issue, of Ploughshares edited by Terrance Hayes. “Lighting” opens with these lines: Note the surface that surrounds the word, and how unlike its meaning, which you step over to avoid, the word raised and untouchable. Pitted prune,