Posted Wednesday, 2 November, 2016 by jorielov Essential Readings & Study Guide, Essential Readings series, K.V. Dominic, Loving Healing Press, Modern History Press 4 Comments
Acquired Book By: I appreciate hosting for Poetic Book Tours as I get to expand my literary horizons by reading Contemporary Poets through their poetry collections as well as Small Trade releases in fiction or non-fiction. I have been blessed to be a host for this book touring company for a year now. I received a complimentary copy of “Essential Readings & Study Guide” direct from the author K.V. Dominic in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Essential Readings & Study Guide
Subtitle: Poems about Social Justice, Women’s Rights, and the Environment
Source: Author via Poetic Book Tours
K. V. Dominic "Essential Readings" gathers for the first time the three most important works of poetry from this shining new light of contemporary Indian verse in English: "Winged Reason," "Write Son, Write" and "Multicultural Symphony."
A fourth collection of 22 previously unpublished poems round out a complete look at the first 12 years of Dominic's prolific and profound verse. Each poem includes unique Study Guide questions suitable for South Asian studies curricula.
Written in free verse, each of his poems makes the reader contemplate on intellectual, philosophical, spiritual, political, and social issues of the present world. Themes range from multiculturalism, environmental issues, social mafia, caste-ism, exploitation of women and children, poverty, and corruption to purely introspective matters. From the observation of neighborhood life to international events, and everyday forgotten tragedies of India, nothing escapes the grasp of Dominic's keen sense of the fragility of life and morality in the modern world.
Genres: Poetry & Drama Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
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ISBN: 9781615993024
Published by Modern History Press
on 1st September, 2016
Format: Paperback Edition
Pages: 284
Published By: Modern History Press
an imprint of Loving Healing Press (@vvolkman)
The next Essential Readings series release will feature the works of T.V. Reddy!
Read an interview feat. T.V. Reddy about his writing career!
Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook
Converse via: #Poetry
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Posted Wednesday, 2 November, 2016 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Equality In Literature, India, Indie Author, Modern Day, Poetic Book Tours, Poetry
Posted Saturday, 29 October, 2016 by jorielov Arisa White, Augury Books, You're the Most Beautiful Thing that Happened 3 Comments
Acquired Book By: I was selected to review “You’re the Most Beautiful Thing that Happened” by Poetic Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of “You’re the Most Beautiful Thing that Happened” direct from the publisher Augury Books in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
You're the Most Beautiful Thing that Happened
by Arisa White
Source: Publisher via Poetic Book Tours
Angular, smart, and fearless, Arisa White’s newest collection takes its titles from words used internationally as hate speech against gays and lesbians, reworking, re-envisioning, and re-embodying language as a conduit for art, love, and understanding.
“To live freely, observantly as a politically astute, sensually perceptive Queer Black woman is to be risk taker, at risk, a perceived danger to others and even dangerous to/as oneself,” writes poet Tracie Morris. “White’s attentive word substitutions and range of organized forms, lithe anecdotes, and disturbed resonances put us in the middle of living a realized, intelligent life of the senses.”
You’re the Most Beautiful Thing That Happened works through intersectional encounters with gender, identity, and human barbarism, landing deftly and defiantly in beauty.
Genres: African-American Literature, Biography / Autobiography, LGBTQIA Fiction, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Poetry & Drama, Self-Improvement & Self-Actualisation, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Women's Studies Places to find the book:
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ISBN: 9780988735576
Published by Augury Books
on 21st October 2016
Format: Softcover Edition
Pages: 100
Published By: Augury Books (@augurybooks)
Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook
Converse via: #Poetry
About Arisa White
Arisa White is a Cave Canem fellow, Sarah Lawrence College alumna, an MFA graduate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and author of the poetry chapbooks Disposition for Shininess, Post Pardon, and Black Pearl.
She was selected by the San Francisco Bay Guardian for the 2010 Hot Pink List and is a member of the PlayGround writers’ pool; her play Frigidare was staged for the 15th Annual Best of Play Ground Festival. Recipient of the inaugural Rose O’Neill Literary House summer residency at Washington College in Maryland, Arisa has also received residencies, fellowships, or scholarships from Juniper Summer Writing Institute, Headlands Center for the Arts, Port Townsend Writers’ Conference, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Hedgebrook, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Prague Summer Program, Fine Arts Work Center, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
Nominated for Pushcart Prizes in 2005 and 2014, her poetry has been published widely and is featured on the recording WORD with the Jessica Jones Quartet.
Photo Credit: Nye’ Lyn Tho
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Posted Saturday, 29 October, 2016 by jorielov in 21st Century, African-American Literature, Blog Tour Host, Equality In Literature, Indie Author, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Modern Day, Poetic Book Tours, Poetry
Posted Tuesday, 25 October, 2016 by jorielov Dear Almost, Louisiana State University Press, Matthew Thorburn 1 Comment
Acquired Book By: I was selected to review “Dear Almost” by Poetic Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of “Dear Almost” direct from the author Matthew Thorburn in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Dear Almost
Subtitle: a poem
Source: Author via Poetic Book Tours
Dear Almost is a book-length poem addressed to an unborn child lost in miscarriage. Beginning with the hope and promise of springtime, the poet traces the course of a year with sections set in each of the four seasons. Part book of days, part meditative prayer, part travelogue, the poem details a would-be father’s wanderings through the figurative landscapes of memory and imagination as well as the literal landscapes of the Bronx, Shanghai, suburban New Jersey, and the Japanese island of Miyajima.
As the speaker navigates his days, he attempts to show his unborn daughter “what life is like / here where you ought to be / with us, but aren’t.” His experiences recall other deaths and uncover the different ways we remember and forget. Grief forces him to consider a question he never imagined asking: how do you mourn for someone you loved but never truly knew, never met or saw? In candid, meditative verse, Dear Almost seeks to resolve this painful question, honoring the memory of a child who both was and wasn’t there.
Genres: Poetry & Drama Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 9780807164310
Published by Louisiana State University Press
on 1st September, 2016
Format: Paperback Edition
Pages: 88
Published By: Louisiana State University Press
Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook
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Posted Tuesday, 25 October, 2016 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Indie Author, Modern Day, Poetic Book Tours, Poetry
Posted Wednesday, 12 October, 2016 by jorielov ergon, George HS Singer, Wordtech Communications, WordTech Editions 1 Comment
Acquired Book By: I was selected to review “ergon” by Poetic Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of “ergon” direct from the author George HS Singer in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
ergon
Source: Publisher via Poetic Book Tours
George Singer’s Ergon is precise, delicate and fierce in its engagement with the world.
George HS Singer, a former Buddhist monk, has written a debut collection of poems about his life as a monk and in the monastery and about his life when he left to marry and have a family. As he tries to balance his spiritual principles with every day life as a husband and father, these poems utilize nature as a backdrop for his quest.
Genres: Poetry & Drama Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 9781625491923
Published by Wordtech Editions
on 18th June, 2016
Format: Paperback Edition
Pages: 88
Published By: WordTech Editions an imprint of WordTech Communications
Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook
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Posted Wednesday, 12 October, 2016 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Indie Author, Modern Day, Poetic Book Tours, Poetry, Vulgarity in Literature
Posted Saturday, 20 August, 2016 by jorielov Modern History Press, Saris and A Single Malt, Sweta Srivastava Vikram 2 Comments
I definitely enjoy hosting a wide variety of guest features on Jorie Loves A Story, as it helps to establish a common thread of creative expression and the conjoined joy of seeing how creatives fuse their creative voice to the works they are creating for us all to appreciate finding! This is why sometimes I yield to the author’s selection of topics, however, in this particular case I cannot remember if I picked this topic or if Ms Vikram surprised me! To be honest, I had so much happening at the time when this essay first came into my Inbox, I’ve completely forgotten!
I am delighted I could host her for a second time on the blog tour, as I found her poetry to be simply emotionally evicting of her topic of choice: the gutting reality of unexpected loss & the aftermath of putting the pieces of your heart back together whilst accepting a loved one’s ending chapter from your life. It was beyond powerful and it was underlit by hope, faith and a bent towards acceptance out of the raw emotions that consume all of us in the height of our tangible grief.
It was an honour and a pleasure to be on a blog tour to celebrate the brave hours where Ms Vikram’s pen did not fail her nor did the words fail to etch out her emotional warring heart to come to terms with letting go of ‘Mum’. It’s such a difficult transitional period for a daughter to ‘let go’ of her supportive best mate and partner. I felt she not only honoured the relationship and love both her and her mother shared but she found a way to write a truism caught inside that chaotic moment of death and loss that all daughters can personally identify as being a part of their own journey. To that end, she wrote a collection of poems we can all fuse directly into our hearts, minds and souls.
Let us take a step back from the poems, and listen to how she approaches crafting a story out of poetry of which she eloquently has found a way to communicate with us.
Saris and a Single Malt is a moving collection of poems written by a daughter for and about her mother. The book spans the time from when the poet receives a phone call in New York City that her mother is in a hospital in New Delhi, to the time she carries out her mother’s last rites. The poems chronicle the author’s physical and emotional journey as she flies to India, tries to fight the inevitable, and succumbs to the grief of living in a motherless world. Divided into three sections, (Flight, Fire, and Grief), this collection will move you, astound you, and make you hug your loved ones.
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Posted Saturday, 20 August, 2016 by jorielov in Author Guest Post (their topic), Blog Tour Host, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Equality In Literature, India, Indie Author, Literature of India, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, New York City, Poetic Book Tours, Poetry, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author