I met Gabriel Carle at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, around 2014. If memory serves, we were both enrolled in the same seminar on contemporary Puerto Rican literature. I read their stories soon after. Tactile, sweaty, fast, vulgar, and free, these orbited the lives of queer kids and college students living on the island. Reconnecting with Carle a decade later by way of their English-language debut, Bad Seed, is a great opportunity to learn how much their writing has evolved. Translated from the Spanish by Heather Houde, this newly expanded edition still vibrates with the he ..read more

We are in a golden age of anthologies, and Graywolf Press’s Raised by Wolves: Fifty Poets on Fifty Poems, which is also a celebration of its 50th anniversary, is a phenomenal addition to the mix. One of the leading independent publishers of contemporary poetry, ever since its beginnings in Port Townsend, Washington, Graywolf is much lauded for its range of award-winning offerings which span poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and books in translation. Now based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and incorporated as a non-profit forty years ago, the press’s Executive Director and Publisher Carmen Giménez joine ..read more

When it comes to modern motherhood, there exists a glut of seemingly helpful advice. From parenting books to well-intentioned TikTok videos, almost every question can be answered no matter how minute. But when it comes to the broader questions—from consumerism to childcare to why and how to mother—author Carrie Mullins suggests looking to the annals of classic literature for guidance. In her collection of essays Book of Mothers, Mullins carefully analyzes texts spanning from the early 1800s to the early 21st century, seeking models of motherhood and all their flaws. Woven into these essays are ..read more

Renée Watson’s debut adult novel skin & bones is the result of her graceful transition into a novelist. The nearly four-hundred-page book manages several tasks skillfully thanks to Watson’s background penning poetry and children’s books. Every word is intentional. Some chapters are a single sentence, definition, or short poetic passage expressing a specific idea and evoking a deliberate feeling. The way she optimizes the tools she’s mastered in other literary genres—like using powerful refrains to punctuate chapters—allows her to tell a personal story that does not feel sprawling despite i ..read more

There is a point in Rachel Khong’s sophomore novel, Real Americans, when one of the main characters, Lily, questions her mother’s lack of interest in returning to visit China, the country in which her mother grew up. Pregnant with her own son, Lily thinks, “I wanted to be able to tell my son something about where we’d originated—more than my parents had ever told me.” Later, though, after her son is born, Lily is not so forthcoming with details from their past. In fact, she takes dramatic steps to isolate her son from key elements of his own origin story, including the identity of his father ..read more

Allyson McOuat’s debut ends with a quote by British cosmologist, Brian Cox: “You dig deeper and it gets more and more complicated and you get confused and it’s tricky and it’s hard but it’s beautiful.” He was referring to the universe, but McOuat chose this appropriate and lovely line to summarize her collection of essays. Ranging from the unsettling (“The Harbinger (Death at Every Corner)”), to the horrific (“The Man at the End of the Bed (Terrifying Tales from Beyond the Balcony)”), to the absurd (“The Crone, the Maiden, and the Racoon (Trash Convention)”), wry humor is shot through every es ..read more

New growth is sprouting and the weather in Chicago is (slowly) steadying to warmer temperatures, which can only mean one thing: we’ve made it to May! There’s no shortage of new reads to savor as we reach the start of summer. May sees the releases of some of our most exciting writers working today, including Miranda July, R.O. Kwon, and Chicago’s own Abby Geni. But be sure to dig deep below, because you never know when you might discover one of your favorite books of the year! The Body FarmBy Abby Geni Counterpoint LLC Abby Geni’s novel The Lightkeepers won the inaugural Chicago Review of Boo ..read more

In the latest episode of The Chicago Writers Podcast, Dan Finnen talks with Ananda Lima, author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil, about framing short stories, what makes good horror, finding a project that fits, and having fun when you’re writing. The Chicago Writers Podcast is a Stories Matter Foundation series about the latest Chicago literary news, releases, and recommendations. Stay tuned every month for new installments! https://chicagowriterspodcast.libsyn.com/ep-43-maxine-rae-author-on-embracing-ya-after-the-agent-and-what-teens-are-saying The post Ananda Lima on Framing Short S ..read more

In Nicolette Polek’s debut novel Bitter Water Opera a young film professor named Gia is in the midst of a crisis. She has left her job and her boyfriend and is in a fit of despair ignoring phone calls from her mother and sleeping 15 hours a day. In the opening pages of this slim imaginative novel, Gia is visited by the ghost of Marta Becket—the eccentric ballerina and owner of the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel in Death Valley, California. Gia forms a quiet, yet intimate friendship with Becket and ultimately finds a spiritual solution out of her despair via a religious congregation, gardening ..read more

Untold generations after abandoning a dying Earth, humanity now endures in a fleet of vast ships. In one ship’s Hold, where chained menial laborers live out their sunless days, a boy with a talent for drawing catches the eye of the upper decks. Fitted with an electronic anklet instead of a crude chain, the boy is sent up to university. There, along with a likewise-ankeleted professor, he learns more about the realities of their world and, drawing on the Practice he learned in the Hold, comes to challenge them. It’s becoming something of a refrain for me—I keep thinking the generation ship stor ..read more