AWP Member Bookshelf
Members are invited to list their new and forthcoming books on our AWP Member Bookshelf. Listings will also appear in an issue of the Writer's Chronicle and on our Bookshop.org affiliate page when available. Books added ahead of their publication date will receive a special Pub Day shoutout on AWP’s social media pages. To add your book, fill out our submission form.
New and Forthcoming Books by AWP Members
Sex, Love, and Black Lives by Dr. Mack Curry IV
09/20/2024
Come explore the thoughts and experiences that pour from my mind, a bit raunchy, romantic, and radical all at the same time.
They Were Horrible Cooks by Allison Whittenberg
09/16/2024
Whether bearing witness to the torment of a mother who drowns her own children, or to the quiet sorrows of daughters mourning their mother by fingering the thread of her old coats, Whittenberg never fails to illuminate crucial truths at the center of human experience. These poems cut to the bone.
Eleanora in Pieces by Jessica Maffetore
09/05/2024
It's been two years since Eleanora's 4-year-old son disappeared from his bed in the middle of the night. Every day she waits for news that he's been found. And every day Eleanora lives with the nightmare of knowing that she failed to protect the person who matters to her the most.
The Last Whaler by Cynthia Reeves
09/03/2024
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY calls THE LAST WHALER "a dramatic tale of survival at a frigid whaling station in 1937 Norway. This emotionally rich historical will keep readers turning the pages." FOREWORD REVIEWS’ starred review states “descriptions of the harsh Arctic landscape are lucid, at times ethereal.”
Pineville Trace by Wes Blake
09/03/2024
“Wes Blake renders the tale with great empathy and in language that’s so lyrical it practically lifts from the page. Blake is a writer to watch.” —Lee Martin, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist The Bright Forever “A haunting debut!” —Julie Hensley, author of Landfall: A Ring of Stories
City of Dancing Gargoyles by Tara Campbell
09/03/2024
In the parched, post-apocalyptic Western U.S. of the 22nd Century, wolves float, bonfires sing, and devils gather to pray. Water and safety are elusive in this chaotic world of alchemical transformations, where history books bleed, dragons kiss, and gun-toting trees keep their own kind of peace.
The Golden Land by Elizabeth Shick
09/01/2024
Winner of the 2021 AWP Prize for the Novel. Etta Montgomery is a Boston-based labor lawyer coming to terms with the love and loss she experienced as a teenager during a 1988 family reunion in Burma.
Controlled Conversations by Karol Lagodzki
08/20/2024
In his debut novel, Karol Lagodzki asks: What separates people who transcend their fear and take risks for the sake of change from the rest of us? The answer is up to the readers.
The End of Tennessee by Rachel M. Hanson
08/20/2024
"A gut-wrenching story of resilience and survival, beautifully anchored through the ferocity of Hanson's attachments to those she loves. Gorgeous, terrifying, impossible to put down."—Tessa Fontaine, author of The Electric Woman and Red Grove: A Novel
Broken Mirror by Cody Sisco
08/16/2024
“A fantastic SF thriller with a sincere and important message.” —Kirkus Reviews Broken Mirror is the first volume in a queer psychological science fiction saga that looks at the stigma of mental illness and the hellish distrust and alienation that goes with it.
Alien Soil: Oral Histories of Great Migration Newark by Katie Singer
08/16/2024
This book explores Newark’s Krueger-Scott African-American oral history collection. Singer separates these stories into thematic categories of social and political events, including church, work, and activism in order to paint an intimate portrait of the larger Black urban experience.
Bobby and Carolyn: A Memoir of My Two Mothers by John Philip Drury
08/09/2024
“This is a memoir of songs and silences, of public and private performances. John Philip Drury uncovers in concise and beautiful prose the remarkable stories of the two mothers who raised him. A remarkable and jewel-like book.” (Stephen Kuusisto)
My Chicano Heart: New and Collected Stories of Love and Other Transgressions by Daniel A. Olivas
08/06/2024
"These stories are about love, heartbreak, magic, death and other oddities of our Chicano lives, as only Olivas's imagination can tell them... He is without a doubt one of the master storytellers of our time." —Daniel Chacón
Linh Ly is Doing Just Fine by Thao Votang
07/23/2024
Told with deadpan humor and brutal honesty, this debut novel follows Vietnamese-American Linh Ly’s unraveling as she reckons with the traumas of both her past and present. Moving, insightful, and caustically funny all at once, the novel depicts a quarter-life crisis in deeply relatable prose.
The Big Freeze: A Reporter's Personal Journey into the World of Egg Freezing and the Quest to Control Our Fertility by Natalie Lampert
07/16/2024
A fascinating and deeply-researched investigation into the lucrative, minimally regulated, fast-growing industry of egg freezing, from a young reporter on a personal journey into the world of cutting-edge reproductive medicine.
Tender One by G. Gazelka
06/21/2024
Written in 2015–16, these often-personal poems take a spiritual journey through crisis to wholeness and a place of intimacy. Offered in this chapbook are their meditations and truths learned along the way.
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima
06/18/2024
"One of the most original and unforgettable reads of the year." —LIBRARY JOURNAL "A terrific fiction debut.”—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY "will delight readers crushed under the weight of the contemporary world.”—KIRKUS "Absolutely thrilling"—KELLY LINK
Talking Leaves Scrapbook by Vivian Mary Carroll
06/11/2024
The debut collection of Cherokee poet Vivian Mary Carroll. "There is a contagious joy and appreciation present in this book that I find reminiscent of Allen Ginsberg and Sherwin Bitsui. The agency of the poet is rather astounding." Cedar Sigo, author of ALL THIS TIME
Clouds Are the Mountains of the World by Alan Davis
06/04/2024
Mixing terrifying suspense, riveting slice-of-life episodes, terrifying encounters, heart-warming scenes, and splashes of dark humor, Davis narrates a gripping, powerful literary thriller about our human need to connect and endure.
Arena Glow by Angela Chaidez Vincent
06/04/2024
Arena Glow: Poems featuring women of the arena: the rodeo arena, the cockpit of a small plane, the boys’ club of engineering, the confines of a murderous board game, the Colosseum in which women also desired to fight as gladiators, the traditional marriage.
Into the Ancient by Joseph M Hess
05/31/2024
"...INTO THE ANCIENT crosses several continents while digging into memories: ex-lovers, a tragically lost brother. In Joe Hess’s exacting mirror, a troubling American style of loving, fogged-over and obscure against a late Cold War backdrop, starts to come clear." C. Wagner, Of Course, Fence
Life Afterlife / A Book of the Hours by Katherine Durham Oldmixon Garza
05/31/2024
Life Afterlife / A Book of the Hours gathers poems from a love life in body and from love as grief when the sudden death of her spouse takes a woman into the afterlife of a widow. A book of hours weaves through the poems, holding her in the present, as she lives memory, imagination and myth.
In the Grip of Grace by Marianne Mersereau
05/24/2024
"Compelling poetry, adroit storytelling, and keen memoir." (Annette Sisson, author of Small Fish in High Branches) "Under the spell of Mersereau's vivid and compassionate voice, readers will be held in awe of her rich-storied life." (Anna Egan Smucker, author of Rowing Home and No Star Nights).
Maine Under Water by Allison Whittenberg
05/07/2024
Set in the 1970s, the book centers on Charmaine "Maine" Upshaw who is about to graduate from junior high, after achieving valedictorian status. However, she is not able to read her grad speech to her class because of a power outage.
Tabitha, Get Up by Lee Upton
05/03/2024
"It's Lee Upton's best, funniest, and most ingenious work of fiction yet."—Brock Clarke "Smart, funny...and a total joy!"—Iris Smyles "You're going to love this book."—David Ebenbach
Pulp into Paper by Lenore Weiss
04/22/2024
In the close-knit community of Hentsbury, racism and the local paper mill’s oppressive control over the town collide in a gripping tale set in the 1990s in southern Arkansas along the fictional Mud River.
Bonfires & Other Vigils by Colleen Alles
04/18/2024
Any event can be a vigil: a walk by a river, a flu shot at Walgreens, an hour spent by a bird feeder attracting mostly cardinals. These poems are watching the world around them—and the worlds beneath those worlds, too. Alles's second collection relishes in the elusive wonder of otherworldliness.
Blue On A Blue Palette by Lynne Thompson
04/16/2024
Thompson’s range in form and subject matter is equaled only by the deftness with which she handles each. In these pages we get a true blue bluesman who knows when to whisper and when to wait. John Murillo
A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkwo
04/16/2024
Set in contemporary Nigeria, A Kind of Madness is a collection of ten stories concerned with literal madness but also those private feelings that, when left unspoken, can feel like a type of madness: desire, desperation, hunger, fear, sadness, shame, longing.
The Corpse in the Trash Room by Karla Huebner writing as Colette Tajemna
04/16/2024
In a college dorm in the late Seventies, seven hallmates hold a funeral for a pet hamster, only to stumble upon a body ... Keith and his pals must navigate college politics, unruly druggies, and lesbian separatists in order to uncover the truth.
Inside Out Egg by Robin LaMer Rahija
04/01/2024
Inside Out Egg is an anxious collection of poems about finding love, beauty, and personhood on a media-soaked, consumerism-burned, hellscape of a planet.
She Called Me Throwaway - a Memoir by Shama Shams
03/26/2024
Shama Shams spent her childhood in her native land of Bangladesh during a time of political turmoil and daily violence. Her father fled to the United States when her mother turned to extreme religion, which changed Shama's life forever.
unalone by Jessica Jacobs
03/15/2024
"Lucid, deft, circumspect, generous, sagacious, she gets down on her poetic knees and plants a green new tree of knowledge. Jacobs seeds, stakes, pollinates, flourishes, blooms." -Spencer Reece, Presbyterian Minister and Author
Truth Be Told by Linda Susan Jackson
03/15/2024
"In our violence, in our need, in our appetite for every last thing, we are no different than even the most terrifying gods...Truth Be Told is in every way a Revelation." -Tracy K. Smith
Is There Room for Another Horse on Your Horse Ranch? by Cyrus Cassells
03/15/2024
Who else could write work so unapologetic in its appetites, so sexy and urbane at the same time? Here we see him at his best-brazen, erotic, confident, and full of verve...In this brilliant collection, Cassells is the "artful, persistent dreamer"... -Richie Hofmann, Author of A Hundred Lovers
The Animal Is Chemical by Hadara Bar-Nadav
03/15/2024
"Hadara Bar-Nadav organizes terror through a language so precise that every line proves how beauty can be wrought from pain." -Jericho Brown, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Judge of the 2022 Levis Prize in Poetry
Mother, (v) by Anne Marie Wells
03/13/2024
Formally distinctive and beautifully honed, MOTHER, (V) is a reflective, precise and poignant sequence exploring fertility and its absence. This is honest, exquisitely realised poetry written with a freshness and intelligence that draws the reader in deeply, confirming Wells as a unique voice.
Letters from Conflict by Lisa Stice
03/13/2024
Through a welcome bundle of poetic correspondence with an international community of artists and poets, a seasoned North Carolina poet and spouse of a U.S. Marine shares intimate insights and observations on creating history, family, community, and art.
Days of Grace and Silence: A Chronicle of COVID's Long Haul by Ann E. Wallace
03/12/2024
DAYS OF GRACE AND SILENCE documents the experience of living through COVID in spring 2020 and its aftermath, with illness, pain, and healing laid against a broad backdrop of pandemic deaths, mental health crisis, and social unrest. Yet the poems here are marked by hope and resilience.
The Truth About Unringing Phones by Lara Lillibridge
03/05/2024
When Lara was four, her father moved from New York to Alaska, a distance of over 4,000 miles. She spent her childhood chasing after him, flying a quarter of the way around the world to tug at the hem of his jacket. Now that he is in his eighties, she contemplates her obligation to an absentee father.
Chicano Frankenstein by Daniel A. Olivas
03/05/2024
"Olivas puts a Latinx twist on Mary Shelley’s classic in this fascinating modern retelling . . . Part science fiction and part political satire, Olivas’s timely latest explores the pitfalls of assimilation and probes what it means to be 'human.'" —Publishers Weekly
Green World: A Tragicomic Memoir of Love & Shakespeare by Michelle Ephraim
03/01/2024
Recipient of the 2023 Juniper Prize in Creative Nonfiction. “GREEN WORLD is one of the funniest and most captivating memoirs I’ve read in years. Ephraim’s wit flies off the page.” —Chris Monks, managing editor, MCSWEENEY'S INTERNET TENDENCY
Ember Days by Mary Gilliland
03/01/2024
Woolf’s pen runs dry, Tesla holes up, Lincoln emerges in yet another bardo, and the rest of us tunnel through Wednesday’s jammed boulevards, Friday’s cash worthless, Saturday’s prodigal feet, in “a radiant testimony—and a triumph—of an unerring ear.”—Ishion Hutchinson
The Next Draft: Inspiring Craft Talks from the Rainier Writing Workshop by Various
03/01/2024
The Next Draft brings together a selection of the “morning talks” delivered by the renowned authors who teach at the prestigious Rainier Writing Workshop MFA program. These diverse essays feature inspiring, innovative approaches to writing and literature across genres.
Fine Dreams by Linda N. Masi
03/01/2024
Fine Dreams rewrites myth and history. Framed by a ghost’s first-person narrative, Masi’s debut novel centers on four young friends. While studying for exams, they are kidnapped and taken to a terrorist encampment. Two are claimed as “wives” by their captors, one is forced to wear a suicide vest...
Sweet Malida: Memories of a Bene Israel Woman by Zilka Joseph
02/27/2024
In this deeply moving collection, Zilka Joseph takes us on a journey through memories scented with cumin and cardamom, grief and regret, as her Bene Israel heritage comes alive. Joseph’s precise and passionate descriptions transcend time and space. —Nancy Naomi Carlson.
The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill
02/20/2024
"Sweeping yet intimate, Amanda Churchill’s Turtle House spans cultures and continents. Minnie and her granddaughter Lia are unforgettable protagonists, whose grit and grace will inspire you. Together, they find a way through in this gripping debut." —Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City
WAGER by Adele Elise Williams
02/19/2024
“All sass and smarts, Adele Elise Williams’ WAGER does the duende—that dance with death Lorca said all great poems risk. In life and in art, Williams meets the prospect and memory of annihilation with ferocious honesty, linguistic play, and wit." —Dana Levin, author of NOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE
Entwined: Essays on Polyamory and Creating Home by Alex Alberto
02/19/2024
A moving, often hilarious memoir about polyamory and the radical possibilities of chosen family.
Nonprofit Fundraising - Lessons from the Trenches by Shama Shams
02/09/2024
LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES adopts a workbook approach with a step-by-step guide to nonprofit fundraising. It encourages readers to annotate, jot down ideas, and work through exercises directly on its pages.
Pencil by Carol Beggy
02/08/2024
"PENCIL" offers a deep look at this common, almost ubiquitous, object. To love a pencil is to use it, to sharpen it, and to essentially destroy it. OBJECT LESSONS is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Ceremonies for No Repair by Paula Cisewski
02/06/2024
"Night skull elegy, matrilineal pandemic pillow book, harrowing florilegium, red-threaded unbinding spell, Paula Cisewski's CEREMONIES FOR NO REPAIR descends into the mouth of the lion called care." —Elisabeth Workman
Passion Struck: Twelve Powerful Principles to Unlock Your Purpose and Ignite Your Most Intentional Life by John R Miles, foreword by Matt Higgins
02/06/2024
PASSION STRUCK delves into the essence of becoming your ideal self, drawing wisdom from luminaries like Oprah Winfrey, Marc Benioff, and Gen. Stan McChrystal. Discover the twelve powerful principles to unlock purpose, overcome self-doubt, catalyze personal mastery, and embrace life with intention.
