Barrelhouse is excited to announce the results of our open reading period for poetry chapbooks! Guess what? We couldn’t pick just one, so we’re doing two!
In early 2018, we will release “Sob Story: The History of Crying” by Allison Titus. Titus’s collection is an essayistic chronicle of crying. Ranging from depictions of weeping on ancient Syrian tablets to Rambo to crying workshops in contemporary Japan, Titus delivers a long poem about the exhibition of emotion that links all of us together. Titus’s sharp mind and eye for detail are on full display as she catalogues what crying is, how it works, how it feels, what it means to society, and what it means to us all personally.
Allison Titus is the author of two books of poetry: The sum of every lost ship (Cleveland State University, 2010) and The True Book of Animal Homes (Saturnalia Books, 2017); two chapbooks: Instructions from the Narwhal (winner of the 1st annual Boom Chapbook Contest, Bateau Press, 2007) and Topography of Tears (Artifact Press, 2017); and a novel: The Arsonist's Song Has Nothing to Do with Fire (Etruscan Press, 2014). She's the recipient of an NEA fellowship in poetry, and currently teaches in the low-res MFA program at New England College.
Then in summer 2018, we will release “Fat Dreams” by Nicole Steinberg. Steinberg’s collection showcases the literal and metaphorical ups and downs of weight loss and gain, and what it means to be a woman who comes from a lineage of size. It is an exploration of how the physical body collides with moments of monumental grief and unexpected joy, and how the body often doubles as identity in a culture that constantly portrays the overweight and obese as sick or less worthy of love.
Nicole Steinberg is the author of two books of poetry: Glass Actress (Furniture Press Books, 2017) and Getting Lucky (Spooky Girlfriend Press, 2013). Her chapbooks include Clever Little Gang, winner of the 4X4 Furniture Press Chapbook Award (2014), as well as two titles from dancing girl press: Undressing (2014) and Birds of Tokyo (2011). She is also the editor of an anthology, Forgotten Borough: Writers Come to Terms with Queens (SUNY Press, 2011). Her work has been featured or reviewed in the New York Times, Newsweek, Flavorwire, Bitch, and Hyperallergic. She lives in Philadelphia.