We almost forgot to share over here that Anna Laura Reeve’s debut poetry collection, Reaching the Shore of the Sea of Fertility, was recently named a finalist for this year’s Weatherford Award! This is Appalachia’s highest literary honor, and we’re thrilled to see the book among such stellar company. Our 2024 Appalachian books include William Woolfitt’s forthcoming poetry collection, The Night the Rain Had Nowhere to Go, and Kirsten Reneau’s hot-off-the-presses memoir in essays Sensitive Creatures. We’re excited to keep growing our community in that stretch of our eclectic regional identity.
Speaking of regional diversity, we’re headed back to Deep-South Louisiana soon with Shome Dasgupta’s latest story collection, Atchafalaya Darling!
This book is really special, and we hope you’ll pre-order it ASAP. THE Aimee Bender shared these kind words about Atchafalaya: “There’s so much tenderness in these stories, all wrapped in vibrantly bubbling scenes and conversations. Dasgupta cares about all these characters and it shows all over the pages and pulls a reader in.”
Meanwhile, have you checked out Of Fathers & Gods yet? Foreword Reviews had this to say about our next story collection (the review will appear in their upcoming May/June issue):
We’ll have early copies available for sale at Scissortail next week! Speaking of which, check out this marathon of Belle Point authors on the Friday schedule:
We’re also heading to the New Orleans Poetry Festival in April and can’t wait to see so many friends + make new ones! Belle Point will have a roundtable featuring four of our authors and will be tabling at the small press fair—PLUS we have another gathering in the works, so keep an eye out for more details coming soon.
Lastly, a quick reminder that National Poetry Month begins next week! We have a few different sales planned throughout the month of April, so be ready to stock up and support our poets.
Until then, thanks for sticking around.