Dalia Rosenfeld, author of the debut story collection The Worlds We Think We Know, joined Milkweed editor Joey McGarvey in a discussion about place, humor, and literary influences. From the meaning of symbolism to the catalysts for character creation, Rosenfeld recounts how her book came into being.
Milkweed Editions, in partnership with Riva Ariella Ritvo-Slifka and the Alan B. Slifka Foundation, is pleased to announce the inaugural Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. The winning poet will receive publication by Milkweed Editions in April 2018 and $10,000, making the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize the most lucrative first-book prize.
Feeling a lack of meaningful connection to their cultural roots—Lurie as the son of a reticent Holocaust survivor, José attempting to access a communal histroy obliterated by centuries of oppression—Canoeing with José is the story of two men who embark on a two-thousand mile paddle from Breckenridge, Minnesota to the Hudson Bay. Faced with mosquitoes, extreme weather, suspicious law enforcement officers, tricky border crossings, and José’s preference for Kanye West over the great outdoors„ the trip becomes an oddysey of self-discovery and companionship.
Their friend, Markus Hoeckner, produced a short documentary about their friendship.
“I can see, looking back…
Does a book seem small in influence compared to the monstrous forces of mean-spirited avarice that shadow our public life today? Sure. But why do we remember Leo Tolstoy, Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, or James Baldwin?
The next Milkweed Books Subscription pick is here! Read on for more about Edward McPherson’s The History of the Future, plus other books that explore American myths and misdeeds, boomtowns and Doom Towns.
In precise sentences and assured prose, all three of these writers have crafted singular works of personal nonfiction.
Today marks the official U.S. publication of Tim Winton’s acclaimed memoir, Island Home. The author of twenty-eight books for adults and children, Winton is known worldwide as one of Australia’s most acclaimed novelists. Island Home offers readers a more intimate view of Winton’s relationship to his home—to the sea, scrub, and swamp as vital to him as the blood relations of family.
My reading of novels is often framed by a theme, be it an idea or location or era. Lately, that theme is novels that contain both sadness and humor.
Like all of us at Milkweed Books, I like to read across genres, but I have a soft spot for books that are themselves cross-genre, and particularly those that mess up the lines delineating what is and isn’t fiction. The following selections are a few such titles I’ve loved. One I received at a party, one I bought on a whim at another independent bookstore (shout-out to Subtext Books, my neighborhood store), and another I read after seeing it in the social media feeds of a few other trusted bookstores and booksellers. I wouldn’t normally include two books from the same press, but The Gift comes out in early May and I want everyone to read it right away, so Coffee House gets two this time.
This month I picked three books I eyed for a while before finally picking up—ones I knew I would want to devote an entire, uninterrupted afternoon to read. Daley and I sometimes joke about how we aren’t sure whether we like books or whether we are just so haunted by them we can’t let them go. These are three I definitely enjoyed while reading but, more importantly, they are books that have been lodged in my brain for weeks, ones I find myself wanting to return to and talk about and share.
