Literary

Peach Picks: Two Poems, Two Novels

by / Dec. 5, 2017 3pm EST

ON PEACH:

Next Friday on Peach, we’ll feature two poems by Jay Ritchie, former assistant editor at Metatron Press, MFA candidate at UMass-Amherst, and author of Cheer Up, Jay Ritchie, out recently with Coach House Books. Ritchie’s poems are notoriously clever, poignant, and charming. In some of the last lines of his poem, “The last abattoir shut down last year,” he explains why he is a writer: “I want to siphon love / when I am in excess of love / to other people, & that / is why I write poetry.” Jay Ritchie will be making a stop in Buffalo on Friday, December 15, to read at our Blue Christmas holiday party, which will be held at Free Agent (704 Main Street) at 7pm. Get your tickets early at our website for a 50 percent discount!

IN PRINT:

Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck (translation by Susan Bernofsky)

New Directions, 283 pages

Originally released in German in 2015, this translation of Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck couldn’t have been released at a more relevant time given our current political atmosphere and refugee crisis. The novel opens by describing a retired professor, Richard, who lives in Berlin and has recently lost his wife. The narrator describes all the things Richard can do with his newfound freedom; he now has time to travel and read the books and listen to the music that he has always wanted read and listen to. Instead, Richard witnesses a group of African refugees and becomes enthralled in their often heartbreaking stories. Erpenbeck’s prose is beautifully unsettling from the very first line: “Perhaps many more years still lie before him, or perhaps only a few.”

IN PRINT:

Mis(h)adra by Iasmin Omar Ata

Simon and Schuster, 288 pages

In the beautifully designed graphic novel, Mis(h)adra, intersectional comics artist and writer Iasmin Omar Ata describes the day-to-day struggles with epilepsy of their protagonist, Isaac. Illustrated in gorgeous shades of yellows, pinks, and blues, Mis(h)adra depicts the isolation and loneliness suffered by a person with what is often an invisible illness and which very few people actually understand. In this stunning book, from trying to navigate an episode catalyzed by a party outside of his apartment to dealing with his family’s disbelief of his condition, Isaac shares every moment.


“Peach Picks” is a column of literary news and recommendations written by the editors of Peach Mag, an online literary magazine based in Buffalo, New York. For inquiries, contact the editors at peachmgzn@gmail.com.

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