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An Interview with Frank Ormsby on The Darkness of Snow
Frank Ormsby’s The Darkness of Snow is new this month, so WFU Press interns gathered to ask the poet more about the collection. Written in five parts, the poems explore vast territory from Ormsby’s childhood in Fermanagh, to life with Parkinson’s, to the difficulty of bearing witness in the face of atrocity. Here, the poet discusses poetic…
Continue ReadingWake Forest University Press Gets a New Home
When Wake Forest University Press got started in 1975, our Founder Dillon Johnston ran the press out of his office in the English Department. As operations grew, we moved into Carswell Hall, and then later into the old bomb shelter in the basement of Tribble Hall. A bomb shelter seemed particularly appropriate for a poetry…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Viola D’Amore” by Moya Cannon
This week, we continue to look back through The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry as we prepare to publish Volume IV. Today we’re featuring Moya Cannon from Volume II, whose subtle yet distinct voice demands a reader’s attention. Her poems are largely preoccupied with the sphere of landscapes, and how human desire—sometimes expressed through the invocation of Greek myths—is interwoven into…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Water” by Dennis O’Driscoll
Photo courtesy of Melissa Libutti As we approach the publication date for The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Volume IV, we’re taking a look back at some of the poets published in previous volumes from this series, which aims to introduce lesser-known Irish poets to an American audience. This week’s poet is Dennis O’Driscoll, whose work…
Continue ReadingIntroducing The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Volume IV
We are happy to announce that we’ll be publishing the next volume of The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry in March. This series brings lesser-known Irish voices to an American audience. In this fourth volume, editor David Wheatley, himself an established poet and critic, has selected poetry by Trevor Joyce, Aidan Mathews, Peter McDonald, Ailbhe Darcy,…
Continue ReadingJohn Montague, 1929–2016
It is with great sadness that Wake Forest University Press has learned of John Montague’s death. We have been honored to be his publisher these many years. We will miss his poetry, his humor, and his humanity.
Continue ReadingHoliday Sale: 40% off
This year, we’re especially grateful for the world’s poets—their words reveal the nuances in life’s complexity and help us find meaning in uncertain times. In that spirit, we are once again running our annual holiday sale. We hope you’ll consider poetry a particularly appropriate gift this year, for others or for yourself. Over the past few weeks, we’ve received many…
Continue Reading“Mostly dark, with a chink of light”: Alan Gillis reflects on Scapegoat and Other Poems
Alan Gillis’s Scapegoat and Other Poems launched on October 1st. To celebrate, WFU Press interns Fahad Rahmat and Rachel Stewart asked Gillis about his influences, religion’s redemptive impulse, how he sees current society and pop culture, and plenty more. WFU Press: Throughout Scapegoat, the reader encounters words like “fugging” and “pizz-popping, jingle-jangle”—sounds which you’ve incorporated into the…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: from “In Whose Blent Air All Our Compulsions Meet” by Alan Gillis
My love is a mansion with many rooms to see.
I’m asbestos.
My love’s a glittering surface, scrubbed spotlessly.
Video Highlights from Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s Reading at Wake Forest
We began this glorious National Poetry Month with a visit from Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, who gave a reading at Wake Forest on April 4, 2016. As we near the end of April, we wanted to share some of the joys of that evening with you. Today we feature one of her poems from The Boys of Bluehill, a…
Continue ReadingVideo Highlights from Ciaran Carson’s Wake Forest Reading
Ciaran Carson recently visited Wake Forest University and gave an enchanting reading on campus. He read from his latest collection, From Elsewhere, and played traditional Irish tunes with his wife, fiddler Deirdre Shannon. Watch the video highlights from this wonderful evening!
Continue ReadingCiaran Carson on tour in the U.S. next month
We are pleased to announce that Ciaran Carson will be on tour in the U.S. this November. If you’ve never had the opportunity to see him read his work, you’re in for a treat. His lively readings combine poetry with traditional Irish music, making for a delightful and festive evening. A quick search on YouTube…
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