Naming Who's Related in the Garden: A Review of SOIL by Camille T. Dungy
Camille T. Dungy Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden Simon & Schuster / May 2023 / 336 pp / $28.99 Reviewed by Melanie...
top of page
Reviews and Interviews
A Conversation with Picture Book Writer Tiffany Golden
by Kathleen Driskell Tiffany Golden, an MFA graduate in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of...
A Rare Collaboration: The Multifaceted Work of Playwright Dan O’Brien
by Portia Pennington Dan O’Brien is that exceptional breed of accomplished artist who never stops asking the hard questions. His...
Reconciling Life’s Pain & Love: A Review of WHAT SMALL SOUND by Francesca Bell
Francesca Bell What Small Sound Red Hen Press / 2023 / 104 pp. / $22.00 Reviewed by Katie Massa Kennedy / October 2023 How can we exist...
The Shape and Substance of Self: Review of Bronwyn Fischer’s THE ADULT
Bronwyn Fischer The Adult Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill / May 2023 / 312 pp / $27 Reviewed by Laura Johnsrude / September 2023 College...
The Bite and the Charm: A Review of GHOST APPLES by Katharine Coles
Katherine Coles Ghost Apples Red Hen Press / 2023 / 120 pp / $17.95 Reviewed by Melanie Weldon-Soiset / August 2023 Ghost Apples, the...
Approachable Discomfort: A Review of the Short Story Collection IN THE BETWEEN
Brice Particelli, Editor In the Between: 21st Century Short Stories Persea / 2022 /240 pp / $14 Reviewed by Lesly-Marie Buer / June 2023...
In Search of the Ineffable: A Review of THE TREES WITNESS EVERYTHING
Victoria Chang The Trees Witness Everything Copper Canyon Press / 2022 / 144 pp / $17 Reviewed by Melanie Weldon-Soiset / April 2023...
Review: Alexandra V. Méndez’s WHAT THE JAGUAR TOLD HER
Alexandra V. Méndez What the Jaguar Told Her Levine Querido / 2022 / 416 pp / $18.99 Reviewed by Jeremy Paden / April 2023 Historical...
REVIEW: THE LAND OF STONE AND RIVER by Claudia Putnam
Claudia Putnam The Land of Stone and River Moon City Press/ 2022 / 102 pp/ $14.95 Reviewed by Lynnell Edwards / February 2023 Claudia...
Crafting the Marvelous from the Mundane: A Review of Eamon Grennan’s PLAINCHANT
Eamon Grennan Plainchant Red Hen Press / 2022 / 72 pp / $15.95 Paperback Reviewed by Maud Welch / January 2023 In his gripping new poetry...
Far-flung and Personal: A Review of Stephen Benz’s READING THE SIGNS
Stephen Benz Reading the Signs and Other Itinerant Essays Etruscan Press / 2022 / $18 / 384 pp Reviewed by John Mark Jennings / January...
The Dance of Chronos and Kairos in PARADISE CLOSE
Lisa Russ Spaar Paradise Close Persea Books / 2022 / 219 pp / $25.95 Reviewed by Elizabeth Hall Magill / December 2022 Acclaimed poet...
REVIEW: THE MINUTES by Tracy Letts
Reviewed by Charles M. Rix / November 2022 On May 15, 2022, I stepped into New York City’s Studio 54 to catch the Broadway premier of the...
Review: THE WORLD THAT THE SHOOTER LEFT US by Cyrus Cassells
Cyrus Cassells The World That the Shooter Left Us Four Way Books / 2022 / 120 pp / $16.95 paper. Reviewed by Debra Kang Dean / October...
The Heart of the Matter: Family Histories Bring Immigration Stories to Life for Young Readers
Reviewed By K. L. Going / October 2022 One of the many things I enjoy about writing for young audiences—whether they’re picture book,...
Review: THE WAY A WOUND BECOMES A SCAR by Emily Schulten
Emily Schulten The Way a Wound Becomes a Scar Kelsay Books/ 2021/ 80pp/ $16.50 Reviewed by Lynette Lamp / October 2022 The Way a Wound...
Souls in Armor: A Review of George Ella Lyon’s BACK TO THE LIGHT
George Ella Lyon Back to the Light The University Press of Kentucky / 2021 / 105 pp / $19.95 Paperback Reviewed by Jimmy Long / October...
Tidbits and Courses, Not Whole Meals: A Review of David Sedaris' A CARNIVAL OF SNACKERY
David Sedaris A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries 2003-2020, Little, Brown and Company/Hatchette Book Group / 2021 / 576 pp / $32.00...
A Conversation with Caitlin Hamilton Summie
by Elaine Neil Orr Caitlin Hamilton Summie's Geographies of the Heart, Fomite, 2022. Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist, General...
REVIEW: VIRGINIA WOOLF'S MRS. DALLOWAY by Robin Black
Robin Black Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway Ig Publishing / 2022 / $14.95 /176 pp Reviewed by Robin Lippincott / April 2022 From One...
REVIEW: DEAR DAMAGE by Ashley Marie Farmer
Ashley Marie Farmer Dear Damage Sarabande Books / 2022 / $16.95 / 200 pp Reviewed by Laura Johnsrude / April 2022 Early in 2014, in a...
REVIEW: AMERICA by Fernando Valverde
Fernando Valverde America Translated by Carolyn Forche Copper Canyon Press / 2021 / $18.00 / 176pp Reviewed by Jeremy Paden / April 2022...
Review: PINE by Julia Koets
Julia Koets's poetry collection PINE, reviewed by Lynnell Edwards.
Tender Spaces: Verse Novels Provide Healing and Hope for Middle-Grade Readers
Reviewed by Dana VanderLugt / January 2022 During the fourteen years I taught middle school English, one of the best parts of my job was...
Circles of Life: From the Inside Out in Voice Lessons: Essays
Karen Salyer McElmurray Voice Lessons: Essays Iris Press / 2021 / 128 pp / $20 Reviewed by Elaine Neil Orr / December 2021 The longest...
Book Review of Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West
Lauren Redniss Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West Random House / 2020 / 288 pp/ $30.00 Hardcover / $20.00 Paperback...
Kentucky Book Festival Highlights: An Interview with Director Sara Volpi
by Good River Review staff The Kentucky Book Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this year with a weeklong festival, November 1-6,...
Coming Home: A Review of Jayne Moore Waldrop’s Drowned Town
Jayne Moore Waldrop Drowned Town University Press of Kentucky / 2021 / 254 pp / 24.95 Reviewed by Elizabeth Hall Magill / October 2021...
Politics, Prose, and Foreignness in Recent Romance Language Lyric Poetry
Berenguer, Amanda/Materia Prima: Selected Poems of Amanda Berenguer/Eds. Kristin Dykstra and Kent Johnson/Ugly Duckling Presse/2019/$22...
bottom of page