
Please come out and help me celebrate the release of my second poetry collection, Humanly, and my 28th birthday on May 2nd at 7 pm at Mellow Pages Library in Bushwick (56 Bogart St # 1S, Brooklyn, New York 11206).
I will be reading from Humanly, and there will be some really wonderful guest readers, including Angel Nafis, Jeanann Verlee, Jon Sands, John Paul Davis, Corrina Bain, and April Ranger!
If you RSVP via Facebook I'll love you forever. I am trying to figure out how much cake to get (because it's my birthday).
Here's some more info on Humanly:
PRAISE FOR HUMANLY
“If I had never before heard anyone say, “Art Saves Lives,” I swear on the bullseye of my own wrist, I would have run through the streets screaming it the moment I finished this book. I want everyone who has never believed in the possibility of being given back Time, to read these poems. Not a moment of grief denied, and still, each turn of the page, a vaulted ceiling in my heavy heart. What a generous and intensely vulnerable offering to our survival this book is.”
—Andrea Gibson
“With an unpredictability that alternately jolts and mesmerizes, Stevie Edwards has crafted an intricate exploration of life as we’d rather not know it. There is much in these stanzas to jolt and unsettle—stark crafting and a relentless respect for the possibilities of word create a tension only felt in the presence of revelation.”
—Patricia Smith
“In Humanly, Stevie Edwards wakes us into our own bodies with her fierce honesty: The first time I tried to slip my outsides/I failed. This is a courageous book of startling images and original voice that surges beyond the difficult questions: If I string the night between two fence posts, /one side heaven and one side hell… Or: I was/watching myself in the hotel mirror to make sure/my body was still happening… Edwards blows the doors off the outer body, delivering us to the beating heart and the inner doors of human mercy. Humanly burns need and desire into the sound of survival: a prayer/in praise of the groaning in the backroom:/Let each body be loved until its end.”
—Jan Beatty
" Some of the best feminist sentiments ever expressed in writing – engaging, original and full of an animalistic power."
—Jesi Buell, Red Paint Hill
"Somewhere up there, Anne Sexton is nodding her head with approval; Stevie Edwards’s Humanly takes its cues from the canon of confessional poets, trawling through the depths of depression, misogyny, and mania. These weighty matters are often placed against the backdrop of folklore and the swirling gray of winter, juxtaposing the ephemeral element of her bare body with transcendental forces."
--Ariella Carmell, The Adroit Journal
"Just as honest and confrontational as her first collection of poems (Good Grief), Humanly explores the self, a person’s environment, and what it means to have a mental illness. Organized into four parts, Humanly expertly and beautifully narrates the speaker’s life, using a juxtaposition of earthy and theatrical language that’s incredibly evocative, straight-forward, and powerful."
--Gina Vaynshteyn, HelloGiggles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sample Poems:
Vinyl - "Fabulousness"
http://vinylpoetry.com/volume-7/page-33/
Gesture - 5 Poems
http://gestureliteraryjournal.com/?p=936
Solstice - "In the Psych Ward"
http://solsticelitmag.org/content/psych-ward/
Devil's Lake - "Against Ghosts"
http://english.wisc.edu/devilslake/issues/fall2012/Edwards.html
Word Riot - "Humanly"
http://www.wordriot.org/archives/7023
Nailed - 5 Poems
http://www.nailedmagazine.com/poetry/poetry-suite-by-stevie-edwards/
Thrush - 6 Poems
http://www.thrushpoetryjournal.com/september-2012-stevie-edwards.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK SUMMARY: Stevie Edwards’s Humanly bravely and vulnerably confronts the complexities of living with mental illness in a voice that is equally feral and crafted. Through a gorgeous and gorge-filled landscape, these poems struggle with dislocation, past sexual trauma, grief, the chronic looming of psychiatric wards, and a constant attempt to redirect patterns of suicidal ideation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BIO: Stevie Edwards is a poet, editor, educator, and an advocate for mental health awareness. She is currently Editor-in-Chief at Muzzle Magazine, Acquisitions Editor at YesYes Books, and a Lecturer at Cornell University. Her first book, Good Grief (Write Bloody 2012), won an open manuscript contest and received two post-publication awards, the Independent Publisher Book Awards Bronze in Poetry and the Devil's Kitchen Reading Award from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. Her poems have appeared in Verse Daily, Rattle, Devil's Lake, Indiana Review, Salt Hill, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University and a BA in economics and English from Albion College.
I will be reading from Humanly, and there will be some really wonderful guest readers, including Angel Nafis, Jeanann Verlee, Jon Sands, John Paul Davis, Corrina Bain, and April Ranger!
If you RSVP via Facebook I'll love you forever. I am trying to figure out how much cake to get (because it's my birthday).
Here's some more info on Humanly:
PRAISE FOR HUMANLY
“If I had never before heard anyone say, “Art Saves Lives,” I swear on the bullseye of my own wrist, I would have run through the streets screaming it the moment I finished this book. I want everyone who has never believed in the possibility of being given back Time, to read these poems. Not a moment of grief denied, and still, each turn of the page, a vaulted ceiling in my heavy heart. What a generous and intensely vulnerable offering to our survival this book is.”
—Andrea Gibson
“With an unpredictability that alternately jolts and mesmerizes, Stevie Edwards has crafted an intricate exploration of life as we’d rather not know it. There is much in these stanzas to jolt and unsettle—stark crafting and a relentless respect for the possibilities of word create a tension only felt in the presence of revelation.”
—Patricia Smith
“In Humanly, Stevie Edwards wakes us into our own bodies with her fierce honesty: The first time I tried to slip my outsides/I failed. This is a courageous book of startling images and original voice that surges beyond the difficult questions: If I string the night between two fence posts, /one side heaven and one side hell… Or: I was/watching myself in the hotel mirror to make sure/my body was still happening… Edwards blows the doors off the outer body, delivering us to the beating heart and the inner doors of human mercy. Humanly burns need and desire into the sound of survival: a prayer/in praise of the groaning in the backroom:/Let each body be loved until its end.”
—Jan Beatty
" Some of the best feminist sentiments ever expressed in writing – engaging, original and full of an animalistic power."
—Jesi Buell, Red Paint Hill
"Somewhere up there, Anne Sexton is nodding her head with approval; Stevie Edwards’s Humanly takes its cues from the canon of confessional poets, trawling through the depths of depression, misogyny, and mania. These weighty matters are often placed against the backdrop of folklore and the swirling gray of winter, juxtaposing the ephemeral element of her bare body with transcendental forces."
--Ariella Carmell, The Adroit Journal
"Just as honest and confrontational as her first collection of poems (Good Grief), Humanly explores the self, a person’s environment, and what it means to have a mental illness. Organized into four parts, Humanly expertly and beautifully narrates the speaker’s life, using a juxtaposition of earthy and theatrical language that’s incredibly evocative, straight-forward, and powerful."
--Gina Vaynshteyn, HelloGiggles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sample Poems:
Vinyl - "Fabulousness"
http://vinylpoetry.com/volume-7/page-33/
Gesture - 5 Poems
http://gestureliteraryjournal.com/?p=936
Solstice - "In the Psych Ward"
http://solsticelitmag.org/content/psych-ward/
Devil's Lake - "Against Ghosts"
http://english.wisc.edu/devilslake/issues/fall2012/Edwards.html
Word Riot - "Humanly"
http://www.wordriot.org/archives/7023
Nailed - 5 Poems
http://www.nailedmagazine.com/poetry/poetry-suite-by-stevie-edwards/
Thrush - 6 Poems
http://www.thrushpoetryjournal.com/september-2012-stevie-edwards.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK SUMMARY: Stevie Edwards’s Humanly bravely and vulnerably confronts the complexities of living with mental illness in a voice that is equally feral and crafted. Through a gorgeous and gorge-filled landscape, these poems struggle with dislocation, past sexual trauma, grief, the chronic looming of psychiatric wards, and a constant attempt to redirect patterns of suicidal ideation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BIO: Stevie Edwards is a poet, editor, educator, and an advocate for mental health awareness. She is currently Editor-in-Chief at Muzzle Magazine, Acquisitions Editor at YesYes Books, and a Lecturer at Cornell University. Her first book, Good Grief (Write Bloody 2012), won an open manuscript contest and received two post-publication awards, the Independent Publisher Book Awards Bronze in Poetry and the Devil's Kitchen Reading Award from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. Her poems have appeared in Verse Daily, Rattle, Devil's Lake, Indiana Review, Salt Hill, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University and a BA in economics and English from Albion College.