7 Books Published by Persea Books on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

An astounding compilation of verse from the Web’s most cutting-edge poetry archive, including an audio compact disc. From the Fishouse (fishousepoems.org) is a leading on-line audio archive of contemporary poetry that focuses on emerging poets who pay particular attention to the sounds and rhythms of their work. This winning anthology of 175+ poems from the site is a festival of verse at its acoustic best.The book is divided into ten playful sections. Each one, named for a poem within it, underscores the Fishouse modus operandi of showcasing poetry’s aural and rhythmic possibilities. For example, "In the Romantic Longhand of the Night" contains poems that work in or around traditional forms, while "The Barrel Is Surely Coming Down the Hill" is comprised of poems that gain momentum as they move. These sections lend a structure to the book that is at once easygoing and enlightening.In addition, the anthology contains these exciting features: a compact disc with unforgettable recitations of many of the printed poems; a foreword by Gerald Stern, which delves into how poetry’s aural traditions are producing such cutting-edge new work; lively excerpts from the site’s Q&A’s with the poets; and a cross-referenced index of the poems’ technical and stylistic traits.Contributors to the anthology include many of the best new writers in America, among them Adrian Blevins, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Tina Chang, Paul Guest, Matthea Harvey, James Hoch, Major Jackson, Ilya Kaminsky, Dana Levin, Cate Marvin, Patrick Rosal, Tracy K. Smith, and Brian Turner. Along with dozens of others, these poets make the From the Fishouse anthology a who’s who of today’s most dynamic versifiers.

A West Indian novel of "generous, torrential prose" (The New York Times Book Review), winner of the 1997 Commonwealth Writers Prize. One hundred years after Emancipation, the diverse people of Trinidad?African, Asian, and European?have not settled into the New World. In Salt, an unforgettable cast of men and women strive with wit and passion to make sense of life in an evolving homeland.

A rich, entertaining collection by Trinidad’s foremost storyteller. In these vivid stories, Earl Lovelace paints a compassionate, often humorous portrait of everyday life in Trinidad. Ordinary people like Victory the barber, Shoemaker Arnold, Miss Ross (once the most sought-after woman in Cunaripo), and Blues and Joebell who are eager to see new lands, are invested with a special magic that draws the reader into a rhythmical, colorful, and changing world.

Lovelace’s classic novel of Carnival. Carnival takes on social and political importance in this recognized classic. The people of the shantytown Calvary Hill, usually invisible to the rest of society, join the throng and flaunt their neighborhood personas in masquerade during Carnival. Aldrick, the dashing "king of the Hill," becomes a glorious, dancing dragon; his lovely Sylvia, a princess; Fisheye, rebel idealist, a fierce steel band contestant; and Philo, Calypso songwriter, a star. Then a business sponsors Fisheye’s band, Philo gets a hit song, and Sylvia leaves the Hill with a prosperous older man. For Aldrick, it will take one more masquerade?this time, involving guns and hostages?before the illusion of power becomes reality.

The acclaimed multicultural fiction anthology, updated to include recent writers.

Thirty-seven short stories from 1900 to the present, written by some of our best authors—African, Asian, European, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Native American—follow the waves of immigration into and migration within the United States. These stories are unique in time and circumstance, yet they address a common dilemma: how to reconcile America’s mythologized "promise" with its more complex reality. New to the collection are Sherman Alexie, Michelle Cliff, Edwidge Danticat, Junot Diaz, Chitra Divakaruni, Jewelle Gomez, Thomas King, Bruce Morrow, Agnes Rossi, and David Wong Louie. They join Toni Cade Bambara, Richard Bausch, Marita Bonner, Nash Candelaria, Sandra Cisneros, Louise Erdrich, Mei Mei Evans, Oscar Hijuelos, Gish Jen, LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Kim Yong Ik, Monfoon Leong, Bernard Malamud, Paule Marshall, Nicholasa Mohr, Toshio Mori, Bharati Mukherjee, Mikhail Naimy, Tahira Naqvi, Gregory Orfalea, Grace Paley, Jeanne Schinto, Leslie Marmon Silko, Michael Stephens, Sui Sin Far, Alice Walker, and Hisaye Yamamoto—making this, once again, the most authoritative and useful multicultural collection available.

This anthology of personal essay and autobiography follows the waves of immigration into and migration within the United States from 1900 to the present.

In this rich and diverse collection, three dozen 20th-century writers muse about their experiences in and observations of America. Though the essays are organized in rough chronological fashion, some emphasize place (Barbara Grizzuti Harrison on Bensonhurst, Michael Stephens on Hawaii), others identity (Richard Rodriguez on language, Eva Hoffman on "postmodern uncertainty"), others the immigrant experience (Bharati Mukherjee) or the changing times (Joan Didion on the 1960s, James Farmer on the civil rights movement). Some Americans must leave home to find insights (June Jordan in the Bahamas), while some non-Americans come here to observe, such as the Palestinian Anton Shammas (who sees the country as big enough to contain the "portable homelands" brought by immigrants). Amidst the play of ideas and emotions surrounding ethnicity and identity, essays by Wendell Berry and Gretel Ehrlich celebrate the enduring truths of the land.