Today was such an exciting day—I got to send off three new titles from Old Scratch Press to the National Book Awards! If you’ve been keeping tabs on us, you might remember we did the same thing last year.
Sending our books to the National Book Awards feels like stepping into the ring with the big shots. Most of the other books being sent in are going to have been written by well-established poets with a long history of publication, or brand new poets being championed by their mentors who are the big guys in their fields, and those other books are also going to come from traditional (read as: large and monied) presses or university presses, which, like the big publishing houses, also have lots of disposable income and connections. I got my MFA; I know how that all works. They’re coming from the big leagues, you know? But here’s the thing: I’m not worried about the competition. What matters most to me is the quality of our poets. Our poets are freaking amazing.
Take Morgan Golladay, for example, she’s been writing poetry for most of her life, and only now is she beginning to share it with the world. And then there’s Nadja Maril and Gabby Gilliam—they’ve been putting in the work, getting little victories here and there, for years. Why shouldn’t their writing get the recognition it deserves? It absolutely should!
The thought of our poets going head-to-head with the big names gives me goosebumps. One of the judges this year is Carolyn Forché… Carolyn Forché! Under what other circumstances could a poet in a small collective get her work to Carolyn Forché? It boggles my mind! I remember how reverently I was taught Carolyn Forché’s book THE COUNTRY BETWEEN US by my teachers way back in the 1990s. I get the chills, frankly, thinking she’ll be reading one of our books! Damn.
So, to everyone who’s been cheering Old Scratch Press on as a collective and a press, let’s all cross our fingers, send some good vibes to these books, and blow on one of these:
as we send Gabby, Nadja, and Morgan off to the National Book Awards to try their luck!
And hey, kind reader of this blog,
why not show these books some love and buy a copy?
Flash prose, poetry, and essays inspired by her kitchen, garden, and family memories; Nadja Maril’s chapbook, RECIPES FROM. MY GARDEN is a sensual feast for the soul. Drawing upon her life experiences as an artist’s daughter, antiques dealer, journalist, and author; Maril mines simple objects for meaning and creates a lavish buffet.
Editorial Praise for RECIPES FROM MY GARDEN
“Suffused with the tastes of cilantro, mint, and cucumber fresh from a garden, the smell of salt air from the ocean’s edge, the familiar scent of coffee and tobacco from a father’s hug, or the simple pleasure of the sounds of clicking insects through a backdoor screen, Nadja Maril’s lovely and sensitive RECIPES FROM MY GARDEN is a feast for the senses and a balm for the spirit. While exploring personal memories that touch on abstract questions of identity and history, Maril also reminds us of the tiny yet profound comforts of earthly existence.”
–Aaron Hamburger, author of HOTEL CUBA—
“In RECIPES FROM MY GARDEN, Nadja Maril casts a richly sensual literary spell. From the deft and resonant garden-inspired pieces that find the taste of ‘summer’ in basil and celebrate the ‘welcoming gaze of sunflowers,’ to the sharply observed portraits of small yet potent memories— buying a perfect dress with her mother; baking a cake ‘too beautiful to be cut’– Maril mines moral and spiritual meaning from everyday life. The promise Maril makes about a ‘chicken and rice’ recipe is true of this whole vibrant chapbook: ‘soul nutrition it will provide.’ ”
–Elizabeth Searle, novelist and scriptwriter (A FourSided Bed; I’ll Show You Mine)–
“RECIPES FROM MY GARDENcelebrates the splendor of traversing a literary life and surviving the time of Covid. Nadja Maril’s first collection of poetic prose, flash memoir, and poetry introduces us to her family, her nurtured garden, and the myriad spaces she navigates to cope with our world. With true artistic excellence, Nadja’s words yearn for an understanding of what troubles us, inviting us into a landscape of riddles, questions and puzzles.”
–Indigo Moor, author of Everybody’s Jonesin’ for Something—
“[RECIPES FROM MY GARDEN] is a treasure of small love stories: odes to beloved kitchens, and vegetable gardens, and the simple joys of a blooming sunflower. It is a book of memory and of pleasure that speaks of the love of family across many generations. The passed-down recipes inside the pages are themselves the most generous kind of love letter.”
–Susan Conley, author of Landslide—
[In NO OCEAN SPIT ME OUT] Gabby Gilliam’s verse preserves the feel of the summer farm, contrasting its fertile brightness with the struggle between grief and the sudden absence of connection to family and place. Belonging and the struggle to continue remembering clash on the page, while the passion for life’s diverse and tactile experiences dazzle the reader with tantalizing gasps of zucchini, crab apples, and blackberry wine. Each poem gives the reader their own lingering taste of her ghosts. -Kim Malinowski-
NO OCEAN SPIT ME OUT is a captivating debut collection of poetry that delves deep into the intricate tapestry of family dynamics and personal evolution. Within its 30 poems, the collection embarks on a profound journey through the stages of coming of age, navigating the complexities of familial bonds, grappling with organized religion, and ultimately, embracing the essence of self-acceptance. Whether you’re seeking solace in the shared experiences of family relationships or searching for introspective insights into the nuances of identity and faith, this collection offers a profound and thought-provoking exploration of the human condition.
“Sometimes stark, but always beautiful, these free verse celebrations of North Mountain introduce a seasonal sense of environmental transitions to the observer and reader’s eye, with time’s passage changing everything and nothing…Aside from a personal visit to North Mountain, there is no better way of appreciating its beauty, impact, and presence over the eons than through THE SONG OF NORTH MOUNTAIN.” —MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW—
From the mighty pen of artist and author Morgan Golladay comes THE SONG OF NORTH MOUNTAIN, a transformative collection of poetry and art celebrating the famous and mystical North Mountain of Appalachia.
North Mountain, a wildland in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests of western Virginia, has been recognized by the Wilderness Society as a special place worthy of protection from logging and road construction. The Wilderness Society has designated the area as a “Mountain Treasure.”
Morgan Golladay brings her readers to dwell in the reverence of this wonderful wilderness. Golladay is an award-winning author who was raised on North Mountain and lives in coastal Delaware as part of a thriving artist and author community. All words and art in this book are by Golladay.
Audiobook (available now, and Audible account not needed to buy or listen!)
Good luck women! I believe in you!!
xo
~Dianne