Margaret Yapp’s Green For Luck (Eastover Press) is a refreshing shock to the senses. Every page asks the reader to unlearn their expectations. I hear all the time that readers […]
Sarah Elgatian
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Far From Broken’ by Kelsey Bigelow
According to the back of the book, Kelsey Bigelow’s Far From Broken (2024) collection is “an expansion of her spoken word album Depression Holders and Secret Keepers” which was released […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Indigenous art meets comic books, children’s toys and mythology in Cara and Diego Romero’s “Tales of Futures Past” at the Figge
Artists Cara (Chemehuevi) and Diego (Cochiti) Romero’s traveling exhibition Tales of Futures Past premiered this month at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport. Cara and Diego Romero are indigenous artists who work in different mediums exploring the diversity and impact of indigenous identity.
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘The Wilderlands’ by R.E. Bellesmith
I have apparently never read fantasy before The Wilderlands by R.E. Bellesmith (November 2024). I didn’t know that. I thought the various books I read involving magic and the like […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: Ben Miller — ‘Pandemonium Logs’
We don’t talk about the tolls the pandemic has taken on each of us. In Ben Miller’s new book Pandemonium Logs: Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 2020-2022 (Rutgers University Press, November 2024) he says the quiet part aloud.
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Book Review: ‘(Re)present: Racism and Resistance in Iowa’
Important books exist. They are written and published every day. There are people dedicated to creating and publishing work that changes and educates people. Sometimes, they put out important work […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘I’ve had “evil video game” in my notes for story ideas for, like, ever’: Tatiana Schlote-Bonne on writing horror for the fun of it
On the day of the release of her debut, Such Lovely Skin, Tatiana Schlote-Bonne expressed excitement and optimism about her literary future and upcoming books. The Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program graduate’s horror novel centers on a young gamer and Twitch streamer, Viv, whose most recent game creates a demonic mimic of her which is determined to ruin her life.
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Such Lovely Skin’ by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
Never in my memory has a book kept me from sleep or made me avoid everyday objects. Officially, Such Lovely Skin (Page Street Publishing) by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is the most […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Playcrafters Barn Theatre’s ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ is raw, visceral and deeply moving
Having read A Streetcar Named Desire three times but never seen the play, I was excited to see it being performed at the Playcrafters’ Barn Theatre in the Quad Cities.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘Another Woman’ by Hannah Bonner
Hannah Bonner’s Another Woman (Eastover Press, 2024) is a cutting surprise of a collection that explores the emotional stakes of a woman’s relationships. With acerbic and spare language that circles […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Bjarki, Not Bjarki’ by Matthew J.C. Clark
I’ve been told a thousand times that readers want to be surprised. As someone who reads a lot, I don’t often find myself surprised. Bjarki, Not Bjarki by Matthew J. […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘A Grotesque Animal’ by Amy Lee Lillard
In her new hybrid memoir, Amy Lee Lillard starts out slowly, advising the reader that A Grotesque Animal (University of Iowa Press) is about a middle-aged woman coming into her […]
