PromptPress ignores traditional boundaries with a quiet defiance. It began in 2014 with founding editor Jennifer Colville; her brother, Christopher Colville (photography editor); and Susan Goslee (poetry editor), creating an outlet for artists who wished to play at the boundaries. Jennifer did the bulk of the work until Kalmia Strong (book arts
Local book reviews
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Local publisher spotlight: Ice Cube Press
Steve Semken founded Ice Cube Press in 1991, when he was living in Lawrence, Kansas. “I’d been working a series of jobs I hadn’t anticipated, like most of us need to do,” Semken said in an email, “and it was during a break at work that I wandered into the nearby Indie bookstore, picked up a copy of a Wendell Berry book
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Some of Us Are Very Hungry Now’ by Andre Perry
The memoiristic essays in Andre Perry’s Some of Us Are Very Hungry Now (2019, Two Dollar Radio) reconstruct — from journal entries, memory and fictionalized correspondence and dialogue — Perry’s youthful encounters with American music, women, culture and racism-loaded language. Most accounts are positioned in three geographic
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Guitar Chords by Brook Hoover’
Brook Hoover is an Eastern Iowa music scene staple. He plays out every week, whether it’s a solo gig with his cover band the Flaming Camaros or a tour stop with his surf-rock group the Surf Zombies. When he’s not in the spotlight, he’s teaching guitar to folks from the very young to the, well, older. His classes are tailored to the goals of the
Posted inBook Reviews
Five authors to meet at the fourth annual I.O.W.A. book festival
This year’s edition of the I.O.W.A. book festival is set for Sept. 7 and 8 at the Cedar Rapids Public Library. The acronym stands for Imagine Other Worlds with Authors, and the writers on the slate certainly represent a wide array of literary worlds. From fantasy to mystery to romance and more, the festival offers readers an opportunity
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Near the Exit: Travels with the Not-So-Grim Reaper’ by Lori Erickson
Life as a travel writer and spiritual itinerant was jolted, for Lori Erickson, by the sudden death of a brother and the precipitous progression of her mother’s dementia. Seeking in part to cope with the proximate loss and to recalibrate her own spiritual equilibrium, Erickson looked anew, far and near, upon death. She invites us to join her
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Many Hands Make Light Work’ by Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy
Many Hands Make Light Work is a primary-colored memoir of the recent past. It depicts growing up in a large family in Ames, Iowa, in the 1960s and ’70s, the tones of the story vivid and bright against a backdrop of an increasingly volatile world.
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Walter Benjamin Reimagined’ by Frances Cannon
Artist, former Iowa Citian and sometime-Little Village contributor Frances Cannon has delivered a delightful, insightful nugget of wonder with Walter Benjamin Reimagined. This book is everything a fan of the German Jewish cultural critic and philosopher could ever hope for, and it offers an accessible window into his brilliance
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Book Review: ‘Redemption Songs: A Year in the Life of a Community Prison Choir’ by Andy Douglas
What can music do for the incarcerated soul? Turning trauma into personal transformation, music and art creates a nest in even the most locked-up hearts. Iowa City author Andy Douglas explores this idea in his 2019 book, Redemption Songs: A Year in the Life of a Community Prison Choir.
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle America’ by Lyz Lenz
I heard about Lyz Lenz’s newest book, ‘God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle America’ (out Aug. 1), a few months ago and had been eager to read it, as it brought together almost all of my personal and professional interests: art, religion, community, Iowa, theology, space, place, stories. It is an audacious attempt to synthesize
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘The Most Fun We Ever Had’ by Claire Lombardo
In Claire Lombardo’s debut novel, ‘The Most Fun We Ever Had,’ she isn’t afraid to tackle the biggest of topics, specifically for women—sisterhood, fear, general annoyance and birth or the absence of it. The reader gets an intimate look at the conception of the Sorenson family (literally, considering Lombardo’s plethora of sex scenes),
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Look, Black Boy’ by Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey
With his first self-published chapbook, Look, Black Boy, Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey confronts and challenges his readers while communicating with them on a variety of levels. The central theme of this short collection is how it feels to be a young black man in 2019 in the Midwest.
