This fall we’re delighted to launch NER Books, our new quarterly book review column. Emily Mitchell reviews four new works of fiction in our first installment.

“I think a difficulty with metaphor is that it isn’t a comparison; it is a prescription.” Jarrett Moseley talks with NER 47.3 Wheeler Light about the extent to which a poet wants to be understood and the influence of Waiting for Godot on his poem.

Browse & shop new books from Patricia Lockwood, TR Brady, Josh Weil, Kamau Brathwaite, & many more NER contributors.

“It’s as if you’re writing on a leaf that the wind blows away as soon as you let it go,” Charles Baxter says in his conversation with staff reader Thomas Nath. Baxter discusses the changes in writing that come with age, the job of the artist, and the thinkers who influenced the short pieces that comprise “Five Paper Pills” from NER 47.3. 

Browse & shop new books from Paisley Rekdal, Frank Stanford, Wendell Berry, Hera Naguib, & many more NER contributors.

Staff reader Kevin Testa talks with NER 47.3 contributor Gretchen Schrafft about characterization in historical fiction, writing about pain, and the role animals play in her story.