Scott Broker, The Disappointment (Catapult) — published in NER 42.4
“A beautiful portrait of a long-term relationship and the hazards that come from assuming that understanding improves over time . . .” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Maxim Matusevich, Six Trains of No Return (Academic Studies Press) — published most recently in NER 44.3
“Bracingly funny and quietly devastating, the characters in this indelible collection bring to life a whole teeming post-Soviet world, while reminding us what is most stubbornly human.” —Sana Krasikov, author of The Patriots
Sean Hill, The Negroes Send Their Love (Milkweed Editions) — published in NER 40.4
“In The Negroes Send Their Love, Sean Hill holds the weight of history up to the light of memory, tracing the lines of family, community, and identity through heartbreaking poetry.” —Jericho Brown, author of The Tradition
Jonathan Gleason, Field Guide to Falling Ill (Yale University Press) — published in NER 42.2
“Enlightening and beautifully written . . . Sparkles with clarity and precision, rendering complicated concepts accessible and stimulating . . . A triumph.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Rebecca Lehman, The Beheading Game (Crown) — published in NER 45.1
“Lehmann offers deep character work . . . and she successfully pairs a thrilling plot with a complex reflection on the limits of women’s power. Readers will be delighted.” —Publishers Weekly
Richie Hofmann, The Bronze Arms (Knopf) — published most recently in NER 39.2
“Delicate, deep, and powerful: those adjectives are not enough to describe the absolute beauty emanating from the poems of Richie Hofmann, a Cavafy for our times.” —Édouard Louis, author of Change
John Poch, The Future of Love (Slant Books) — published most recently in NER 44.1
“With the force of a zephyr perfumed with the olive, orange, and almond groves of his beloved Spain, Poch explores love—of place, of the beloved, of language, of love itself—in all its guises . . .” —Lisa Russ Spaar, author of Madrigalia: New & Selected Poems
Joshua Bennett, We (the People of the United States) (Penguin Books) — published in NER 36.2
“A dazzling, expansive exploration of personal experience and the touchstones that informed it in poems that examine national identity, parenthood, masculinity, popular culture, and the natural world . . .”
—Booklist, starred review