Wordgathering

A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature

Volume 7     Issue 4     December 2013

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Book Reviews in this Issue

When the first issue of Wordgathering appeared in March 2007, our book review section began very modestly with the review of a single book of poetry, Sheila Black's Maquiladora. Since that time Black's poetry has gone on to gather numerous honors including, in 2012, the Witter Byner award from U. S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine. The Wordgathering book review section has grown as well to become a sought after venue for the unveiling of disability-related literature. The current issue now includes nine reviews. In addition to poetry, we take a look at two antholologies, a memoir, a novel, and books on disability in popular music and science fiction. The new books of poetry reviewed are the work of South African poet Kobus Moolman, Irish poet Des Kenny and American poet Ona Gritz. The two anthologies present work that cluster around specific disabilities, editor John Lee Clark's Deaf Lit Extravaganza and Tracy Todd and Sean Maloney's collection by writers with multiple sclerosis, Something on Our Minds. Columbia professor Rachel Adams discusses her life as the mother of a son with Down Syndrome in Raising Henry; playwrite Susan Nussbaum launches her debut novel of nursing home residents in Chicago, Good Kings, Bad Kings. Finally, Wordgathering is fortunate to be one of the first journals to review two pioneering works in the field of disability studies, Kathryn Allan's Science Fiction in Disability and George McKay exploration of popular music and disability, Shakin' All Over.

• Rachel Adams, Raising Henry
• Kathryn Allan, Disability in Science Fiction
• John Lee Clark, Deaf Lit Extravaganza
• Des Kenny, My Sense of Blind
• George McKay, Shakin' All Over
• Kobus Moolman, Left Over
• Susan Nussbaum, Good Kings, Bad Kings
• Ona Gritz, Geode
• Tracy A Todd and Sean J. Maloney, Something on Our Minds

In addition to all of these reviews of books, readers with an interest in music can find a review Alex Lubet's CD Spectral Blues in the music section of this issue. Wordgathering continues to seek out new work that makes a contribution to the field of disability literature. Writers who are interested in having their books reviewed should check the submission guidelines and send a query briefly describing their work.

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