Wordgathering
A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature
Volume 9 Issue 1
March 2015
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Book Reviews in this Issue
As the jump in the amount of book reviews Wordgathering includes in each issue reflects, the field of disability literature continues to grow. Our journal's philosophy is that book reviews are not simply occasion to summarize the latest books out, but also an opportunity for developing points of view about disability in literature. Two of the books reviewed in this issue are not by writers who might not consider themselves involved in the disability community, but whose reviewers are able to focus a lens on what those books have to say about disability. Kathryn Allan, whose scholarship specializes in the portrayal of disability in science fiction, reviews Laline Paull's futuristic parable, The Bees. Novelist and poet, Adam Pottle, explores the representation of disability in sports in Post, a novel by Arley McNeney. As Canadians, both Allan and Pottle bring a slightly international flavor to the reviews, something augmented in distinguished disability scholar Jim Ferris' review of the latest book by South African poet and playwright, Kobus Moolman, and Irish poet Des Kenny's newest collection, discussed by Kristen Witucki.
Poetry continues to be one if this journal's primary concerns and, of the remaining book reviews in this issue, four of them cover recent books by poets Meg Eden, Rebecca Foust, Jill Stein and Kathi Wolfe. The final review, that of Anne Kaier's Home With Henry, serves to illustrate a further point of Wordgathering's philosophy. Kaier is an essayist and poet whose writing on disability has appeared frequently in this journal. While disability makes only a cameo appearance in the current memoir, Kaier's work refutes the notion that a writer who is able to focus on personal disability in one work is not able to appeal to a more mainstream audience in another.
- Barbara Crooker, Selected Poems
- Meg Eden, A Week With Beijing
- Rebecca Foust, Paradise Drive
- Anne Kaier, Home with Henry
- Des Kenny, Past Tense
- Kobus Moolman, A Book of Rooms
- Arley McNeney, Post
- Laline Paull, The Bees
- Jill Stein, Steeplechase
- Kathi Wolfe, The Uppity Blind Girl Poems
Regular readers of Wordgathering will notice many familiar names in the list above. One of the journal's goals is to be able provide those interested in the development of voices within disability literature the opportunity to follow the literary progress of writers of particular interest to them. Barbara Crooker, Meg Eden, Rebecca Foust, Anne Kaier, Des Kenny, and Kathi Wolfe are all writers whose previous books have been reviewed. Reviews of those works are still available simply by looking under the "Book Reviews" heading in the journal's "Author's Index" and then locating them in the "Past Issues."
Once again, Wordgathering is fortunate to have an exceptional corps of reviewers. In addition, to those by staff members Linda Cronin and Jill Khoury, the editors want to thank guest book reviewers Kathryn Allan. Jim Ferris, Ana Garza G'z, Ellen LaFleche, Maura Madden, and Adam Pottle — all talented writers in their own right.
Wordgathering welcomes hearing from writers who are interested in writing book reviews and writers or publishers interested in having a disability-related book reviewed. For the latter, please send a query, briefly describing the book.
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