News & Notes

New-Release Roundup

November 2024

The books put out by Sun authors over the last several months include a few out-of-the ordinary offerings, such as a collection of short stories about Alaska and a literary field guide that combines poetry with scientific notes. If you’d like a preview, you can read some poems and stories that first appeared in The Sun at the links provided.

New-Release Roundup

June 2024

The first half of 2024 has seen a variety of new publications by Sun authors—novels, poetry collections, essays, and memoirs. Keep reading to find descriptions of the books from their publishers, purchasing information, and links to some selections that first appeared in The Sun’s pages.

Making Luxury Out of Flat Soda

A Poem from Frederick Joseph’s New Collection

We are celebrating the release of Frederick Joseph’s first book of poetry, We Alive, Beloved, from Row House Publishing. Frederick’s new poetry collection seeks to find joy in moments of difficulty whether through illuminating the beauty of being Black, highlighting the hope that can be found in childhood or by sharing intimate truths revealed on a mental-health journey.

Two Possible Climate Futures

Excerpts from New Novels

Our January 2024 issue explores causes and effects—between species, life choices, and how we care for others—subjects that were also on the minds of two Sun contributors as they wrote their new debut novels. Nick Fuller Googins and Debbie Urbanski imagined very different futures for humanity in the wake of unchecked climate change. We are pleased to share online excerpts from both books.

After World

An Excerpt from Debbie Urbanski’s First Novel

Above the keyboard, mounted to the wall, there used to be a monitor in the cage. A viewer could, after transferring the appropriate number of vouchers, upload an image, which would appear on the monitor. The ape would study the image then play a song of remembrance. He could have been pounding random notes on the keys; whoever came up with this system framed it otherwise. They framed it as an animal choosing to remember humanity, similar to a prayer candle in a minor basilica’s back corner.

The Great Transition

An Excerpt from Nick Fuller Googins’s First Novel

Ever since her school project Emi has been asking why we did not act sooner. Her mother has an easier answer. She grew up protesting with her family. Blocking oil trains. As for me, what can I say? My parents were loving people. Resourceful. Intelligent. They knew what was happening. My mother pointed out how the goldenthread blossomed months before the pollinators arrived. And the loons that used to winter on our shores—how long since we’d heard their ghostly calls?

A web-exclusive poem from Erin Hoover’s new collection

We are celebrating the release of Erin Hoover’s second book of poetry, No Spare People, out today from Black Lawrence Press, with an exclusive online publication of the book’s concluding poem, “What If Pain No Longer Ordered the Narrative.” Hoover’s poetry collection looks at parenting from the lens of an unpartnered, queer mother in the U.S. South and questions dominate narratives of gender, class, and race.

New-Release Roundup

September 2023

As the weather cools and the days get shorter, curl up with one of these new books from Sun contributors. You’ll find descriptions from their publishers and links to some exclusive excerpts on The Sun’s website. Click the titles for more information, including purchase details.

Chicken. Film. Youth.

An Excerpt from Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go

We are pleased to share “Chicken. Film. Youth.” an exclusive online excerpt from Cleo Qian’s new short-story collection, Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go, available August 15 from Tin House.

An Excerpt from Contradiction Days

An Artist on the Verge of Motherhood

We are pleased to share an exclusive online excerpt from JoAnna Novak’s new memoir, Contradiction Days, available July 25 from Catapult, about a soon-to-be-mother whose obsession with the reclusive painter Agnes Martin threatens to upend her life.