The special Ploughshares issue features selections by Neil Astley, editor of Bloodaxe Books. The poems chosen for this issue aim to bridge the “illogical divide between readerships on either side of the Atlantic,” and hopefully spark a conversation that will invigorate both literary traditions. Included are Pitt poets Aaron Smith, (Blue on Blue Ground and Appetite); Barbara Hamby (Babel, All-Night Lingo Tango and On the Street of Divine Love), and John Hodgen, (Grace and Heaven and Earth Holding Company). The spring 2015 issue is available in print and in digital format on pshares.org

Ever since UPP published The Fallingwater Cookbook: Elsie Henderson’s Recipes and Memories in 2008, the now 101-year-old Henderson has made at least two annual visits to Fallingwater to sign copies of the book and visit with those touring this Frank Lloyd Wright icon. Those standing visits are on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. This Memorial Day will be no different. Henderson will visit Fallingwater on May 23, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., accompanied by UPP publicist Maria Sticco. “Elsie gets so much enjoyment out of talking to the crowds at Fallingwater, and sharing memories of the 15 years she worked…

“Re-Collecting Black Hawk puts forth a provocative and thorough examination of how a historical Sac and Fox leader has been reduced to a footnote. Native American historical figures have been subsumed into the US landscape via the naming customs of our European ancestors. Nicholas A. Brown and Sarah E. Kanouse use images and text in a juxtaposition that forces the viewer to think about what this means for Native Americans. Many streets and parks have been named for notable historical figures, but very few have been co-opted for business names. Makataimeshekiakiak’s English name, Black Hawk, has been used for everything from a…

Re-Collecting Black Hawk Landscape, Memory, and Power in the American Midwest Nicholas A. Brown and Sarah E. Kanouse Culture, Politics, and the Built Environment NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES “The decade’s smartest and most destabilizing book on Indians, Americans, amnesia, and memory. This book unsettles conventional wisdom of all kinds. Straightforward images document the massive and mysterious project by citizens of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois to inscribe the name of a nineteenth-century Indian leader on a staggering variety of stores, parks, bars, nursing homes, teams, and schools. An instant classic, in the tradition of Michael Lesy’s Wisconsin Death Trip.” —Paul Chaat Smith,…

Three Pitt poets have received 2015 honors from The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. The Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog by Alicia Suskin Ostriker has been selected for the Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement (for previous winners of the Paterson Poetry Prize). City of Eternal Spring by Afaa Michael Weaver has been selected for the Paterson Award for Literary Excellence (for previous finalists of the Paterson Poetry Prize). Bloom in Reverse by Teresa Leo was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize. Congratulations all around!