BILLY MERRELL

TALKINGINTHEDARK
A Poetry Memoir
(SCHOLASTIC, 2003)

THE FULL SPECTRUM
A New Generation of Writing
About GLBTQ & Other Identities
(KNOPF / RANDOM HOUSE, 2006)
LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD WINNER

 

Two Starred Reviews for The Full Spectrum!

I haven't been sharing all of the good news concerning The Full Spectrum, an anthology I co-edited with David Levithan, mostly because I've been posting everything at the book's site, Queerthology.com--but in case you haven't heard, the anthology has received two starred reviews, one from Kirkus and the other from Booklist as well as several other glowing recommendations. Here are some quotes from each of the ones I mentioned:

"This emotionally spicy collection will inspire identification, compassion and hope in readers queer or not." - Kirkus

"Insightful, extraordinarily well written, and emotionally mature, the selections offer compelling, dramatic evidence that what is important is not what we are but who we are." - Michael Cart for Booklist

To read about the project and its contributors, or for a list of our upcoming events, check out the Queerthology site.


 

RECOMMENDED READING
BOOKS EVERY POET SHOULD READ

 

LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET
RAINER MARIA RILKE

I fear I read this book a little too late to experience it as one is meant to. I had passed through that period in my life in which the canon seemed too large to fit into. I had written letters to poets that went unanswered. So ever since I read this book a little over a year ago and read how the long-dead German poet Rainer Maria Rilke had answered many of my own questions, I have been recommending it to writers—both writers with questions and those with answers they haven't figured out how to shape.

THE NECESSARY ANGEL
Essays on Reality and Invention
WALLACE STEVENS

"The real is constantly being engulfed in the unreal," writes Wallace Stevens "[Poetry] is an illumination of a surface, the movement of a self in the rock." These essays contain more truths than criticisms, more anomalies than philosophies... and the result is a reading experience more like hearing a friend confess his obligations than a teacher conduct a lesson.

THE TRIGGERING TOWN
RICHARD HUGO

Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing
"For all students of creative writing—and for their teachers," writes Richard Hugo in his dedication note for this stunning collection of lectures, essays, and reflections. Now a classic text for the teaching of writing, this book is easy to read while offering insights anyone, from beginning poets to mature writers, will benefit from.

 

Audio Recordings

UNDOING
NKONDE SONG
TELL ME ALL THAT ISN'T LOST

Poetry Resources

ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS
POETS.ORG

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
POETRY DAILY
POETS & WRITERS
POEM PRESENT

NPR - Radio Times
INTERVIEW WITH MARTY MOSS-COANE
september 24, 2003

Previous Posts

An Excerpt from Talking in the Dark
Quotes! Quotes!
The Reviews!
Write a Review!
New Poems

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