Billy Merrell: Some News about <i>The Full Spectrum</i>

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

Some News about The Full Spectrum

The Full Spectrum has been named a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in the Children’s/Young Adult category, was named a New York Public Library Best Book for Teens, and will be a part of the Best Books for the Teen Age list that is circulated to most libraries in the US. Also, in December, The Full Spectrum was named one of the Insight Out Book Club’s books of the year.

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