We hope you'll join us on Zoom on June 2nd for a special celebration of the publication of DON'T LET IT KILL YOU by Theo LeGro (1988–2026), featuring readings from the book by previous winners of the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry. Free and open to all!
“Theo LeGro's poetry does what poetry is supposed to: It tells the truth about the brutalities of survival without ever forsaking the tender beauty of life. Relentless and irreverent, the poems in Don't Let It Kill You transform dive bars and operating rooms, haunted houses and strangers' beds into thresholds of revelation. A stunning debut that stands as a testament to LeGro's singular voice.”—Hala Alyan
#poetry #celebration #booklaunch
We celebrate and mourn the people we love through the work, the stories, the love they leave behind. Please join us for the book launch for Theo’s phenomenal poetry collection, “Don’t Let It Kill You”, winner of The Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize from @perseabooks , featuring Mahogany L. Browne, Cathy Linh Che, Noah Arhm Choi, Jon Sands, and Jeanann Verlee. We will each read some of our own work, and selections from Theo’s book. RSVP in bio and at http://bit.ly/48zFcJ0
Out on June 2, you can preorder books at theoforever.com or at perseabooks.com
Thank you to @publisherswkly for this wonderful review of DON’T LET IT KILL YOU by Theo Legro, which we will publish and celebrate on June 2!
#poetry #bookstagram #dresssexyatmyfuneral #vietnameseamerican #breastcancer
Our thanks to Rebecca Morgan Frank for including SOUL CAKE by Lisa Russ Spaar in her May poetry roundup in @_lithub along with other compelling new collections!
SOUL CAKE is available from your favorite bookseller and at .
#poetry #soulcake #bookreviews
Persea books is thrilled to announce that WHAT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR by Cara Dees has won the 2026 Lexi Rudnitsky Editors' Choice Award. Cara receives a prize of $2,000 and publication of her book in Fall 2027.
Cara Dees (she/her) is the author of the poetry collection, Exorcism Lessons in the Heartland, selected by Ada Limón for the Barrow Street Book Prize. She holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Cincinnati and an M.F.A. from Vanderbilt University. She is an Assistant Professor of English at Belmont University.
Congratulations to Cara, as well as to finalists Roger Craik, Rebecca Griswold, Elizabeth Hoover, Derek Otsuji, and Emily Wolahan!
#prizewinner #poetry #poetryprize #lexirudnitsky
Happy pub day to SOUL CAKE, the gorgeous new collection by Lisa Russ Spaar, an extraordinary, incomparable poet (and human)! If you love language at its most muscular, sensuous, and primordial, this one's for you.
Purchase SOUL CAKE from your favorite indie bookseller (like the poet’s hometown store @new_dominion_bookshop ) or via Persea’s website.
#bookpublication #poetry #poetsofinstagram #wonderment #soulcake
Thank you to @karlajstrand and Violet Pandya for including An Optimism by Cameron Awkward-Rich in this expansive write up for @ms_magazine
Order An Optimism at a 30% discount from Persea's web site during National Poetry Month using discount code NPMSPECIAL
#paulimurray #junejordan #poetry #nationalpoetrymonth #npm #blacktranslivesmatter
Today, on their birthday, we honor the late Theo LeGro who we had been looking forward to welcoming to Civitella this summer as the Lexi Rudinsky/Persea Fellow. "Merciless Animals" and "The Orchids Live" are two poems from their forthcoming debut, prize-winning collection "Don't Let It Kill You," out June 2nd, 2026. The book explores themes of chronic illness, grief, and the body with unflinching lyricism, examining the tension between survival and surrender.
A memorial reading celebrating Theo’s life will take place tonight from 5-7 PM at Blinky’s in Brooklyn, NY (609 Grand St, Brooklyn). The launch event for "Don’t Let It Kill You" will be on Saturday, May 30th, at 6 PM at Boyfriend Co-op in Bushwick, New York (1157 Myrtle Ave). Learn more at the link in our bio.
#NationalPoetryMonth
#CivitellaRanieri
In her heartrending sixth collection of poetry, Anne Marie Macari revisits her brother long-ago death by a self-inflicted gunshot. Interweaving and disentangling her own memories and those of her family, and by reconstructing a legal and medical paper trail, Macari begins a dialogue with the dead, bringing her brother's lost voice back to her after years of sealing herself off from it. Embedded in her story is the devastation of—and her rage toward—a culture that elevates guns and violence over the sacredness of human life. Yet out of that devastation, Macari writes a kind of love story, renewing her connection with her brother, as well as with other departed friends and family. By revisiting grief, she uncovers deeply-felt gratitude for the world around her—and indeed her own life.
AMERIGUN is now available from booksellers everywhere and at , where you can receive a 30% discount by using discount code NPMSPECIAL during the month of April.
#poetry #newbook #amerigun #npm #endgunviolence #guncontrol #commonsensegunlaws
