Here is the June edition of The Poetry Shelf, our suggested poetry assortment, compiled by Michelle Halket of Central Avenue Publishing.
Welcome to the June edition of The Poetry Shelf!
There's a few things I wanted to note this month; the first is that we're seeing a larger-than-normal number of classics editions on the list; think various editions of The Odyssey, Aeneid, The Iliad, and Divine Comedy. Could it be due to the upcoming movie of The Odyssey or is it some softness in the Experienced Readers and Accessible poetry segments? When I drilled into the most popular edition of The Odyssey, sales are up significantly over last year by about 2.5 times for the same week a year ago. The second note is that we are seeing a few old favorites come back on to the bestseller list, books like Bluets by Maggie Nelson, You Are Only Just Beginning by Morgan Harper Nichols, and Richard Siken's anniversary edition of Crush.
That said, there are a few new little poetic nuggets on the list including:
David's Crown by Malcolm Guite (a backlist title perhaps revived by his popular Galahad and the Grail?)
Killing Spree by Jodie Graham
Tongue by Chase Hughes
Practices in Apparition by Gabi Abrao
For our feature month in July, this was a tough one! It's a day of celebration for both Canada and the U.S. as we celebrate the birth of our nations, but I didn't want to lean only into the patriotic. So, I thought more about it and the concept of "nation" came to me. These two nations are home to us all, but they evoke such different emotions and senses of place to so many different people. So, I researched some titles that for me represent what Canada and U.S. are: to those of us who were born here of colonial heritage or immigrant parents, to people newly landed, and to those whose land this was before Europeans arrived. I don't know if I got it right, but I do feel as though a day of patriotism can also be marked by recognizing what our countries mean to all of us with different perspectives.
As always, everything I put on these lists are just suggestions meant to spark ideas of your own. Pick and choose as best fits your store!