With so many promising books being published every month, some literary titles worth exploring can get lost in the stacks. Page One offers the first lines of a dozen recently released books, including Greek Lessons by Han Kang and Susto by Tommy Archuleta.
“Sorrowful news sings the telegram / and Lincoln’s body slides from DC / to Springfield, his third son, Willie, / boxed beside him.” West: A Translation (Copper Canyon Press, May 2023) by Paisley Rekdal. Eleventh book, second hybrid collection. Agent: None. Editor: Michael Wiegers. Publicist: Ryo Yamaguchi.
“Once upon a time, two people met.” Story of a Poem (Unnamed Press, April 2023) by Matthew Zapruder. Seventh book, first memoir. Agent: Bill Clegg. Editor: Olivia Taylor Smith. Publicist: Allison Miriam Smith.
“When I was small, I dreamt of becoming friends with a peregrine falcon.” Any Other City (Arsenal Pulp Press, April 2023) by Hazel Jane Plante. Second book, novel. Agent: Stephanie Sinclair. Editor: Catharine Chen. Publicist: Mandy Medley.
“If the sky is such a cliché / Why is it falling?” New Life (Wave Books, April 2023) by Ana Božičević. Fifth book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Joshua Beckman. Publicist: Catherine Bresner.
“To consider my tattoos we must first consider skin.” Twenty Square Feet of Skin (Mad Creek Books, May 2023) by Megan Baxter. Third book, second essay collection. Agent: None. Editor: Kristen Elias Rowley. Publicist: Samara Rafert.
“It was true what Mrs. Berry said: No one expected to see an old woman in a muscle car, a convertible Mustang with polished chrome bumpers, a hood scoop, and an engine that ran with a throaty hum that we could feel in that soft place just below our stomachs as she pulled alongside us one day on our walk home from school.” The Flounder (Blackwater Press, May 2023) by John Fulton. Fourth book, third story collection. Agent: None. Editor: John Reid. Publicist: Catherine Parnell.
“This is not an advice book.” Quietly Hostile (Vintage, May 2023) by Samantha Irby. Fourth book, essay collection. Agent: Kent Wolf. Editor: Maria Goldverg. Publicists: Julie Ertl and Jordan Rodman.
“I keep forgetting / how many people love me—” No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad, April 2023) by Cynthia Manick. Second book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Francesca Walker. Publicists: Yona Deshommes and Courtney Nobile.
“No one taught me to be Native American.” Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity (Norton, May 2023) by Leah Myers. First book, memoir. Agent: Paul Lucas. Editor: Matt Weiland. Publicist: Gabrielle Nugent.
“In seminar, grad students on plastic folding chairs: seven women, two men.” The Late Americans (Riverhead Books, May 2023) by Brandon Taylor. Third book, second novel. Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff. Editor: Calvert Morgan. Publicist: Claire McGinnis.
“Again the first lamb / I led to slaughter” Susto (Center for Literary Publishing, April 2023) by Tommy Archuleta. First book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editors: Kazim Ali and Stephanie G’Schwind. Publicist: Beth Svinarich.
“As his dying wish, Borges requested the epitaph ‘He took the sword and laid the naked metal between them.’” Greek Lessons (Hogarth, April 2023) by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won. Seventh of thirteen books, fifth of eight novels. Agent: Laurence Laluyaux. Editor: Parisa Ebrahimi. Publicist: Gwyneth Stansfield.
