As Occupy Wall Street nears the end of its second month and the future of encampments across the country becomes an increasingly pressing question, Time magazine spoke with When Protest Makes Policy author S. Laurel Weldon for her perspective on what has become an international movement. In the article, Weldon suggested that the two most likely outcomes for any large protest movement are victory or a gradual fading.

Syndey “Syd” Lea, author of a forthcoming book from University of Michigan Press tentatively titled Hundred Himalayas, has been selected Poet Laureate of Vermont by Governer Peter Shumlin. A public ceremony honoring Lea will be held on November 4 at the Capital Plaza Hotel in Montpelier.

The University of Michigan Press today announced one of the shortest marketing campaigns in the history of new books: #NewBooksIn5Words, a Twitter hashtag that accompanies micro-previews of new scholarly and trade titles. You can see the first postings at the UM Press Twitter feed. For example: Annie Finch’s A Poet’s Craft turns into: Be poet – now show it. #NewBooksIn5Words http://bit.ly/nguzLH Christopher Bigsby’s Arthur Miller: 1962–2005 is: After Marilyn: Miller, Act Two. #NewBooksIn5Words http://bit.ly/oQbCER And Theo…

Read the full post »

John Marsh is Assistant Professor of English at Penn State University and the author of Hog Butchers, Begars, and Busboys: Poverty, Labor, and the Making of Modern American Poetry, available this month from University of Michigan Press.     Let’s start with a quiz.  Fill in the blank:

Library Journal recently reviewed Becky Thacker’s new novel, Faithful Unto Death, declaring is to be “a crime story with Midwestern gothic overtones, not unlike Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.” “Authentic atmosphere and a remarkable portrayal of brave children make for a good read… the courtroom scenes are riveting,” reviewer Teresa Jacobsen continues. The book traces the mysterious death of Anna Spencer Thacker in Benzonia, Mich., in 1894. Suicide, accident… or murder?