Thursday, March 25, 2010

Inheritance cover, book now available


I’m really pleased to share that Iris Jamahl Dunkle’s poetry collection Inheritance, which I designed the cover for, is now available for pre-order through Finishing Line Press. Now is the best time to order copies, since pre-orders will determine the size of the press run.

Having read poems from the collection years ago, it was a pleasant surprise to find that I would be creating a cover illustration for a familiar text. Reading these beautiful, honest poems feels so immediate that it’s almost like listening to a good friend – a friend who is a skilled poet, that is.

Iris was really open-minded and encouraged me to take my own approach to a cover illustration that would convey the spirit of the collection. Starting with Iris’ request for a black and white cover image of the musicians of Bremen town, I suggested adding secondary images from the poems, and using a silhouette style.

Link for online orders: http://www.finishinglinepress.com/NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm

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Iris’ announcement and mail order form

Just wanted to let you all know that my poetry collection Inheritance, will be published by Finishing Line Press on June 25, 2010. This is a limited edition collection, and pre-publication sales will determine the press run, so please reserve your copy by April 30th. Please take a moment to pre-order a copy and feel free to pass along information about the book. If you’ve already ordered Inheritance, my sincere thanks.

You can purchase the book online at www.finishinglinepress.com by clicking on "2009/10 New Releases" and scrolling down to my book. Or, if you prefer to order by mail, please use the order form below. Copies are $12 each and shipping is only $1.

In Inheritance, Iris Jamahl Dunkle wipes the tarnish off an old family mirror, focuses her light onto it and back out onto the mythic labyrinths of a pastoral childhood, onto the harrowing city, and onto the straw-gold strands that bind the speaker and a distant beloved. A mother hums “the song of the sink,” the speaker packages the city into a “box, oil-stained and almost translucent,” and looks ahead to bones with “swollen rings (as) in trees”. Many of them sonnets, these small intense poems race past each other like cloud-spots, sun-spots on a wind-eager day, toward the beloved and an intertwined human destiny.” 


– Phyllis Meshulam

Sonoma County Coordinator for California Poets in the Schools.


“With shining images and language, Iris Dunkle explores childhood’s maze to find the self at the center, only to lose that center, as we must, to love… These poems celebrate two of the greatest tools we have for fixing the unfixable, love and language.”

– Gwynn O’Gara

Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, California 2010-2011

Thank you!

Iris Jamahl Dunkle

Please mail all orders to the Finishing Line Press address below or order online at www.finishinglinepress.com (click on “2009/10 New Releases”).

Please send me ______ copy(ies) of Inheritance, by Iris Jamahl Dunkle, at $12.00 per copy.

Enclosed is my check (payable to Finishing Line Press) for $__________

Name

Address

City/State/Zip

Please send check or money order to:

Finishing Line Press

Post Office Box 1626

Georgetown, KY 40324