The local Arrowsmith Press, in conjunction with the Derek Walcott Festival in Trinidad, has recently announced the winner of the 2024 Derek Walcott Prize awarded annually to a full-length English-language collection of poems by a living poet who is not a citizen of the United States. This year, the prize goes to the Italian poet Antonella Anedda for her book "Historiae" (NYRB), translated from the Italian by Susan Stewart and Patrizio Ceccagnoli. "Once in a while I use a language of mine/ I invent it, kneading it with the past/ I don't hand it over except in translation." Anedda writes of "sweetly/ radioactive sea anemones" and a "herd of clouds" and "the bridle of the stars." Judge Diane Mehta cites Anedda's "efficient style" and skill in "calculating the geometry of her surroundings," revealing "that there is no exile so profound as losing a parent." She "can take an insect and make its short life beautiful, and she takes the entire treacherous cosmos into her quiet home," Mehta writes. Anedda will receive a $2,000 prize, to be shared with the translators. Dawn says "now/ begin to scour/ yourself first, peeling the skin of the past from the mind/ holding your nothingness between your fingers, without anger."
Salem names J.D. Scrimgeour its inaugural poet laureate
J.D. Scrimgeour has been named Salem's inaugural poet laureate. Scrimgeour, an English professor at Salem State, is the author of five collections of poetry, and helped bring the Mass Poetry Festival to life. He's the founder and director of the Salem Poetry Seminar, which brings students from public colleges and universities together to study poetry writing with notable teachers in weeklong seminars. In a poem called "Salem, Mass," he writes: "Too much misery goes down/ in this city I call my home ... as I held his hand while he zipped down the slide/ I thought, yeah, I guess I could live here/ for the rest of my life." The inaugural term will last two years, and begins in January 2025, coinciding with Salem's 400th anniversary in 2026. Scrimgeour will offer three to five public readings and workshops each year of the term, as well as take part in community events and school engagements. According to Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo, the role "celebrates Salem's rich literary history and highlights an individual whose work in the written word enriches our community."
Cape Cod Book Festival arrives
The traffic has let up. The beaches are emptier. The summer people have gone home. But there's a reason to return to Cape Cod next weekend, for the Cape Cod Book Festival taking place Nov. 1-3 at the Cotuit Arts Center. On Saturday, Sebastian Junger will be in conversation with Jacquelyn Mitchard about faith after a near-death experience. Barry Sonnenfeld, director of "The Men in Black" trilogy and author of the memoir "Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time," will be in conversation with festival founder Lois Cahall. Clara Bingham will discuss the feminist movement with Leigh Haber. And Jeffrey Toobin will discuss politics with Garrett M. Graff. On Sunday, Elizabeth Beller, RoseMarie Terenzio, and Liz McNeil will discuss John F. Kennedy Jr., on the 25th anniversary of his death. Don Lemon will be awarded the festival's Book of the Year prize for "I Once Was Lost: My Search for God in America." He'll be in conversation with Imani Perry. Tickets for each session cost $15-$20. For more information and a complete schedule, visit capecodbookfestival.com.
Coming out
"The Book Against Death" by Elias Canetti, translated from the German by Peter Gilkins (New Directions)
Nicole Dahlmer at the Bookstore of Gloucester recommends "From the Belly" by Emmett Nahil (Tenebrous): "The perfect autumn, spine-tingling read. When a whaling ship crew finds a man in the belly of a whale and brings him aboard, Isaiah is made to look after him. Shortly after this stranger's arrival, odd things start happening on the boat. A story about vengeance, greed, punishment, the natural world, and human connection, and one I couldn't stop thinking about."