Special Sports-Themed Winter 2015 Issue A Home Run

The Winter 2015 edition of Prairie Schooner is now available and arriving in subscribers’ mailboxes. This sports-themed issue, guest-edited by poet Natalie Diaz, features poetry, fiction, and essays from Sherman Alexie, Eileen Myles, Porochista Khakpour, Meghan O’Rourke, Afaa Weaver, Danez Smith, Chip Livingston, Ada Limon, Terrance Hayes, and more.
 
In the essay that opens the issue, Diaz writes, “Before every basketball game, from rec league to high school, my mother told me, Knock ‘em dead. She never said, Good luck.” From here, the issue unfolds in energetic and varied voices, examining sports in all their pain and glory, the competition, self-discipline, violence, and victory.
 
Diaz has assembled a stunningly diverse and talented range of contributors for this issue. Featured poet Sherman Alexie is the author of numerous books of poetry, most recently What I’ve Stolen, What I’ve Earned, as well as First Indian on the Moon and The Summer of Black Widows. He is also the author of numerous works of fiction and served as editor for  Best American Poetry 2015. Russian poet Vera Pavlova’s poem “Russian Sport” also appears, in a translation by Valzhyna Mort with Ilya Kaminsky. Other featured poets include Danez Smith, winner of the 2014 Lambda Literary Award, Terrance Hayes, winner of the 2010 National Book Award, Jon Davis, director of the low-residency MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, L. Lamar Wilson, whose work has appeared in Rattle and Muzzle, and Kamilah Aisha Moon, whose recent work has appeared in the Awl and Chapter Sixteen.
 
Prose writers in the issue include Carmiel Banasky, whose novel The Suicide of Bishop Claire debuted in September of this year. Also featured is “SkateTown USSR,” by Amber Dermont, author of Damage Control, The Starboard Sea, and A Splendid Wife. Nonfiction authors appearing in this edition include Meghan O’Rourke, author of The Long Goodbye, and Porochista Khakpour, author of The Last Illusion.
 
To discover more from our talented contributors, check out their work in the newest issue. To learn more about Prairie Schooner and how to subscribe, visit https://prairieschooner.unl.edu.