Curated by Melissa Joplin Higley
Maria Lisella, At the Hour of Now, Bordighera Press, April 2026, poetry
Maria Lisella’s newest collection At the Hour of Now tells the unflinchingly honest story of a blended family that raises urgent questions, quells hearts, and provides a gateway to healing from loss, bolstered by genuinely rare moments. At the center of the collection is her stepson, the character who sparked the narrative. Rich with dialogue, part love letter in three voices, At the Hour of Now untangles the threads of storytelling, mental illness, grief, and caregiving. The randomness of fate, and the choices made or not made, span the globe from the Bronx to Italy, Morocco, and Puerto Rico. Ultimately, this book carries us past sorrow toward the elusive wonder of being alive to celebrate and survive with which each reader can identify.
Tammy C. Greenwood, The Winged & the Horned, Finishing Line Press, May 2026, poetry (chapbook)
Tammy C. Greenwood’s debut chapbook The Winged & the Horned explores infertility, step-motherhood, mental health and addiction. Fertility images of the rabbit are woven with depictions of desolate desert landscapes, droughts and wildfires. The poems move across country from Texas to California with “horizons of pumpjacks replaced by saguaro cactus.” The Winged & the Horned maps a journey of healing, anchored in wonder of the natural world. Juxtaposed against a search for belonging, she interrogates the notion that blood is thicker than water. In this cohesive collection, Greenwood carries the reader through this unraveling, discovering that in a world without resolution, surrendering to the towhee, raven and barn owl, may be its only salvation.
Hilary Plattner, The Momma Puzzle: A Memoir, Apprentice House Press, June 2026, creative nonfiction (memoir)
In February 1968, Hilary Plattner’s mother died by suicide. It was the height of the Vietnam war and Hilary was six years old. Years later, in an attempt to understand the mystery of her mother’s death, she studies the items her mother left behind: photographs and a file of papers from the 1950s when Momma worked as a Foreign Service secretary in Saigon. Hilary pores over letters written to her future father, her grandmother, and to her mother’s best friend. She dreams of burning the pile of documents in a bonfire, and simply being done with it all. But she continues her investigation and eventually discovers an important piece of the puzzle: her mother’s medical records from a psychiatric hospital. Ultimately, she forms an image of who Momma was—and finds a way to release herself from the hold of her family history.
Mai-Linh Hong, Continental Drift, Trio House Press, July 2026, poetry
“To survive is to refuse / death, but how / to tell refusal from retreat?” In the 2025 Trio Award winning poetry collection Continental Drift, Mai-Linh Hong honors and explores the geography that made and continues to shape her ancestors’ story, her own story, and the future story of her descendants. From Vietnam to Virginia, California to Thailand, Hong plumbs the fault lines, crosses the oceans, crystallizing moments into meaning. Whether luxuriating in the small joys of nature and of existence, or marveling at the process of geological shift, these artfully crafted poems bring the reader into the complex promises and griefs of migration, navigation, and claiming space in a postcolonial world.
Ellen O’Connell Whittet, Book of Hours, Dzanc Books, September 2026, literary fiction
Following an unnamed woman’s journey from mystical childhood experiences to fertility struggles and motherhood, Book of Hours examines spiritual doubt, bodily autonomy, and expectations of women. As a child, the girl sees visions of saints. This secret, combined with her Catholic upbringing, breeds a fascination with female saints, who only achieved their holiness after enduring extreme suffering. The obsession fades as she steps into her marriage. But as she grapples with a years-long stretch of infertility, the woman finds herself once again grasping at the tale of “Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel”—searching for an explanation for her miscarriages and unsuccessful IVF treatments. Entwining her story with the pilgrim’s turbulent pregnancy up until her own violent delivery, the woman delivers a healthy baby, but is left with the question: at what point does holy suffering end? A celebration of the sacredness of women, and inspired by Whittet’s own experience with childbirth, Book of Hours confronts the erasure of women’s stories, historically and presently, through the lens of medieval mysticism and contemporary motherhood.
Taylor Catalana, Marble, Modern Artist Press, September 2026, literary fiction
Marble is the feminist retelling of the life of the Virgin Mary, sharing her story before she became a mother. Out on the edge of the Roman Empire, Maryam dreams of the world beyond her village, her solitude occasionally broken by a mysterious figure named Gabriel. But when Maryam’s father dies and leaves behind debts that his only child must pay in servitude, she is thrust into the heart of the treacherous royal court of King Herod the Great. Before long, a brutal act of jealousy and betrayal leaves Maryam alone in a country simmering with unrest. When she sets out to salvage her future, she is jarred by the discovery that she will soon become a mother. Maryam must decide to take her life into her own hands, and nothing — not a princess, not an empire, not even an angel — will stop her from seeing her own will be done. With luminous prose and page-turning storytelling, Marble gives voice to one of the most famous mothers, narrating an unforgettable and resounding story of feminine identity, strength, and choice.