“A mighty object to behold…enchanting…a complicated, intriguing development in the power struggle between the analog and the digital.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
The Language Lessons: Volume I box set includes a 300+ page hardbound anthology of contemporary poetry and prose, two vinyl LPs of jazz, psychedelic-punk, poetry, blues and pop, and 5 pieces of hangable art all housed in a hard-case clothbound sleeve.
- In 321 pages, the book includes over 20 award winning and/or nominated contemporary poets and authors such as Dale Ray Phillips, a Pulitzer Prize nominee in fiction, C.D. Wright, a National Book Award finalist in poetry, and Adrian Matejka, a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist in poetry. And, interestingly enough, many in the book will be published for the first time in their lives.
- To hang on the wall, five frameable broadsides of poems by C.D. Wright, Frank Stanford, Brian Barker, Jake Adam York and Chet Weise, with original art by former Big Boys guitarist Tim Kerr, one-time Hate illustrator Jim Blanchard, intertwangle-ist folk artist Butch Anthony, and more.
- Features unpublished work by Frank Stanford, Jake Adam York, C.D. Wright, Steve Stern, Sampson Starkweather, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, bemsilr brigham, TJ Jarrett, Janaka Stucky, Sommer Browning, Gaylord Brewer, Dan Boehl, Ben Mirov, Daniel Lucca Pujol, William Miller, and Chet Weise.
- Features unheard music by William Tyler, Destruction Unit, Paul “Wine” Jones, and Ken Vandermark.
- Nonfiction from punk rock progenitors Richard Hell and Tav Falco.
- The occupations of the anthology’s contributors range from teachers, morticians, librarians, software developers, actors, and taco chefs to bartenders, farmers, musicians, and parents. Although from all over America (and beyond), almost 90% of the contributors read in Nashville at a DIY series called Poetry Sucks.
“Language Lessons truly breaks ground by placing these established academic-literary writers alongside spoken word artists, punk rockers, and folksingers, making a convincing case that these performance-based genres of writing deserve to be included in conversations about contemporary literature in America.” —Rain Taxi
Full List of Contributors: Jake Adam York, C. D. Wright, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Stephanie Ann Whited, Sharon Weise, Chet Weise, Calliope Blue Watford-Edelson, Vox Arcana, Adam Vines, Ken Vandermark, William Tyler, Paige Taggart, Ben Swank, Janaka Stucky, Steve Stern, Sampson Starkweather, Frank Stanford, Zachary Schomburg, Sheila Sanderson, Daniel Lucca Pujol, Benjamin Prosser, Dale Ray Phillips, Marquise Person, Pamela Johnson Parker, Mystery Twins, Ben Mirov, William W. Miller, Wayne Miller, Joanne Merriam, Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum, Brooke D. McCarley, Adrian Matejka, Tim Kerr, Paul “Wine” Jones, TJ Jarrett, JP5, Carolyn Hembree, Richard Hell, Noah Eli Gordon, Joshua Gillis, Tav Falco, Destruction Unit, Kendra DeColo, Larry O. Dean, Spencer Connell, Jem Cohen, Carlton Melton, Ben Burr, Sommer Browning, Nickole Brown, besmilr brigham, Rachel Briggs, Gaylord Brewer, Russell Brakefield, Dan Boehl, Jim Blanchard, Pinckney Benedict, Nicky Beer, Brian Barker, Rachel Ballard, Butch Anthony.
