    San Diego State University Press, Hyperbole Books, Amatl Comix, and Xopan Books Editorial de la Universidad Estatal de San Diego |
 |
 "'The
two best questions
one can ask: Need a
little help? And,
what is the name of
that bird?' writes
Roger Rosenblatt in
this wise and
beautiful book that
you can read in one
sitting, but will
keep circling back
to for days and
weeks. It is
lyrical, it is
memorable, and it
has a heart of
wonder by a mind
that has lived on
this planet, here,
amongst us. I loved
this book."Ilya Kaminsky
Author of DEAF REPUBLIC click to enlarge  A Steinway on the
Beach Wounds and Other Blessings Roger Rosenblatt Illustrations by Fred Newman September 2024 San Diego State University Press $20 | ISBN 9781938537394 Order direct from SDSU Press by clicking our handy "add to cart" button. Free shipping + a modest discount. Available on Amazon!  click to
enlarge
  In 2023, Roger Rosenblatt’s first book with SDSU Press, Cataract Blues, was an instantaneous bestseller. Pairing the talents of Rosenblatt with Village Voice illustrator-legend Jules Feiffer, ‘Blues was a unique chimera-text fusing poetry, memoir, and music in an aesthetic brew that was both electric and moving. Rosenblatt’s new SDSU Press book, A Steinway on the Beach: Wounds and Other Blessings, fuses his writing with the subtle, moving art of Fred Newman—and this affecting duet’s concerto, focused on the relationship between words and wounds, emerges as a gateway to existential wonder. Sophisticated in measure and movement, Rosenblatt's literary concerto probes the contours of questions that are at the crossroads between poetry, pain, memory, and more: How do we survive our wounds? How do we survive without them? Advance Word on A STEINWAY ON THE BEACH
Grace Schulman Author of Again, The Dawn: New and Selected Poems  "One of the great ongoing
treats for a reader these days is to experience
another Roger Rosenblatt performance, up there on
the high trapeze, flinging shards of journalism
& philosophy & poetry & memoir &
sheer fun and of course himself up there against
the sky, with no net below, and watch them all
somehow tumbling together in a brilliant original
new book such as A Steinway on the
Beach. No
mansion or bungalow should be without one."  "A
Steinway on the Beach, explodes with a firework
display of ideas, feelings, musings, rhythms,
poetry, humor and memories. In this book Roger
Rosenblatt’s voice is pitch perfect. Whether
spending an evening savoring it or meditating on a
few pages, better yet, doing both, a reader’s time
is well spent. This book takes my breath away." Sneak peek at some spreads from
the book featuring the art of Fred Newman:
click to enlarge       Click the pianist to get a direct link to his first book with SDSU Press, Cataract Blues. |
 
Illustration by Fred Newman
|
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SDSU Press homepage. More titles from SDSU Press |
"Reading
Roger Rosenblatt’s new book makes me happy to be
alive in a world in which imperfection enables
perfection, failure is a golden opportunity,
and, above all, wounds are a blessing. Rather
than expound on this view, he makes his point
with images, bright and unforgettable -- a
rusted grand piano washed up on shore; a broken
vase glued together with silver and gold at the
seams; a lantern in the dark; “hydrangeas in
their purest triumph.” He persuades with the art
of paradox, truth arising from conditions we
thought opposites; and with personal revelations
we want to cheer and shout and affirm. “Where
heartbreak is, beauty intrudes,” he writes, and
I am with him all the way.