War, Pestilence, Famine, Death. Was I deaf / to the headline roar of my unwieldy load? Engaging with the inevitability of change and flux, Thomas O’Grady’s poems grapple with themes of death and rebirth, of loss and resiliency, of ebb and flow within nature and within individual lives and romantic and domestic relationships. Bookended by the springtime of “Controlled Burn” and its mirror, the wistfully autumnal “Magritte,” the collection follows multiple arcs within and across poems and longer sequences. Part I, “Seeing Red,” grounds the poems in the rural landscapes, shorescapes, and streetscapes of the poet’s childhood on Prince Edward Island, leading O’Grady home as he returns to “the heartening blaze / of red that frames the doors, // the eaves, the corner trim / of every outlying / Island barn and shed.” Part II, “The Wide World,” comprises poems prompted by more cosmopolitan landscapes, both literal and figurative, and inspired by the graphic arts, jazz music, classical mythol- ogy, and other writers. A later sequence of eight poems reflects O’Grady’s Irish heritage within the social fabric of pei. Through precise and steadying language, Delivering the News reflects the capacity of poetry both to acknowledge and to mitigate life’s mutability. Thomas O’Grady is the author of What Really Matters. He grew up on Prince Edward Island. Chava Rosenfarb (1923–2011) was one of the most prominent Yiddish novel- ists of the second half of the twentieth century. Born in Poland in 1923, she survived the Lodz ghetto, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen, immigrating to Canada in 1950 and settling in Montreal. There she wrote novels, poetry, short stories, plays, and essays, including The Tree of Life: A Trilogy of Life in the Lodz Ghetto, a seminal novel on the Holocaust. Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays comprises thirteen personal and literary essays by Rosenfarb, ranging from autobiographical accounts of her childhood and experiences before and during the Holocaust to literary criticism that discusses the work of other Jewish writers. The collec- tion also includes two travelogues, which recount a trip to Australia and an- other to Prague in 1993, the year it became the capital of the Czech Republic. While several of these essays appeared in the prestigious Yiddish literary journal Di goldene keyt, most were never translated. This book marks the first time that Rosenfarb’s non-fiction writings have been presented together in English. “Original in perspective, range, and tone, Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays offers a powerful and remarkable presentation of Holocaust- related memoir and careful readings of key Yiddish and European writers in Chava Rosenfarb’s own personal and effective way.” Norman Ravvin, Concordia University Chava Rosenfarb (1923–2011) was a Jewish-Canadian novelist and the recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the Itzik Manger Prize, Israel’s highest award for Yiddish literature. Goldie Morgentaler is professor of English at the University of Lethbridge. 1 1 M Q U P S P R I N G 2 0 1 9 S P E C I F I C AT I O N S vu0 @d:u (o$O088o8 I90r2f c02t03 April 2019 -5,7a755pl7lnpl7l 4Sni-lv bAU1 4Sni-lv Dc1 kSsi-- 6o602 l B 5il SSs66 0g99T omot.oN.0 Delivering the News thomas o’grady A rich gathering of lyric poems by a native of Prince Edward Island. P O E T R Y S P E C I F I C AT I O N S April 2019 -5,7a755pl7l5ap7S 4phi-lv bAU1 4s-i-lv Dc1 kssi-- 6o602 -5,7a755pl7l5as7h 4Ssaiaac bAU1 4Ssaiaac Dc1 k-niaa $.9ru n B - s-n66 0g99T omot.oN.0 Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays chava rosenfarb edited by goldie morgentaler A collection of essays by the great Yiddish novelist Chava Rosenfarb, most published in English for the first time. J E W I S H S T U D I E S • L I T E R AT U R E A N D P O E T R Y