Spring is here!

The Spring issue of the Quarterly Conversation has arrived! The previous issue was my last as poetry editor, as I reluctantly gave up the post after deciding that my attempts to juggle writing here, reading everywhere, and playing the piano (in the privacy of my own home) weren't leaving me the time the magazine deserved from its poetry editor. But while my formal connection may be severed, I remain a reliable reader and champion of TQC, and this issue, as usual, is full of good stuff. Our old friend Patrick Kurp is there, writing about Eric Ormsby's new book of poems. Aashish Kaul writes on the genesis of W. G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn, and Donna Stonecipher reviews Jorge Carrera Andrade's Micrograms. Editor Scott Esposito hosts a roundtable discussion of the re-emergence of Clarice Lispector. And that's just a start!

In addition, this week sees the release of the first in what is planned to be a regular series of podcasts discussing world literature, That Other Word. The inaugural episode features co-hosts Scott Esposito and Daniel Medin talking with Paris Review editor Lorin Stein.

The traditional book review may, as the alarmists would have it, be on some form of grudging life support, but for literature in translation and other works that have for years been flying under the radar of most review editors, the Internet is more than making up for it. Take some time tomorrow when you ought to be doing your job and read the Quarterly Conversation. I bet you'll find some books to add to your stack.