We were delighted to see last week’s Gawker item about a book deal for Melissa Broder, who was last seen in our pages when she was out promoting Sloane Crosley‘s essays. Hamilton Nolan had some swell lines about what it takes to get a book deal these days—the only problem was we didn’t learn much more about Broder’s book other than its title: When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother. Luckily, she got in touch and let us know that it’s a collection of poems that will be published by a new offshoot of The Ampersand Review called Ampersand Books next February.
“I’ve been writing poems pretty continuously since 1989, save for a hiatus in my early 20s,” Broder told us in her email. “It’s always been my dream to have a collection published, but it wasn’t until the past four years that I started taking the action of submitting my work. I am beyond excited that my poems have found a home at Ampersand.” One of the poems that will be appearing in When You Say One Thing… is “Unhitchery,” which was first published in the online literary magazine Opium.
How, we wondered, did Broder find time to write her poetry around her book publicity duties (which we know can be more than a little time-consuming)? “I’ve realized that I have to set up my life a certain way if I am going to keep the creative fawcet on,” she replied. “I put parameters in place that inspire me to do the work; otherwise, the days can just pass you by. This includes reading the poetry journals and contemporary collections out there, curating a monthly series and, most importantly, never staying out of writer’s workshops for very long.” (The next Polestar reading, by the way, is Sunday, October 4, and will feature Sarah Gambito, Daniel Nester, and Victoria McCoy.)