Hilary Holladay Books

Exploring themes of race, womanhood, and spirituality, Lucille Clifton's poetry is celebrated for its emotional depth and complexity, often juxtaposing joy with sorrow. Hilary Holladay's comprehensive study, "Wild Blessings," contextualizes Clifton's work within the American and African American poetic traditions, analyzing significant themes such as womanhood, fertility, and her connections to the Black Arts Movement. This updated edition includes a preface reflecting on Clifton's legacy and an epilogue covering her later poetry collections, enriching the understanding of her profound impact.

The first comprehensive biography of Adrienne Rich, feminist and queer icon and internationally revered National Book Award winning poet. Adrienne Rich was the female face of American poetry for decades. Her forceful, uncompromising writing has more than stood the test of time, and the life of the woman behind the words is equally impressive. Motivated by personal revelations, Rich transformed herself from a traditional, Radcliffe-educated lyric poet and married mother of three sons into a path-breaking lesbian-feminist author of prose as well as poetry. In doing so, she emerged as both architect and exemplar of the modern feminist movement, breaking ranks to denounce the male-dominated literary establishment and paving the way for the many queer women of letters to take their places in the cultural mainstream. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished materials, including Rich's correspondence and in-depth interviews with numerous people who knew her, Hilary Holladay digs deep into never-before-accessed sources to portray Rich in full dimension and vivid, human detail.

This book is about a New York sex worker and heroin addict whose unrepentant deviance caught the imagination of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs. Includes Huncke?s youthful escapades in Chicago; his complicated alliances with the Beat writers and with sex researcher Alfred Kinsey; and his adventures on the road, at sea, and in prison. It also covers his tumultuous relationship with his partner Louis Cartwright, whose 1994 murder remains unsolved, and his idiosyncratic career as an author and pop-culture icon.