Social Poetics
Nowak's work, as a poet as well as an activist sits right at the intersection of both the philosophical and the lived experiences of the personal as political. He's been doing this work for a long time, well before the recent renewed interest in poetry that speaks to social justice, and this book should interest both those who have been in the trenches for decades as well as readers who are just becoming familiar with the radical tradition of poetry. Social Poetics ties the concerns of the present-creative practice under late capitalism, who can make art and who it is for, resistance in contemporary social movements-with labor history and theory, and it has the potential to do very well in the academic market as well as the non-academic poetry market. Nowak regularly speaks at academic and political conferences, and these audiences will be excited for this new work. Coal Mountain Elementary and Shut Up Shut Down are contemporary classics of political and working class poetry and mainstays on creative writing syllabi. Coffee House has enthusiastically published all of Nowak's work, and we're just as excited for this new book that gets to the root of the question of why "workers'" poetry needs to be "legitimized" in the first place.
Mark Nowak is the author of Coal Mountain Elementary, Shut Up Shut Down, and Revenants. He is the recipient of the Freedom Plow Award for Poetry & Activism and fellowships from the Lannan and Guggenheim foundations. Nowak has led poetry workshops for workers and trade unions in the US, South Africa, the UK, Panama, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. He is currently a professor of English at Manhattanville College and the founding director of the Worker Writers School.
