TONIGHT! BOOK LAUNCH: SAVAGE COAST by MURIEL RUKEYSER

Join editor Rowena Kennedy-Epstein, along with writers Eileen Myles, Katha Pollitt, and Lynne Tillman, to celebrate the release of SAVAGE COAST, a previously unpublished novel by Muriel Rukeyser.

“Rejected by her publisher in 1937, poet Rukeyser’s newly discovered autobiographical novel is both an absorbing read and an important contribution to 20th-century history… Ironically, the factors that led to the novel’s rejection—Rukeyser’s avant-garde impressionistic prose style, alternating with realistic scenes of brutal death and a few descriptions of sexual congress—are what make the book appealing today.” —Publishers Weekly

Rescued from the archives of this great American poet and political activist, is the major literary event of 2013. On the occasion of Muriel Rukeyser’s centenary, we are thrilled to present SAVAGE COAST, a previously unpublished autobiographical novel documenting Rukeyser’s visit to Barcelona at the outset of the Spanish Civil War. Rukeyser is at once a journalist and a poet, reporting her experience of war with literary grace. SAVAGE COAST adds a young woman’s voice to the cannon of this historical and cultural moment.
Included in this historic first-printing is an introduction by Modernist scholar and editor Rowena Kennedy-Epstein, and an article by Rukeyser which first appeared in Esquire Magazine in 1974 about her experience of this time.
Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980) was a prolific American writer and political activist. She was an important modernist champion of social justice issues, showing the place of memory and feelings in politics. Rukeyser’s centenary will be celebrated in 2013.

Available now at feministpress.org