The Book of Things: Poems

From his first book of poems, Chessboards of Hours, published in 1995 when he was 22 years old, Ales Steger has been considered one of Slovenia’s most promising poets. That promise has been unleashed over the course of a decade and a half, through three more books of poetry (Kashmir, Protuberances, and The Book of Things), a fictional travelogue in Peru (January in the Middle of Summer), and a collection of lyric essays (Berlin), which received an award for being the best book of essays written in Slovenian. The philosophical and lyrical sophistication of his poems, along with his work as a leading book editor and festival organizer, earned Steger a reputation that quickly traveled beyond the borders of Slovenia. The international reach of his work seems appropriate considering its international concerns and refusal to acknowledge limits to, or boundaries of, art, thought, and even genre. Although grounded in and growing from his home country, Steger’s work in multiple genres and on many fronts testifies to his growing stature as one of Central Europe’s most essential literary figures.

Ales Steger: Ales Steger is the most prominent Slovenian poet of his generation: his work has won major awards in his own country and has been translated into numerous languages. His European publishers are among the most prominent in their countries: his German publisher is Suhrkamp which also publishes fellow Slovenians Slavoj Zizek and Tomas Salamun; his Italian publisher is Zandonai; his Spanish publisher is Pretextos. The Book of Things is Steger’s most widely praised book of poetry. He is becoming one of central Europe’s most prominent poets as well as one of its brightest stars in general.

Brian Henry: Brian Henry has published five books of poetry and edited other books. His next book, Lessness, is forthcoming from Ahsahta Press. He’s placed more than 400 poems in magazines in over a dozen countries. He has co-edited the prestigious international literary journal Verse since 1995, and co-founded Verse Press in 1999. He has reviewed poetry for the New York Times Book Review, Times Literary Supplement, The Kenyon Review, Boston Review, The Yale Review, and many other places. His essays on poetry have appeared in Virginia Quarterly Review, The Georgia Review, The Antioch Review, and in books published by Harvard University Press, University of Wisconsin Press, and Salt Publishing. He teaches at University of Richmond in Virginia.