The beauty of the book. Fiction by Alden Jones, Liza Ward, Debra Spark, Patrick Tobin, and Yevgeny Schklovsky. Poetry by Robert Pinsky, Robert Bly, Kirun Kapur, Robert Polito, Jason Labbe, April Bernard, Li Po, Ewa Lipska, Peter Campion, Raffaello Baldini (translated by Adria Bernardi), and more. Essays by Mark Slouka, Ilan Stavans, and memoir by Lynne Sharon Schwartz and Alice Mattison. And paradoxically stunning images of old books by photographer Rosamond Purcell in a full-color, glossy 8-page insert.

Editor

Sven Birkerts

Founding Editor

Askold Melnyczuk

Managing Editor

Eric Grunwald

Associate Fiction Editor

Jennifer Joerg Blum

Associate Poetry Editor

Rachel DeWoskin

Fiction Reader

William Giraldi

Advisory Board

Leslie Epstein

Robert Pinsky

Derek Walcott

Leslie Epstein, Robert Pinsky, Derek Walcott

Editor Emerita

Sharon Dunn

Editorial Assistants

Lisa Gordon

Sara Huneke

Kayla Riccio

Lisa Gordon, Sara Huneke, Kayla Riccio

Contributing Editors

Thomas Bahr

Erin Belieu

Lucie Brock-Broido

John J. Clayton

William Corbett

Stuart Dischell

Sharon Dunn

Thomas Sayers Ellis

Marie Howe

Diana Der-Hovanessian

Ha Jin

Alex Johnson

Susan Johnson

Fred Marchant

Fiona McCrae

Gail Mazur

Joe Osterhaus

Dzvinia Orlowsky

George Packer

Solomea Pavlychko

Liam Rector

Scott Ruescher

George Scialabba

Tom Sleigh

Rosanna Warren

Oksana Zabuzhko

Thomas Bahr, Erin Belieu, Lucie Brock-Broido, John J. Clayton, William Corbett, Stuart Dischell, Sharon Dunn, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Marie Howe, Diana Der-Hovanessian, Ha Jin, Alex Johnson, Susan Johnson, Fred Marchant, Fiona McCrae, Gail Mazur, Joe Osterhaus, Dzvinia Orlowsky, George Packer, Solomea Pavlychko, Liam Rector, Scott Ruescher, George Scialabba, Tom Sleigh, Rosanna Warren, Oksana Zabuzhko

AGNI 58

Contents

Editor's Note

Fictions

Essays

Poetry

Art Feature