Dorothea Lasky

Thunderbird

Dorothea Lasky

• Public anticipation for Lasky’s third book is high, following her critically acclaimed debut, AWE, and 2010’s Black Life (still frequently reviewed and talked about in poetry circles). • Although Lasky has a particularly strong following among young readers, her work has that rare quality of offering something to every reader. Elements of confessionalism, feminism, the gothic and the grotesque form a potent and unmistakable concoction known for inducing laughter just before twisting the knife. • We expect Thunderbird to be high on the academic radar. Lasky is popular among MFA students and professors, and has taught in a multitude of venues, from graduate writing programs to elementary schools. Her poems are instructive in the use of a personal voice, contemporary spirituality, the poetic line, and heightened honesty and emotion. • Lasky publicly identifies with Sylvia Plath, and her work shares an affinity with Plath's. This affinity is especially strong in Thunderbird, her most powerful work to date.• Thunderbird is as stylistically accessible as her previous work, but new readers and fans alike will be astounded by the continued maturity of Lasky's craft. Here, she expertly blurs identity, and like Plath before her, penetrates the underbelly of the psyche.