In the Thick of it

In the Thick of It

October 1, 2024

By now the Republic of Consciousness Prize judging is well underway. Our panel has all submissions in hand and has been actively reading and trading notes about the books, many of which begin with, “You should read this one next!”

We thought we’d provide some insight along the way about which books are under consideration and what our judges are thinking about them. A trio of offhand comments from our Slack channel is presented below for your enjoyment, and we’ll be bringing you more in subsequent months. Bear in mind that this is a mere sampling of the scores of titles we’re evaluating, and it isn’t intended as any sort of preview of our eventual longlist. There’s simply so much great work coming from North America’s small presses that we had to start sharing some of it now!

Melvill by Rodrigo Fresán (translated by Will Vanderhyden) from Open Letter is a hallucinatory fictional examination of the role Herman Melville’s father played in the great writer’s life. Judge Chris Via says of it:

As a shameless Melvillean I have to play devil's advocate against myself: Chris, will people who aren't that into Melville appreciate this? I don't know. But in addition to its subject matter, Fresan's innovation and creativity is on full display. Just wait until you witness Herman leap from the footnotes into the main text! Seriously, Fresán does things here that you just don't see any more and that adds another layer of excitement to the reading.

Lublin by Manya Wilkinson from And Other Stories describes a comic children’s crusade through a collapsing Polish landscape during the years before the Holocaust. Judge Dorian Stuber commented on his reading of it as follows:

Jewish Eastern Europe is my jam; I'm curious whether others will find this book as absorbing as I am. I'm enjoying the way Wilkinson weaves Yiddish into the text, and I'm curious about the narrative voice. Lotta classic Jewish jokes in there: I admire how she makes them fit the book's milieu.

To & Fro by Leah Hager Cohen is published by Bellevue Literary Press, and it’s a twin-tale novel about a pair of young girls questing through separate (but are they?) realms fantastical and realistic. Judge James Crossley gives his report:

Physics class taught me that if I jumped into a tube that extended all the way through the earth, I'd fall endlessly from pole to pole, borne back and forth by gravity. Leah Hager Cohen made me feel the same sensation with To & Fro. Her paired stories reflect light upon each other, and both are full of intelligence, humor, and deep feeling. It's as if Eloise and Alice walked hand-in-hand through the looking glass and I was able to follow them.

With that we’ll get back to the books, but stay tuned for more highlights from the submission list from our other judges.

Please share this email with other interested readers to help spread the word about the remarkable work being produced by North American small presses!