Kaveh Akbar's poems appear in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Paris Review, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. He is the author of two poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell (Graywolf 2021) and Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James 2017), in addition to a chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic (Sibling Rivalry 2016). He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 100 Poets on the Divine (Penguin Classics 2022). In 2024, Knopf will publish Martyr!, Kaveh's first novel.

In 2020 Kaveh was named Poetry Editor of The Nation. The recipient of honors including multiple Pushcart Prizes, a Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, and the Levis Reading Prize, Kaveh was born in Tehran, Iran, and teaches at the University of Iowa and in the low-residency MFA programs at Randolph College and Warren Wilson. In 2014, Kaveh founded Divedapper, a home for dialogues with the most vital voices in American poetry. With Sarah Kay and Claire Schwartz, he wrote a weekly column for the Paris Review called "Poetry RX."

Paige Lewis is the author of the poetry collection Space Struck (Sarabande 2019), cited as "One of the best debuts of the year" in "Must-Read Poetry, 2019" by The Millions. They are a recipient of the 2016 Editor's Award in Poetry from The Florida Review as well as a Gregory Djanikian Scholarship from The Adroit Journal. Their poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, The Georgia Review, Best New Poets 2017, and elsewhere. They currently live and teach in Iowa City, IA.

The Rumpus, "The Most Beautiful Books of 2023"

Official selection of The Rumpus's Poetry Book Club

Caroline, Bookseller and Events Coordinator at Prologue Bookshop, "Top Reads of 2023"

Carmichael's Bookstore, "Favorite Books of 2023"

"Joy Harjo begins the collection with 'Running.'. . . Following this breathtaking opener are Jericho Brown, Ada Limón, Airea D. Matthews, Sharon Olds, Ocean Vuong, and other voices offering lyrics, prose poems, and more experimental verse plumbing the depths of substance abuse, the possibility of emerging from its hold, and living in its aftermath."

--Poets & Writers, "The Anthologist: A Compendium of Uncommon Collections"

"This resonates as one of the most important anthologies in recent memory. Akbar and Lewis have expertly curated a collection of poets whose respective talents give language to one of the most pervasive and difficult circumstances in contemporary society. And in the end, as Akbar predicts in the opening pages, we find hope in the people that tell their stories, hope in the poems that insist not just on survival but on joy."

--The Poetry Question

"Joy Harjo, Jericho Brown, Ada Limón, Airea D. Matthews, Sharon Olds, Ocean Vuong, and other voices offer work with which to plumb the depths of substance abuse, the possibility of emerging from its hold, and living in its aftermath."

--A Room of One's Own Bookstore

"This stunning anthology is a must read for anyone whose life has been affected by addiction-and any poetry aficionado. Brimming with grief, heartache, humor, and even joy, these poems capture every facet of dependency and recovery. Quite a few made me weep. Lots of heavy hitters from stars in contemporary poetry, such as Ocean Vuong, Ada Limon, Sharon Olds, and many more. "

--Caroline, Bookseller and Events Coordinator at Prologue Bookshop, "Top Reads of 2023"

"Why do I feel so at home among the poems and poets of Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction & Deliverance? There is nothing more human, haunted, humbling, and bottom line, than the desire that fuels addiction and recovery--and poetry. In reading this brilliant anthology, I feel less alone. I've found my people."

--Diane Seuss, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for frank: sonnets

"What better gift to all of us than this wide and deep collection of poems about what enriches all our humanity, the desire to move through each day with that clarity we call sobriety, and how that helps all of us to be more fully human."

--Afaa M. Weaver, author of A Fire in the Hills

"That writer lore: that one needs alcohol, conscious-altering substances, narcotic meandering--to be one of the greats--still reigns strong. But the discovery that there were great writers in recovery brought me over, as Sharon Olds writes here, to 'the side of life, ' where I could become and become closer to myself. This anthology celebrates the true spiritual work that writing demands and sobriety gifts."

--Joy Priest, author of Horsepower

Publisher: Sarabande Books

Pub date: 2023-10-24

Length: 150 pages