Poet Natasha Trethewey’s new collection ‘soars,’ says NYT

Renowned poet Natasha Trethewey’s new collection is receiving rave reviews.

The two-time U.S. Poet Laureate, Pulitzer Prize winner and a member of the Northwestern University faculty, released “Monument: Poems New and Selected,” which includes several unpublished works, as well as some of Trethewey’s most celebrated poems. The collection has been discussed by the New York Times, Vanity Fair, the Chicago Tribune and NPR, among other news outlets. 

“Trethewey’s arresting images, urgent tone, and surgically precise language meld with exacting use of rhyme and anaphora to create an intensity that propels the poems forward,” said Publishers Weekly. “This collection is ideal for new readers seeking a representative sample of Trethewey’s best work.”

A Mississippi native, Trethewey grew up the child of an interracial marriage; her parents wed at a time when their union was against the law in Mississippi and much of the segregated South. Trethewey’s racial identity and her mother, murdered by her estranged second husband (Trethewey's stepfather), along with the South, are recurring themes of her new collection.