After June

Overview

The Hopper Literary Magazine 2018 Poetry Prize WinnerAfter June is written with a musician's affinity for and attention to pattern, rooted in the author's experience as a choral singer since the age of 14. The collection engages complexly with religion, loss, and womanhood. Raised in a Conservative Mennonite community, Gingerich speaks "with an exile's voice" (Austin Hummel), interrogating the traditions that shaped her with a critical but tender eye. After June grapples with the pain and beauty of living truthfully in a world where the roles we play for others are often in conflict with our own desires. This struggle animates an ambitious first collection, following the writer across the rich landscapes of Ohio and West Virginia, like "an artist, carrying her tools from one job to another" ("Window with Pink Geraniums and Aching Body"), ever searching for the meaning of home, and belonging.

Author Biography

Charity Gingerich is an ESL teacher for international businessmen and their families. Her work has appeared in journals such as FIELD, Kenyon Review, Arts & Letters, Ruminate, Indiana Review, and North American Review. She lives in Uniontown, Ohio. Michelle Kingdom is a preschool teacher and a self-taught embroiderer. Her embroideries have been featured in numerous publications such as The Huffington Post, Hi Fructose, Juxtapoz, Saatchi Gallery, and Colossal. She lives in Burbank, California.