PRESS RELEASE

St. Louis, MO, April 1, 2022

NEW PUBLISHER DEBUTS POETRY COLLECTION

Backroom Window Press Publishes Linda McCauley Freeman's first book

Just in time for National Poetry Month, Backroom window Press, a new indie publisher comes on the scene with a new poetry collection by Linda McCauley Freeman. In this, her first full-length collection of poems, McCauley Freeman tells the story of an American girlhood spent in a large and boisterous family that is sometimes dysfunctional, sometimes dangerous. The Family Plot is part memoir, part survival history, with plenty of space for a heroic portrait of the materfamilias, described in the title of one poem as "My Italian Catholic Human Rights Commissioner Mother" who even as she descends into dementia rises mightily from her chair. Rises mightily, one might add, in these poems as one focus of meaning amidst this rich complexity of personality over which the poet's keen intelligence broods with an objectivity not devoid of kindness and deep affection. "I will remind her who she is/every time she forgets," McCauley Freeman writes, and again, "It’s not that I can’t remember / her face, a kaleidoscope/of pictures [...]"

The Family Plot

ISBN: 978-1737987222

Linda McCauley Freeman

Backroom window Press

March 12, 2022

103 pages

$15.00

Available from Amazon.

Linda McCauley Freeman has been widely published in international journals and anthologies, including a Chinese translation of her work, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Recently, she has appeared in Delta Poetry Review, Poet Magazine, Amsterdam Quarterly, won Grand Prize in StoriArts poetry contest honoring Maya Angelou, and was selected by the Arts Mid-Hudson for Poets Respond to Art 2020, 2021 and 2022 shows. She was a three-time winner in the Talespinners Short Story contest judged by Michael Korda. She has an MFA from Bennington College and is the former poet-in-residence of the Putnam Arts Council. She lives in the Hudson Valley, NY.

LAUNCH SCHEDULE—

April 20, 7pm Virtual book launch & Q & A with Kate Hymes, Registration required

April 23, 2-4pm Book Launch Party at Arts Society of Kingston, 97 Broadway, Kingston NY 12401

May 5, 7-8pm In-person Reading and open mic, Marlboro Free Library. 1251 Rt 9W, Marlboro, NY 12542. Registration required: Local Author Talk: Linda McCauley Freeman- Thurs. May 5, 7pm – Marlboro Free Library

May 18, 7-8pm In-person Reading and open mic, Elting Library, 92 Main Street, New Paltz, NY 12561 Registration required: Calendar — The Elting Memorial Library

May 25, 7-8pm Virtual Reading and open mic, Pawling Library, 11 Broad Street, Pawling, NY 12564 Registration required Poetry Reading with Linda McCauley Freeman / Online Program – Pawling Library

AUTHOR WEBSITE—

Linda McCauley Freeman: www.Facebook.com/LindaMcCauleyFreeman

BACKROOM WINDOW PRESS—

Julian O. Long, Editor and Publisher

2911 S. Compton Ave.

St. Louis, MO 63118

https://bwpress.org

Wholesalers may order directly from the publisher.