Nestled against the backdrop of Seattle's flora, fauna, and cityscape, Luther Hughes' debut poetry collection wrestles with the interior and exterior symbiosis of a gay Black man finding refuge from the threat of depression and death through love and desire.

Hughes draws readers into a Seattle that is heavily entrenched in violent anti-Blackness, and full of vulnerable and personal encounters from both the speaker’s past and present. With reverent and careful imagery, Hughes fashions deeply saturated, tender vignettes that reckon relationships between family and friends, lovers, nature, and the police-state.

A Shiver in the Leaves is stunningly cinematic in its layered portrayal of the never-ending dualities of a queer Black poet’s life in the city. Hughes's interrogation of selfhood renders a sharply intimate and viscerally powerful reimagining of what it means to be alive in a body, and what it can mean to live.

About the Author
Luther Hughes (they/them) is the author of A Shiver in the Leaves and the chapbook, Touched (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2018). They are the founder of Shade Literary Arts, an organization for queer writers of color, and cohosts The Poet Salon Podcast with Gabrielle Bates and Dujie Tahat. Recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Rosenberg Fellowship and the 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize, their writing has been published in The Paris Review, The Seattle Times, American Poetry Review, and others. They live in the Southend of Seattle, where they were born and raised.

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Author:
Publisher: BOA Editions Ltd
Publish Date: September 27, 2022
Page Count: 80
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 1950774678
ISBN-13: 978-1950774678