Sarabande Books: 84 books

"David Martinez is like an algebra problem invented by America-he's polynomial, and fractioned, full of identity variables and unsolved narrative coefficients. . . . Hustle is full of dashing nerve, linguistic flair, and unfakeable heart."-Tony HoaglandThe dark peoples with things:for keys,...

Short fiction that leaps across borders and boundaries: “Fierce and bold . . . beautiful” (Sena Jeter Naslund).   In whirling, catch-me-if-you-can prose, Where the Long Grass Bends tells stories that subvert conventional narrative by employing Indian lore, Gaelic fable, and historical legend....

“Bold and ingenious” stories about the dark heart of America by the acclaimed Whiting Award–winning author (The New York Times Book Review).**   “Feverish, psychotropic, bold, mesmerizing, painful, Fox Tooth Heart is full of stories about people living on the margins of society, characters...

Amelia Martens's prose poems reveal expansive ideas in compressed language. From the domestic to the geopolitical, from the mundane to the miraculous, these brief vignettes take the form of prayers, parables, confessions, and revelations. Intimate and urgent, Martens's poems are strange, darkly funny,...

“All about looking: at a landscape, at language, at a sign . . . Purpura goes beneath the surface, writing not just about what she sees but what it means.” —Los Angeles Times   Lia Purpura’s essays are full of joy in the act of intense observation; they’re also deliciously subversive...

American Book Award Winner: A “mesmerizing” memoir about identity from the daughter of an Irish-Catholic mother and a Sindhi-Indian father (Chandra Prasad, editor of Mixed).   A ForeWord Book of the Year   You Have Given Me a Country is an emotionally powerful exploration of blurred borders,...

The acclaimed author explores his path from closeted child to out-and-proud adult in this deeply personal collection of fourteen linked essays. “[A] moving debut. . . . Thanks to Van Meter’s honesty, essays on his own childhood, identity, and love have a profoundly universal appeal.”...

New York Times Notable Book: “Yoon writes stories the way Fabergé made eggs: with untold craftsmanship, artistry, and delicacy.” —Ann Patchett An NPR “Best Debut Fiction” and a Los Angeles Times “Favorite Fiction” selection Spanning over half a century—from the years...

A searing interrogation of identity, masculinity, and contemporary culture, Post Traumatic Hood Disorder's references range from Icarus to Sir Mix-A-Lot as the speaker assembles a bricolage self-portrait from the fractures of his past. Sliding between scholarly diction and slangy vernacular, Martinez's...

Timely issues: Poems address vivid troubles of contemporary America, including political and societal distresses related to immigration and citizenship

“Beautifully written and delightfully gay,” Mr. Dalloway sheds new light on Virginia Woolf’s classic novel (The Advocate).   It’s the day of their thirtieth anniversary, and Richard Dalloway has arranged a surprise party for his wife, Clarissa. But as he leaves their house in Westminster...

Thought That Nature identifies and captures moments when the border between personal consciousness and the otherness of the physical become porous. Ironically, it also allows Moody to measure the distance between consciousness and direct experience, even as he casts this gap in memorable speech. This...

“A very funny [memoir] about the frailties of the flesh, the absurdities of modern medicine, and how to stay sane amid it all” (Dave Eggers).   Raucous family memoir meets medical adventure in this “winning literary debut” that explores the public and private theaters of illness (The New...

"Smote is a book of the dark reality of our daily existence; it is a book of abiding grace."—Robert Olen Butler I release you like the crank-addled truck driver releases his cargo at the midnight dock until the warehouse is one in a trail of crumbs, little light left on behind him. James...