Poetry. Women's Studies. Poet Moira Egan finally turned fifty, and her poetic journey has gotten ever sweatier and sexier. In her latest collection, HOT FLASH SONNETS, she explores the sultry joys and humorous indignities of becoming a woman of a certain age.

A Love affair in the poet's youth is depicted in the style of Petrarchism.

"Kimiko Hahn stands as a welcome voice of experimentation and passion."—Bloomsbury Review Kimiko Hahn's poetry explores the interplay—and tensions—among her various identities: mother, lover, wife, poet, and daughter of both the Midwest and Asia. However astonishing her subjects—from sideshow freaks to sadomasochistic fantasy—they ultimately emerge in this startling collection as moving images of the deepest levels of our shared humanity.

New York Times Bestseller: This “landmark women’s novel” about female friendship and women’s lib is “something akin to Mary McCarthy’s The Group” (People). Diana Sargeant is a menopausal anthropology professor whose hot flashes often produce insights into life, love, and what it means to be a woman. Diana belongs to a generation of A-list females: well-educated jet-setters who overcame their fear of flying in the fifties, became leftist protestors in the sixties, and were glamorous seductresses on birth control in the seventies. But in the eighties, they’re middle-aged matrons who are afraid of their own mortality and must come to terms with the fact that even though they obtained everything they desired, they’re still unfulfilled. When Diana’s close friend Sukie Amram suffers a fatal brain hemorrhage, the professor rushes to Washington, DC, to mourn and commemorate the woman she so loved. There, she reunites with her lifelong pals: flashy magazine writer Joanne Ireland and divorced English teacher Elaine Cantor. The three soon discover Sukie’s journal, which details her battle with despair after her husband abandoned her for a younger lover. As they read through the details of Sukie’s postdivorce anguish, the friends revisit difficult moments in their own pasts and discover themselves anew. Called “a feminist version of The Big Chill” by the Washington Post, Hot Flashes is an irreverent, witty, and emotionally engaging novel about four intelligent, trailblazing women that provides a compelling, honest look at female fears and desire during the late twentieth century.

Synæsthesium is an unusual exploration of ekphrasis--poetry that takes a real or imagined work of art as its muse. The first half of the book, Olfactorium, is inspired by various fragrances and the olfactory flashbacks--real or imagined--induced by them. From everyday Old Spice to exotic Casbah, the poems take the reader on journeys peppered with the luscious language of perfumery. The second part, Love and Work, is based on the works of Suzanne Valadon, the bold and unconventional model-turned-artist, peer and probable lover of Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and other painters. The poetic forms--sonnets, syllabics, a villanelle, a rondeau--reflect the content of the paintings and drawings of this great and under-appreciated artist.