Featured on NPR's "Fresh Air" "Sometimes books really do change the world... This one will set in motion a project that may transform Vietnamese culture."--Utne Reader Ho Xuan Huong--whose name translates as "Spring Essence"--is one of the most important and popular poets in Vietnam. A concubine, she became renowned for her poetic skills, writing subtly risque poems which used double entendre and sexual innuendo as a vehicle for social, religious, and political commentary. The publication of Spring Essence is a major historical and cultural event. It features a "tri-graphic" presentation of English translations alongside both the modern Vietnamese alphabet and the nearly extinct calligraphic Nom writing system, the hand-drawn calligraphy in which Ho Xuan Huong originally wrote her poems. It represents the first time that this calligraphy--the carrier of Vietnamese culture for over a thousand years--will be printed using moveable type. From the technology demonstrated in this book scholars worldwide can begin to recover an important part of Vietnam's literary history. Meanwhile, readers of all interests will be fascinated by the poetry of Ho Xuan Huong, and the scholarship of John Balaban. "It's not every day that a poet gets to save a language, although some might argue that is precisely the point of poetry."-- Publishers Weekly "Move over, Sappho and Emily Dickinson."-- Providence Sunday Journal "In the simple landscape of daily objects-jackfruit, river snails, a loom, a chess set, and perhaps most famously a paper fan--Ho found metaphors for sex, which turned into trenchant indictments of the plight of women and the arrogance, hypocrisy and corruption of men... Balaban's deft translations are a beautiful and significant contribution to the West's growing awareness of Vietnam's splendid literary heritage."--The New York Times Book Review The translator, John Balaban, was twice a National Book Award finalist for his own poetry and is one of the preeminent American authorities on Vietnamese literature. During the war Balaban served as a conscientious objector, working to bring war-injured children better medical care. He later returned to Vietnam to record folk poetry. Like Alan Lomax's pioneering work in American music, Balaban was to first to record Vietnam's oral tradition. This important work led him to the poetry of Ho Xuan Huong. Ngo Than Nhan, a computational linguist from NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematics, has digitized the ancient Nom calligraphy.

This anthology celebrates ten years of shared poetry by the members of The Peaceful Pub Poetry Forum.

The Essential Flower Essence Handbook, written by Lila Devi, is the first comprehensive guidebook of the 20 Spirit-in-Nature Essences, formerly Master's Flower Essences—the oldest flower essence line outside the U.K. since 1977. Here, founder Lila Devi weaves an entertaining yet practical overview of this healing art (also see Flower Essences for Animals). Lila Devi is a flower essence researcher, practitioner, lecturer, and seminar leader in the U.S. and abroad. Her background in psychology, education and spirituality, combined with her sensitivity to Nature and healing, makes her one of the foremost flower essence experts in the world today. To Develop Your Insight: In-depth compilation of the Spirit-in-Nature Essences, including charts, illustrations and practical text, based on 30 years of case histories, testimonials and research. New vocabulary, making essences more accessible and understandable than ever: them and plot, symptom and core. Easy to use Cross-Reference Essence Index

A paperback reissue Hazel Soan's classic practical art book. Hazel Soan is a well-known and popular artist and an enthusiastic and inspirational teacher. In The Essence of Watercolour Hazel shows how wonderfully versatile and beguiling the medium of watercolour is and how to get the most out of it. Hazel stresses how important it is to understand the characteristics of the medium in order to exploit it to the full. She encourages the reader to explore the properties of watercolour and to be unafraid of strength of colour and brushstroke. Hazel shows through demonstration and projects that tone is king in watercolour and illustrates how to paint light with the use of shade. Armed with this understanding she demonstrates that watercolour is not such an unforgiving medium after all: accidents and mistakes can be disguised, overridden and corrected. The Essence of Watercolour is a culmination of many years of Hazel's teaching and demonstrating, in which she offers inspirational insights into the secrets of watercolour painting and encourages artists to take their art to the next level.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work Named a Best Book of the Year by The Root Chosen by Emma Straub as a Best New Celebrity Memoir “A book of essays as raw and honest as anyone has ever produced.” — Lena Dunham, Lenny Letter In the spirit of Amy Poehler’s Yes Please, Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl, and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, a powerful collection of essays about gender, sexuality, race, beauty, Hollywood, and what it means to be a modern woman. One month before the release of the highly anticipated film The Birth of a Nation, actress Gabrielle Union shook the world with a vulnerable and impassioned editorial in which she urged our society to have compassion for victims of sexual violence. In the wake of rape allegations made against director and actor Nate Parker, Union—a forty-four-year-old actress who launched her career with roles in iconic ’90s movies—instantly became the insightful, outspoken actress that Hollywood has been desperately awaiting. With honesty and heartbreaking wisdom, she revealed her own trauma as a victim of sexual assault: "It is for you that I am speaking. This is real. We are real." In this moving collection of thought provoking essays infused with her unique wisdom and deep humor, Union uses that same fearlessness to tell astonishingly personal and true stories about power, color, gender, feminism, and fame. Union tackles a range of experiences, including bullying, beauty standards, and competition between women in Hollywood, growing up in white California suburbia and then spending summers with her black relatives in Nebraska, coping with crushes, puberty, and the divorce of her parents. Genuine and perceptive, Union bravely lays herself bare, uncovering a complex and courageous life of self-doubt and self-discovery with incredible poise and brutal honesty. Throughout, she compels us to be ethical and empathetic, and reminds us of the importance of confidence, self-awareness, and the power of sharing truth, laughter, and support.