Description: "Dena'ina poet Annie Wenstrup delicately parses personal history in the space of an imagined museum, weaving together the lived experiences of an Alaskan Native person and the histories of unresolved colonial violence"--
Review Quotes:
"Innovative and exacting, The Museum of Unnatural Histories threads women's voices, primarily through the lens of a museum curator and the relayed stories of Ggugguyni. Through dioramas, ekphrasis, theatrical forms, and curations, Annie Wenstrup offers a mode of self-actualization contrary to Western impositions of assimilation and self-erasure. Here, you'll find voice, vision, and breadth. Wenstrup is an architect of language at the height of her craft."--Sarah Ghazal Ali, author of Theophanies
"Sweeping in their consideration of home and location of self/selves, desiring a new encounter between story, history, and present self/selves, and imaginative in its use of the landscape and orientation of the page, Annie Wenstrup's poems reimagine the boundaries of story."--Abigail Chabitnoy, author of In The Current Where Drowning is Beautiful
"Wenstrup's The Museum of Unnatural Histories investigates elusive, interstitial spaces--those that haunt lineages, bodies, aesthetics, and language. These conceptually deft and astonishingly original poems resonate with fierce intelligence, perceptive juxtapositions, and defiant lyricism. An electrifying and unforgettable debut."--Katherine Larson, author of Radial Symmetry
"Wenstrup's poems shine out; their speakers' voices peal with strength. Writing into a sundering time, splicing our futures into her lines: 'I split myself, /and I slept in her den and dreamt disorderly / dreams that were neither nightmare, // nor prophecy []'"--Joan Naviyuk Kane, author of Dark Traffic
"There is grace beyond musicality in these poems, beyond dance, beyond earthly substance. Annie Wenstrup has channeled the spirit(s) of stories, the breath of her ancestors. I don't say this lightly. The Museum of Unnatural Histories is nothing short of a wonder bridge to the other side. Be still. Listen. This collection carries the voice(s) of the ages."--Debra Magpie Earling