Description: Fiction. Sharon Mesmer's first fiction collection follows the 1998 publication of her first book of poems, Half Angel, Half Lunch, which Allan Ginsberg called beautifully bold and vivaciously modern. Her work has appeared in such publications as New American Writing, Lingo, The World and Poets & Writers. Sharon's poems sweep the reader up in suppositions of identity and purpose. Who are we and what's going on here, and couldn't we and it be more luxuriant, astute and sexy than anyone could possibly imagine. The poet is vulnerable (but definitely not wimpy) as she flexes her mind and body in words over (and through) matter to produce multiple revelations over and over again. -- Ed Friedman
Brief description: Sharon Mesmer is the author of Annoying Diabetic Bitch (Combo Books, 2008), The Virgin Formica (Hanging Loose, 2008), Vertigo Seeks Affinities (Belladonna Books, 2006), Half Angel, Half Lunch (Hard Press, 1998) and Crossing Second Avenue (ABJ Books, Japan, 1997). Her prose collections are Ma Vie ... Yonago (Hachette Litt'ratures, France, in French translation, 2005) and In Ordinary Time and The Empty Quarter (Hanging Loose Press, 2005 and 2000). Lonely Tylenol, an art book in collaboration with the painter David Humphrey, was published in 2003 by Flying Horse Editions/University of Central Florida. She is a two-time New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in poetry.