Four Way Books, 2019 eISBN: 978-1-945588-58-7 | Paper: 978-1-945588-38-9 Library of Congress Classification PS3616.H4626A6 2019 Dewey Decimal Classification 811.6
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Maya Phillips’ stunning debut collection Erou borrows the framework of the traditional Greek epic to interrogate the inner workings of a present-day nuclear family and the role of a patriarch whose life, marriage, and death are imagined as a sort of hero’s journey. Her poems move seamlessly between the worlds of the living and the dead, between myth and reality in a journey that raises its own Homeric question: What is home and how do we locate our place within that home? These are poems of passion and compassion in their reconciliation with what cannot be changed—but can be understood—by those who have been left behind.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Maya Phillips, born and raised in New York, is the author of the debut poetry collection Erou, published by Four Way Books in 2019, and the recipient of a Hodder Grant from Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts. Her second book, NERD: On Navigating Heroes, Magic, and Fandom in the 21st Century, is forthcoming in summer 2022 from Atria Books. Maya received her MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson’s MFA Program for Writers and her BFA from Emerson College. Her poetry has appeared in At Length, BOAAT, The Gettysburg Review, Ghost Proposal, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Vinyl, and more, and her arts & entertainment journalism has appeared in The New York Times, Vulture, Slate, Mashable, American Theatre, and more. Maya currently works at The New York Times and as a freelance writer. She lives in Brooklyn.
REVIEWS
"Ode to My Father's Failed Heart" from Erou featured in The New York Times Magazine poetry column, selected by Rita Dove
"To the brimming coffers of testimonials about the heart, Maya Phillips adds her fierce poem — a Father’s Day card with a twist. The heart that powered this father to his mortal conclusion has been the source of his charm as well as the driving force behind his all-too-human paternal shortcomings. An examination of the defective organ yields no easy platitudes about love. The verdict? Forgiveness and, finally, understanding — perhaps the most caring gifts a daughter has to offer. In the end, aren’t we all listening hard so we can find the beat on a crowded dance floor?" -- Rita Dove
— Rita Dove's poetry column, The New York Times Magazine
"In Phillips’s scintillating debut, domestic turmoil is transformed into Greek mythology as fate and bloodline frame the legend of her life’s tragic hero: her dead father...."
— Publishers Weekly
"A literary star makes a debut....With grace and grandeur, a life is transformed, off-beat, irreverent, loving. Grief remembers everything but never before so originally unfolded. This is life beyond life..."
— Grace Cavalieri, Washington Independent Review of Books
Featured in Page One section.
— Dana Isokawa, Poets & Writers
"...The difficult, perhaps selfish, repeatedly mourned dead father in 'Erou' competes with and sometimes merges into Phillips’s scenes from Greek mythology ('Hades, Hosting'; 'Persephone, Rising'), whose stark tableaus can echo those of Louise Glück...."
— Stephanie Burt, The New York Times Book Review
One of the featured ten debut poets published in 2019.
— Dana Isokawa, Poets & Writers
Winner of the 2020 Poetry by the Sea First Book Award
Four Way Books, 2019 eISBN: 978-1-945588-58-7 Paper: 978-1-945588-38-9
Maya Phillips’ stunning debut collection Erou borrows the framework of the traditional Greek epic to interrogate the inner workings of a present-day nuclear family and the role of a patriarch whose life, marriage, and death are imagined as a sort of hero’s journey. Her poems move seamlessly between the worlds of the living and the dead, between myth and reality in a journey that raises its own Homeric question: What is home and how do we locate our place within that home? These are poems of passion and compassion in their reconciliation with what cannot be changed—but can be understood—by those who have been left behind.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Maya Phillips, born and raised in New York, is the author of the debut poetry collection Erou, published by Four Way Books in 2019, and the recipient of a Hodder Grant from Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts. Her second book, NERD: On Navigating Heroes, Magic, and Fandom in the 21st Century, is forthcoming in summer 2022 from Atria Books. Maya received her MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson’s MFA Program for Writers and her BFA from Emerson College. Her poetry has appeared in At Length, BOAAT, The Gettysburg Review, Ghost Proposal, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Vinyl, and more, and her arts & entertainment journalism has appeared in The New York Times, Vulture, Slate, Mashable, American Theatre, and more. Maya currently works at The New York Times and as a freelance writer. She lives in Brooklyn.
REVIEWS
"Ode to My Father's Failed Heart" from Erou featured in The New York Times Magazine poetry column, selected by Rita Dove
"To the brimming coffers of testimonials about the heart, Maya Phillips adds her fierce poem — a Father’s Day card with a twist. The heart that powered this father to his mortal conclusion has been the source of his charm as well as the driving force behind his all-too-human paternal shortcomings. An examination of the defective organ yields no easy platitudes about love. The verdict? Forgiveness and, finally, understanding — perhaps the most caring gifts a daughter has to offer. In the end, aren’t we all listening hard so we can find the beat on a crowded dance floor?" -- Rita Dove
— Rita Dove's poetry column, The New York Times Magazine
"In Phillips’s scintillating debut, domestic turmoil is transformed into Greek mythology as fate and bloodline frame the legend of her life’s tragic hero: her dead father...."
— Publishers Weekly
"A literary star makes a debut....With grace and grandeur, a life is transformed, off-beat, irreverent, loving. Grief remembers everything but never before so originally unfolded. This is life beyond life..."
— Grace Cavalieri, Washington Independent Review of Books
Featured in Page One section.
— Dana Isokawa, Poets & Writers
"...The difficult, perhaps selfish, repeatedly mourned dead father in 'Erou' competes with and sometimes merges into Phillips’s scenes from Greek mythology ('Hades, Hosting'; 'Persephone, Rising'), whose stark tableaus can echo those of Louise Glück...."
— Stephanie Burt, The New York Times Book Review
One of the featured ten debut poets published in 2019.
— Dana Isokawa, Poets & Writers
Winner of the 2020 Poetry by the Sea First Book Award