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"Toska explores a sense of rootlessness and a sort of anti-nationalism; how the pervasive sense of being an immigrant or "in but not of" a place never quite dissipates, particularly amid the dissonance and alienation felt within U.S. culture gunning towards a vision of imperialist, capitalist, white-supremacist hegemony. Still, within this bleak reality, there's an insistence on documenting and noticing the multivalence of desire-its delights & pitfalls alike. These poems come to the weary conclusion, time and time again, that sexual liberalism/liberation and hedonism are only one sort of revelation-that this sort of openness and exploration isn't enough to save anyone from despair or the existentially weary feeling of toska, from which the title takes its name. But desire is not just Eros-the poems carry a strong desire for a different world, for everyone"--
About the author
Alina Pleskova is a poet, editor, and Moscow-born immigrant turned proud Philadelphian. She co-
edits bedfellows magazine and is a 2020 and 2022 Leeway Foundation grant awardee. Her chapbook, What Urge
Will Save Us, was published in 2017, and her writing has appeared in American Poetry Review, Thrush, Peach Mag, the tiny, and elsewhere.
Summary
Toska derives its title from the Russian word which denotes a melancholic longing without a singular cause, longing for a better world than the late-stage capitalist hell we live in. Toska explores a sense of rootlessness and a sort of anti-nationalism; how the pervasive sense of being an immigrant or "in but not of" a place never quite dissipates, particularly amid the dissonance and alienation felt within U.S. culture gunning towards a vision of imperialist capitalist white-supremacist hegemony. These poems come to the weary conclusion, time and time again, that sexual liberalism/liberation and hedonism are only one sort of revelation — that this sort of openness and exploration isn't enough to save anyone from despair or the existentially weary feeling of toska from which the title takes its name. But desire is not just Eros — the poems carry a strong desire for a different world, for everyone.
Foreword
- Serial rights targeting Poetry, New Yorker, The Nation, American Poetry Review, Granta, AGNI, Kenyon Review, Yale Review, Ploughshares, NYT Magazine, Lit Hub
- Promotion via the poet’s network of contacts in the literary world
- Targeted outreach to poetry reviewers and outlets, including the New York Times, Harriet Books
- Promotion at/events pitched for Texas Book Festival, Brooklyn Book Festival, Dallas Literary Festival, AWP
- Print galley run targeting media and booksellers
- In-person and virtual events in multiple cities
- Promotion on the publisher’s website (deepvellum.org), Twitter feed (@deepvellum), and Facebook page (/deepvellum); publisher’s e-newsletter to booksellers, reviewers, librarians
