The second issue of Résonance is live now. The on-line literary journal, hosted by the University of Maine, is dedicated to Franco-American voices, and this issue includes some wonderful ones, like Ernie Hebert, Elizabeth Kadetsky, and Robert Perreault. My contribution, Review Essay: The Poetry of Connie Voisine, is a retrospective look at the work of Connie Voisine.
Approaching Voisine as a Franco-American writer was an interesting challenge at first. While her 2001 debut, Cathedral of the North, depicted her upbringing in northern Maine with some beautifully subtle evocations of French and Catholicism, her subsequent work has moved away from that milieu. But it was interesting to consider how that background might resonate through her other books, particularly her latest collection, The Bower, which follows an American family’s travels in Northern Ireland. The collection is especially relevant in the light of the recent passage of the Brexit deadline and growing uncertainty about what it will mean for the Irish border.
I’m grateful to have spent so much time with Voisine’s work over the past year and to have my work included in this important new journal. Please do check it out!
ABBY PAIGE 