The Book Eaters Launch

Carolina Hotchandani’s debut The Book Eaters was officially released on September 15!

Perugia Press held a virtual launch on October 11 featuring Carolina Hotchandani with special guest readers Jennifer K. Sweeney (How to Live on Bread and Music, Perugia, 2009), Lynne Thompson (Beg No Pardon, Perugia, 2007), and Catherine Barnett (Human Hours, Graywolf, 2018). If you missed the celebration, check out the recording on Perugia’s YouTube channel.

The Book Eaters has been highlighted by Poets & Writers magazine with a Perugia Press Prize winner announcement, by CLMP in their reading lists for “Books Launching in September” and “National Hispanic Heritage Month” (along with Perugia poet Jacqueline Balderrama’s Now in Color), by Small Press Distribution in their “SPD Recommends” feature, by Open Books as a “New & Noteworthy Book” in their newsletter, by poet Diana Whitney in her Girl Trouble newsletter on Substack, and by Mom Egg Review in their “MER Bookshelf” segment. The Book Eaters and Carolina Hotchandani were featured this month on Nebraska Public Media. Three segments feature the reading and discussion of three poems each (found here, starting at 21:47; here, starting at 22:46; and here, starting at 33:25). An additional segment features a conversation with Hotchandani on her work teaching and in poetry and the genesis of her Perugia collection (found here, starting at 11:21).

Cover match made on Taylor Swift as Books

Carolina Hotchandani did an Instagram takeover for Sustainable Arts Foundation, where she was a finalist for their awards to artists and writers with families. Here are two posts from that week, showcasing a poem from The Book Eaters.

Nest of baby swallows drawn by the poet’s sister-in-law Kathryn Munger Key to accompany the poem “Nesting” on SAF

Several poems from The Book Eaters have been recently published leading up to the release of the book. You can read “Archipelago” and “Somehow History” at Blackbird, “Self-Portrait as the Cornfields” at Four Way Review, “Blueprints” and “A Cord to Bind Us” at Diode, “Wormholes” at SWWIM Every Day, and “Self-Portrait as a Woman Halved” as “Poem of the Week” at Missouri Review.

Post at SWWIM supporting “Wormholes”

Carolina Hotchandani has been reading and celebrating her debut since the summer, first with a virtual reading for the Emily Dickinson Museum’s Phosphorescence Series featuring Perugia poets Rebecca Pelky (Through a Red Place, 2021) and Lisbeth White (American Sycamore, 2022). For in-person events, Hotchandani has brought The Book Eaters to Colorado (Counterpath in Denver), Illinois (Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago), Iowa (Morningside University, Book People, Hardline Coffee, and Pierce Street Coffee Works, all in Sioux City), and Nebraska (UNO’s MFA program in Nebraska City, Francie & Finch Bookshop in Lincoln, and Dundee Book Company and The Bookworm, both in Omaha). This fall and beyond will find her in St. Petersburg, Florida at the Dali Museum, in Kansas City, Missouri for the AWP Conference, and in Western Massachusetts, where Perugia is based, for various local and academic appearances. Stay tuned!

Hotchandani at Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago
Celebratory cake for The Book Eaters!

To order your copy of The Book Eaters, visit our bookshop. While supplies last, orders come with a bookplate signed by the author! Thank you for supporting Perugia Press and our poets.