THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015. NASHVILLE, TN –– Third Man Books is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of The Truth Is We Are Perfect (April 14, distributed by Consortium; $14.95, ISBN 978-0-9913361-1-1), the debut full-length collection of poems by Janaka Stucky and TMB’s first single-author title.
“Stucky’s verse has the power of the best East European poets — some of his poems seem to be perfect, magnificent, and instantly anthologizable. He is a forceful, cogent, incisive phrase-maker.” – Bill Knott
Janaka Stucky is the publisher of Black Ocean as well as the annual poetry journal, Handsome. He is the author of two chapbooks: Your Name Is The Only Freedom, and The World Will Deny It For You. His poems have appeared in such journals as Denver Quarterly, Fence and North American Review, and his articles have been published by The Huffington Post and The Poetry Foundation. He is a two-time National Haiku Champion and in 2010 he was voted “Boston’s Best Poet” in The Boston Phoenix.
Stucky will go on a 30-city national tour to promote the book, including dates at the AWP Conference in Minneapolis, Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City, and the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.
“When Third Man Books released our first literary publication Language Lessons: Volume I, the anthology included, naturally, an ex-mortician named Janaka Stucky alongside writers who moonlighted as bartenders, taco chefs, and software developers, or were Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalists such as C.D. Wright, Adrian Matejka, and Dale Ray Phillips, or were punk rock progenitors like Richard Hell and Tav Falco,” said Third Man Books editor Chet Weise. “For Third Man Records and Third Man Books, poetry is another genre of music, and that Janaka Stucky is one of our favorite writers should be no surprise.”
Check out Janaka Stucky reading his poem “The Art of Loss Is A Lost Art” recorded live and straight to 7” vinyl via Third Man Record’s Record Booth.
Third Man Records was founded by Jack White in 2001. Third Man Records’ physical location opened in Nashville in 2009 and quickly evolved from a music label into a complete in-house hub for art-making and dream-chasing. Third Man’s mission is to support the creation and distribution of any and every form of expression, from music to poetry, comedy to film. In this spirit, Third Man Books was established in 2014 to further explore the music of language.
Third Man Books has previously published Language Lessons: Volume I, a vinyl record and print box set anthology. Forthcoming titles include Pain: The Board Game by Sampson Starkweather and Hidden Water by Frank Stanford (special edition, in collaboration with Copper Canyon Press).