Gregory Wolfe
@gregorywolfe.bsky.social
Publisher & editor of Slant Books. Founder of IMAGE journal & the SPU MFA in Creative Writing. Author of Beauty Will Save the World, The Operation of Grace, etc.
"If we passed over an element of the plot or neglected a significant piece of dialogue, Brother Rudolph would chastise us. And if we seemed zoned out to him, our minds wandering, he’d give us a cuff to the head." Wm Cain on a memory of Close Reading from 1969. slantbooks.substack.com/p/close-read...
December 16, 2025 at 12:05 AM
"If we passed over an element of the plot or neglected a significant piece of dialogue, Brother Rudolph would chastise us. And if we seemed zoned out to him, our minds wandering, he’d give us a cuff to the head." Wm Cain on a memory of Close Reading from 1969. slantbooks.substack.com/p/close-read...
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! This tribute to the late Baron Wormser -- featuring four great poets -- is going to be a real treat. His words live on. Registration link: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
December 12, 2025 at 10:13 PM
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! This tribute to the late Baron Wormser -- featuring four great poets -- is going to be a real treat. His words live on. Registration link: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
From the New Statesman's Books of the Year 2025, Rowan Williams on Molly McNett's "Child of These Tears."
December 10, 2025 at 11:04 PM
From the New Statesman's Books of the Year 2025, Rowan Williams on Molly McNett's "Child of These Tears."
"The most transformative books are the product of an individual writer’s imagination; great books reflect what the philosophers called haeccitas—'thisness'—something no large language model or AI slop will ever possess." Read Slant's Annual Appeal and support our work! slantbooks.org/close-readin...
Books Make Something Happen: The 2025 Slant Books Annual Appeal - Slant Books
W.H. Auden’s phrase, “poetry makes nothing happen,” has been misinterpreted: instead of saying that literature is ineffectual, Auden was simply resisting the idea that literature should be reduced to ...
slantbooks.org
December 9, 2025 at 11:10 PM
"The most transformative books are the product of an individual writer’s imagination; great books reflect what the philosophers called haeccitas—'thisness'—something no large language model or AI slop will ever possess." Read Slant's Annual Appeal and support our work! slantbooks.org/close-readin...
Terrible photo, i know, but that's a breaching humpback whale. I wondered why the ferry slowed down....
December 8, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Terrible photo, i know, but that's a breaching humpback whale. I wondered why the ferry slowed down....
Definitive proof that some people -- at least occasionally -- laugh WITH me rather than, you know, the alternative....
December 6, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Definitive proof that some people -- at least occasionally -- laugh WITH me rather than, you know, the alternative....
I called her my fairy godmother. She helped me get started as a publisher and an editor. RIP, dearest Luci Shaw, & sincere condolences to John Hoyte and the whole family. Memory eternal!
December 3, 2025 at 12:06 AM
I called her my fairy godmother. She helped me get started as a publisher and an editor. RIP, dearest Luci Shaw, & sincere condolences to John Hoyte and the whole family. Memory eternal!
Congratulations, Howard Schaap, on publication day of your debut memoir, Brooding Upon the Waters. You can still register for tonight's live book launch: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
December 2, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Congratulations, Howard Schaap, on publication day of your debut memoir, Brooding Upon the Waters. You can still register for tonight's live book launch: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
TOMORROW NIGHT! It's not too late to register! Don't miss the launch event for Howard Schaap's Brooding Upon the Waters tomorrow at 8pm EST. Registration required: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
December 1, 2025 at 10:39 PM
TOMORROW NIGHT! It's not too late to register! Don't miss the launch event for Howard Schaap's Brooding Upon the Waters tomorrow at 8pm EST. Registration required: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
I am happy to post an antidote to all that Black Friday represents. Coming in February, 2026 from Slant Books.
November 28, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I am happy to post an antidote to all that Black Friday represents. Coming in February, 2026 from Slant Books.
Awaiting the Great Convergence.
November 27, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Awaiting the Great Convergence.
From Howard Schaap's memoir of his father's crippling mental illness—and unforgettable love. Next week from Slant Books. slantbooks.org/books/broodi...
November 24, 2025 at 10:04 PM
From Howard Schaap's memoir of his father's crippling mental illness—and unforgettable love. Next week from Slant Books. slantbooks.org/books/broodi...
What does it mean to commit to an imperfect place? How can our fathers (& grandfathers) influence our understanding of God? Listen to Howard Schaap’s wide-ranging conversation w/ Gayle Doornbos, about his memoir Brooding Upon the Waters—coming from Slant Bks on 12/2. open.spotify.com/episode/2Jlp...
November 20, 2025 at 9:06 PM
What does it mean to commit to an imperfect place? How can our fathers (& grandfathers) influence our understanding of God? Listen to Howard Schaap’s wide-ranging conversation w/ Gayle Doornbos, about his memoir Brooding Upon the Waters—coming from Slant Bks on 12/2. open.spotify.com/episode/2Jlp...
Don't miss Howard Schaap's debut memoir of a father and a culture in crisis, new from Slant on December 2. slantbooks.org/books/brooding-upon-the-waters/
November 18, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Don't miss Howard Schaap's debut memoir of a father and a culture in crisis, new from Slant on December 2. slantbooks.org/books/brooding-upon-the-waters/
"He’s all head & shoulders, a masterful presence, a formidable personality. He sends out a wary discontent that captivates me. Yet the more I contemplate Góngora, the more I feel suspicion & woundedness in him." William Cain reads a portrait for Close Reading. slantbooks.substack.com/p/close-read...
Close Reading Art: A Portrait by Velázquez
Through empathy and expertise, the artist has connected me to his figure’s consciousness, his inner life.
slantbooks.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:16 PM
"He’s all head & shoulders, a masterful presence, a formidable personality. He sends out a wary discontent that captivates me. Yet the more I contemplate Góngora, the more I feel suspicion & woundedness in him." William Cain reads a portrait for Close Reading. slantbooks.substack.com/p/close-read...
Check out this wonderfully rich podcast conversation with poet Robert Cording. The discussion is based on Bob's "Finding the World's Fullness," published by Slant Books. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiD8...
Ep. 62 | Robert Cording - Finding the World’s Fullness
YouTube video by Word on Fire Institute
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Check out this wonderfully rich podcast conversation with poet Robert Cording. The discussion is based on Bob's "Finding the World's Fullness," published by Slant Books. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiD8...
Can you "close read" the life of a mysterious animal? Find out on today's Close Reading blog. slantbooks.substack.com/p/close-read...
Close Reading an Octopus
A sketch of the particular Umwelt which shapes each life
slantbooks.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Can you "close read" the life of a mysterious animal? Find out on today's Close Reading blog. slantbooks.substack.com/p/close-read...
"Parents cannot help this longing for their beloved children—a longing to keep them nearby, with us, always, or at least for as long as they are so small and fragile. But like Monica, we are not in control." Read Nadya Williams's review of "Child of These Tears." mereorthodoxy.com/child-of-the...
Child of These Tears
Suffering—bodily and spiritual—is the thread connecting all persons and events in this book. How do we face great suffering that upheaves our lives?
mereorthodoxy.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:05 PM
"Parents cannot help this longing for their beloved children—a longing to keep them nearby, with us, always, or at least for as long as they are so small and fragile. But like Monica, we are not in control." Read Nadya Williams's review of "Child of These Tears." mereorthodoxy.com/child-of-the...
"Pessoa’s writing can be read as a kind of lived cosmology." Morgan Meis on a Modernist who may have more traditional than previously thought. Today at Slant's Close Reading blog. slantbooks.substack.com/p/the-mouth-...
November 6, 2025 at 7:03 PM
"Pessoa’s writing can be read as a kind of lived cosmology." Morgan Meis on a Modernist who may have more traditional than previously thought. Today at Slant's Close Reading blog. slantbooks.substack.com/p/the-mouth-...
"Haven requires the particularity of relationships to provide perspective, color, and value, by which his poetic vision is completed." Read Brad Crenshaw's thoughtful review of Stephen Haven's The Flight From Meaning for North American Review. northamericanreview.org/open-space/2...
November 5, 2025 at 9:27 PM
"Haven requires the particularity of relationships to provide perspective, color, and value, by which his poetic vision is completed." Read Brad Crenshaw's thoughtful review of Stephen Haven's The Flight From Meaning for North American Review. northamericanreview.org/open-space/2...
"Each of Fincke’s poems tells an immersive story in which readers are invited to accompany characters through moments of great love, loss and longing." Great review of "For Now, We Have Been Spared" in America magazine. www.americamagazine.org/poetry/2025/...
November 4, 2025 at 7:34 PM
"Each of Fincke’s poems tells an immersive story in which readers are invited to accompany characters through moments of great love, loss and longing." Great review of "For Now, We Have Been Spared" in America magazine. www.americamagazine.org/poetry/2025/...
Peggy Rosenthal counts out coffee spoons and dares to eat a peach (after returning to Eliot's Prufrock. Today at Slant's Close Reading blog. slantbooks.substack.com/p/revisiting...
Revisiting T. S. Eliot’s “Prufrock”
How many coffee spoons = a life?
slantbooks.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Peggy Rosenthal counts out coffee spoons and dares to eat a peach (after returning to Eliot's Prufrock. Today at Slant's Close Reading blog. slantbooks.substack.com/p/revisiting...
If you missed it, a reading and Q&A with Bonnie Naradzay—author of this week's release, "Invited to the Feast"—is now available as an episode of SlantCast on YouTube! Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9eu...
SLANTCAST Episode #34: Book Launch for "Invited to the Feast"
YouTube video by Slant Books
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
If you missed it, a reading and Q&A with Bonnie Naradzay—author of this week's release, "Invited to the Feast"—is now available as an episode of SlantCast on YouTube! Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9eu...
"I myself feel it’s the poet’s job to write of the larger problems in our society. Otherwise I might feel as if I must put on blinders to write, the way a horse is made to wear blinders to work." Read Slant's Q&A with Bonnie Naradzay for today's Close Reading slantbooks.substack.com/p/from-the-h...
From the Homeless to Prisons and Beyond: Q&A with Bonnie Naradzay
“What I constantly wrestle with is how to write these poems.”
slantbooks.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:05 PM
"I myself feel it’s the poet’s job to write of the larger problems in our society. Otherwise I might feel as if I must put on blinders to write, the way a horse is made to wear blinders to work." Read Slant's Q&A with Bonnie Naradzay for today's Close Reading slantbooks.substack.com/p/from-the-h...
READ AN EXCERPT from Bonnie Naradzay's just-published debut collection, "Invited to the Feast." slantbooks.org/news/read-an...
Read an Excerpt from Invited to the Feast - Slant Books
“Do not hurry your journey,” the poet says midway through this stunning collection. “Better if it lasts for years, so you arrive / laden with all you’ve lost along the way.” Bonnie Naradzay’s journey—...
slantbooks.org
October 29, 2025 at 4:45 PM
READ AN EXCERPT from Bonnie Naradzay's just-published debut collection, "Invited to the Feast." slantbooks.org/news/read-an...