Publication Date: January 2012Distribution: North America and CanadaBarcode: YesISBN: 978-1-882295-90-6Price: $15.95Pages: 80Available From: Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, Small Press Distribution

me and NinaMonica A. Hand

praise for me and Nina

In an intimate conversation with the “High Priestess of Soul,” Hand surveys the places and moods of alienation through poems that are as musical and stylistically diverse as Simone’s work. Hand readily embraces a “mass hypnosis” style, putting “a spell on [us]” with her intensely passionate cries and commitment to embracing both tragedy and exuberance in these insightful poems.

“Monica A. Hand sings us a crushed velvet requiem of Nina Simone. She plumbs Nina’s mysterious bluesline while recounting the scars of her own overcoming. Hand joins the chorus of shouters like Patricia Smith and Wanda Coleman in this searchlight of a book, bearing her voice like a torch for all we’ve gained and lost in the heat of good song.”

—Tyehimba Jess

“Monica A. Hand’s me and Nina is a beautiful book by a soul survivor. In these poems she sings deep songs of violated intimacy and the hard work of repair. The poems are unsentimental, blood-red, and positively true, note for note, like the singing of Nina Simone herself. Hand has written a moving, deeply satisfying, and unforgettable book.” —Elizabeth Alexander

“In me and Nina, Monica A. Hand depicts, as Nina Simone did, what it is to be gifted and Black in America. She sh i f t s dynamica l ly through vo ice s and forms homemade, received and re-imagined to conjure the music (and Muses) of art and experience. This is a debut fiercely illuminated by declaration and song.”

—Terrance Hayes

Alice James Books titles are distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution and Small Press Distribution. Individuals may order from the press directly. AJB was named for Alice James, sister of novelist Henry and philosopher William, whose fine journal and gift for writing went unrecognized

during her lifetime. Alice James Books is affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington.

Alice James Books238 Main Street • Farmington ME • 04938

(207) 778-7071 www.alicejamesbooks.org

238 Main Street • Farmington, ME 04938 • (207) 778-7071 • www.alicejamesbooks.organ affiliate of the University of Maine at Farmington

a poem from me and Nina:R

achel Eliza Griffi

ths

Monica A. Hand is a poet and book artist currently living in Harlem. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Aunt Chloe, Black Renaissance Noire, The Sow’s Ear, Drunken Boat, Beyond the Frontier, African-American Poetry for the 21st Century, Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem’s First Decade and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Poetry and Poetry in Translation from Drew University and is a founding member of Poets for Ayiti.

The Need to Be Touched speaks

My baby beat me but he didn’t mean toMy baby beat me he don’t mean toCall me a fool it may be true

Take a blue pencil to my memoriesBlue-pencil my memoriesLine out all the black and blue

I tried to be on my own but it was no goodNo good on my own I was no goodTell you the truth my body’s no fool

What difference does it makeGentle sharp the marks love makeSomething you can feel

Something I can feel Is all

publicity and eventsFebruary 1, 2011: Black History Month event book reading at Monmouth University in Monmouth, NJ

February 3, 2012: Rivers of Honey reading event at WOW Café Theater in New York, NY

February 8, 2012: Special presentation and reception at Arcadia College in Glenside, PA

February 10, 2012: me and Nina Book Launch Celebration at 6:30 p.m. at Cave Canem Loft, 20 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY

February 18, 2012: Digital presentation at Salon in Bloomington, IL

February 19, 2012: Interview with DuEwa Frazier on Rhymes, Views, & News Talk Radio

February 20, 2012: Classroom reading and presentation at Hunter College in New York, NY

February 21, 2012 (Nina Simone’s birthday): Open mic at 7:00 p.m. followed by book reading at 8:00 p.m. at Lenox Coffee in Harlem, NY

February 23, 2012: Black History Month Poetry Slam at Missouri University—Columbia

March 2, 2012: Book signing at 2012 AWP Conference in Chicago, IL

March 12, 2012: Classroom presentation and reading at West Morris Central High School in Chester, NJ

March 13, 2012: Reading with the Linyak Poetry Series at Uptown Bookstore in New York, NY

March 15, 2012: Book reading at Cornelia Street Café in New York, NY

March 21, 2012: Reading at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC

March 24, 2012: Panel reading at Split this Rock in Washington, DC

March 26, 2012: Classroom presentation and reading at Tisch School of the Arts NYU in New York, NY

March 31, 2012: Reading at Musehouse at 7:00 p.m. in Philadelphia, PA

April 5, 2012: Reading with the “Women in the Diaspora” reading series at The New School in New York, NY

April 20, 2012: Reading at the AJB Kinerteh Gensler Awards Reading and Book Launch Event at Poets House in New York, NY

April 25, 2012: Classroom reading and presentation at UC Berkeley in Berkeley, CA

April 27, 2012: Reading at The Green Arcade Bookstore in San Francisco, CA

May 23, 2012: Reading with “The Perfect Sense” reading series at Cornelia Street Café in New York, NY

publicity and events (continued)

238 Main Street • Farmington, ME 04938 • (207) 778-7071 • www.alicejamesbooks.organ affiliate of the University of Maine at Farmington