Authors tackle charter schools, Nazi breeding and Shakespeare-inspired love story
Sarah Beddow, a poet and teacher from McCandless, has a new collection of poems, “Dispatches from Frontier Schools.” The poems act as “confessionals” describing her experiences over five years as an English teacher at an unnamed local charter school that primarily served disadvantaged youth.
“I began writing these poems midway through my first year working,” she says. “Basically, they were pain cries out into the abyss that is social media, a desperate plea to be seen in my struggle.”
Beddow has degrees in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University and Sarah Lawrence College, as well as a master’s degree in poetry (Riot in Your Throat, $17, whitewhalebookstore.com).
“Two Wrongs Make a Right” by Chloe Liese is a modern-day spin on Shakespeare’s play “Much Ado About Nothing.” This romantic comedy follows enemies who become allies to trick their matchmaking friends and is expected to publish Nov. 22. The North Side au -thor includes neurodivergent characters in her writing and her work reflects her motto, “Everyone de-serves a love story.”
By writing romantic fiction, Liese hopes to destigmatize the genre and expose the “...misogynistic and patriarchal origins of our degrading attitude toward the genre that celebrates friendship and love, the gift of intimacy, and the work of healthy communication.”
Liese has a degree in English and background in literary criticism (Penguin Random House, $17, bookshop.org).
Jennifer Coburn realizes some readers might be surprised by her new novel, “Cradles of the Reich,” which follows three women affected by Hitler’s secret breeding program in Germany during World War II.
“I am a Jewish author who is on a mission to let the world know about this horrific breeding program which operated at the same
time as Nazi death camps,” she says. “While one program created life and the other destroyed it, they are two sides of the same coin.”
The author, who lives in San Diego, spoke Oct. 17 at Mt. Lebanon Public Library and signed copies of her book ( Sourcebook Landmark Publishing, $27.99, bookshop.org).
To be included in an upcoming Local Books story about Western Pennsylvania authors, email kkirkland@post-gazette.com.