Terese Svoboda
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“Laughing Africa, winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize, is filled with well-wrought poems. Terese Svoboda is, above all, a craftperson, and this collection is a showcase for her work.”

—Belles Lettres

“In this intensely human book, the poet draws a vivid world of wonder then leaps into it herself, taking a closer look, wrestling with its sorrows and joys.”

—Hollins Critic

Winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize

Featured in the NY Times Book Review

Synopsis:

There is a large intelligence present in Terese Svoboda's poetry and not a shred of sentimentality. From the dramatic coming-of-age in the title poem to the question posed in the last section, "What will I say to my child as it snows / that last winter's papery afterglow?" she continually searches for a responsible, compassionate world, one in which the only illusion is art.