Undoing Winter by Shannon Connor Winward – WINNER of the SFPA Elgin Award

Shannon Connor Winward‘s Undoing Winter explores the isolated, and often very cold, landscape of motherhood. Though Winward’s words are like wintry whites and blues–sharp and haunting–her literary brushstrokes paint rather tender shades of sacrifice and heartache. A carefully crafted and evocative read. I will return to these poems again and again, and each time my breath will catch a little at Winward’s brilliance.

–Jessica Bell, co-publishing editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and author of Fabric, a semi-finalist in the Goodreads Readers’ Choice Awards 2012: Best Poetry

“I don’t know if it’s me casting the spell or the spell casting me. . .” sings the poet-protagonist to her sons, lovers, therapist, reader, and self. Undoing Winter is about coming out of hibernation. About digging out versus getting dug up. Winward writes with the understanding that life’s meaning “is all in the unfolding.”
–JoAnn Balingit, author of Words for House Story, Delaware Poet Laureate