The Grace of Distance has been named a finalist for the 2020 Paterson Poetry Prize, given by the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College for the best book of poetry published each year.

Congratulations to Jericho Brown, whose book The Tradition won the prize, as well as to the other finalists. I'm proud to be in such good company and grateful to have my work recognized.

​You can read more about the award and the recipients here.

Thanks so much to editor Ron Slate for featuring two of my poems in the latest update of On the Seawall. 

You can read "The Musicians" and "After his Stroke" here.

Thanks so much to Compulsive Reader and reviewer Ketaki Datta for a thoughtful, engaging review of The Grace of Distance. You can read it here.

Thanks so much to editor Ron Slate for taking two poems for On the Seawall. My poems "The Musicians" and "After his Stroke" will appear in an upcoming issue. 

Big thanks the University of Michigan English Department for featuring me in its monthly newsletter. I'm grateful for the chance to spread the news about The Grace of Distance and give a shout out to Keith Taylor, who taught me so much about writing poems and how to live a life in poetry.

​Check it out here.

I'm excited to be part of an upcoming anthology of poems about Cape Cod. From the Farther Shore: Discovering Cape Cod and the Islands through Poetry will be published in 2020 by Bass River Press. Thanks to the editors for including my poem, "Three Sisters," about three retired lighthouses in Nauset. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing poets Justin Evans and Jeff Newberry about their collaborative book of poems, Cross Country, for PANK. 

Cross Country is a collection of epistolary poems that Justin and Jeff wrote back and forth to each other during 2016 and early 2017. These letter-poems are wide-ranging, encompassing thoughts about the nature of art, religion, family, and politics. I caught up with them over email—from New Jersey to Georgia to Utah and back—during the busy back-to-school season to get the backstory on Cross Country.

Click here to read the interview.

The Grace of Distance gets a big thumbs-up from The Midwest Book Review. Here's a highlight:

"Where [Thorburn] excels is in the patient unfolding of story where he lays a platform and then slowly changes those thoughts to extraordinary ideas that shed new light. To read this book is to feel satisfied by language refreshed, sweetly composed with honesty and grace."

Read the full review here.

Thanks to The Adroit Journal for publishing a review of The Grace of Distance. Reviewer Hannah Vanderhart praised my new book for “...what Thorburn’s poetry does best—engage the world with a serious attention and imagination, call into 'that dark glitter,' and listen for a response."

Here's the review.

I've been busy setting up more readings to share The Grace of Distance, including upcoming events in New Jersey, New York and Michigan in the fall and spring.

​Please check out the events page for more info. And stay tuned for a few additional readings to come...