{{Short description|2023 poetry collection by Evie Shockley}} {{Infobox book | author = Evie Shockley | isbn = 978-0819500458 | pub_date = March 7, 2023 | name = suddenly we | publisher = Wesleyan University Press | preceded_by = Semiautomatic | pages = 106 | image = "suddenly we" by Evie Shockley book cover.png }}
'''''Suddenly We''''' (stylized as '''''suddenly we''''') is a 2023 poetry collection by Evie Shockley, published by Wesleyan University Press for the Wesleyan Poetry Series.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shockley |first=Evie |title=Suddenly We |date=March 7, 2023 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0819500458}}</ref> It was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Poetry.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-03 |title=Here are the 2023 National Book Award finalists. |url=https://lithub.com/here-are-the-2023-national-book-award-finalists/ |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Contents == The book, published in 2023, concerns many themes including but not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic, police brutality and anti-blackness writ large, and community. In ''Electric Literature'', Shockley stated: "With the exception of the series of poems in 'the beauties: third dimension,' each poem had its own genesis in one of the myriad occasions, ideas, and emotions that constitute the vast territory I (we) have traversed in the past six years."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Chaffa |first=Mandana |date=2023-04-25 |title=Evie Shockley Searches for Humanity During These In-Between Times Through Her Poems |url=https://electricliterature.com/evie-shockley-poems-book-suddenly-we/ |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=Electric Literature |language=en-US}}</ref> It also interfaces with many social, political, and historical figures, as well as artists, whom Shockley found inspirational including Dannielle Bowman and Alma Thomas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Broussard |first=Allie |date=October 30, 2023 |title=Gathering through Language: A Conversation with Evie Shockley |url=https://porterhousereview.org/articles/gathering-through-language-a-conversation-with-evie-shockley/ |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=Porter House Review}}</ref> The front epigraph has quotes from Aretha Franklin, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Bernice Johnson Reagon, and others.
== Critical reception == In a starred review, ''Publishers Weekly'' called the book a "verbally and visually stirring outing" and said "This collection is a welcome companion for that ride as it celebrates the collective, the 'we' that is vital to survival."<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=suddenly we by Evie Shockley |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780819500236 |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}</ref> Also in a starred review, ''Library Journal'' called it "Another accomplished work from Shockley; highly recommended."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Evie |first=Shockley |title=suddenly we |url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/suddenly-we-2179085 |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=Library Journal}}</ref>
Critics observed the unique ways Shockley handled serious subject matter. Dean Rader, in conversation with Victoria Chang for ''The Los Angeles Review of Books'', stated "I admire Shockley’s marriage of the political and the playful. That first section is chock full of short, almost silly, lyrics that use font and white space in joyous ways. I love her puns, and I really never say that about puns." Chang commented: "Perhaps the play in Shockley’s book is one of subversion or protest. I’m interested in how play doesn’t diminish the subject matter in the work but supplements it."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chang |first=Victoria |last2=Rader |first2=Dean |date=2023-07-13 |title=Two Roads: A Review-in-Dialogue of Will Harris's “Brother Poem” and Evie Shockley's “Suddenly We” |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/two-roads-a-review-in-dialogue-about-will-harriss-brother-poem-and-evie-shockleys-suddenly-we/ |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books}}</ref> ''Electric Literature'' called the book "a visually exciting, linguistically dynamic, and altogether thrilling shapeshifter of a collection".<ref name=":0" /> ''LitHub'' noted "Much of the book engages with ekphrasis or, at least, a kind of conversation with visual work."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Arterian |first=Diana |date=2023-03-09 |title=The Annotated Nightstand: What Evie Shockley is Reading Now and Next |url=https://lithub.com/the-annotated-nightstand-what-evie-shockley-is-reading-now-and-next/ |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref>
== References == <!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. --> {{reflist}}
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Category:American poetry collections Category:African-American poetry Category:2023 poetry books Category:Wesleyan University Press books