Mules of Love - by Ellen Bass (Paperback)

About the Book

A new collection of poetry from the bestselling author of The Courage to Heal.

Book Synopsis

Balancing heart-intelligent intimacy and surprising humor, the poems in Ellen Bass's Mules of Love illuminate the essential dynamics of our lives: family, community, sexual love, joy, loss, religion and death. The poems also explore the darker aspects of humanity--personal, cultural, historical and environmental violence--all of which are handled with compassion and grace. Bass's poetic gift is her ability to commiserate with others afflicted by similar hungers and grief. Her poem "Insomnia" concludes: "may something/ comfort you--a mockingbird, a breeze, rain/ on the roof, Chopin's Nocturnes, the thought/ of your child's birth, a kiss, / or even me--in my chilly kitchen/ with my coat on--thinking of you."

Marketing Plans:
- National advertising
- National media campaign
- Advance reader copies
- Course adoption mailing

Author Tour:
- Berkeley
- Boston
- Minneapolis
- San Francisco
- Santa Cruz

Ellen Bass is co-author (with Laura Davis) of the best-selling The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (HarperCollins 1988, 1994), which has sold more than one million copies and has been translated into nine languages. She has also published several volumes of poetry, and her poems have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies, including The Atlantic Monthly, Ms., Double Take, and Field. In 1980, Ms. Bass was awarded the Elliston Book Award for Poetry from the University of Cincinnati. Last year, she won Nimrod/Hardman's Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, judged by Thomas Lux. She was nominated for a 2001 Pushcart Prize. She lives in Santa Cruz, where she has taught creative writing for 25 years. She has also taught writing workshops at many conferences nationally and in Mallorca, Spain.

Review Quotes

"Mules of Love holds a special place on my bookshelf... It is a book I return to regularly when I need to be calmed or soothed because it is an openhearted volume of confessional, intimate work that continues to reward my effort. The more the poems reveal, the more endearing they become, and the more I read them, the richer they get." -Isaiah Vianese, Rattle

About the Author

Ellen Bass is co-author (with Laura Davis) of the best-selling The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (HarperCollins 1988, 1994, 2008), which has sold more than one million copies and has been translated into nine languages. She has also published several volumes of poetry, including The Human Line (Copper Canyon, 2007), and her poems have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies, including The Atlantic Monthly, American Poetry Review, and The New Republic. Among her many awards are the Elliston Book Award from the University of Cincinnati, Nimrod / Hardman's Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, Larry Levis Editor's Prize from The Missouri Review, and a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Santa Cruz, CA and teaches in the MFA program at Pacific University.