For Immediate Release
Contact:
Merrill Miller, 202-238-9088 ext. 105, merrillmiller@americanhumanist.org
(Washington, DC, June 15, 2016)–Humanist Press is proud to congratulate its author Tasha Golden, whose book ‘Once You Had Hands’ has been named as a finalist for the prestigious 2016 Ohioana Book Award in Poetry.
‘Once You Had Hands’ sheds light on the lives of women and girls confined to the shadows within the Bible Belt and the domestic violence, abuse and mental illness that plague this patriarchal culture. In stunning language both delicate and raw, Tasha Golden’s poetry moves the reader sometimes to sadness and sometimes to anger at the disappointments of conservative religion and its broken promises. The book raises questions about the nature of religion and its domineering relationship to the women who are subservient to it, and the minimalist black and white photography of Michael Wilson underscores the book’s moods and heightens the sense of place created in its pages.
“Humanist Press is honored that ‘Once You Had Hands’ is a finalist for the 2016 Ohioana Book Award in Poetry,” said Luis Granados, director of Humanist Press. “We applaud Tasha Golden for her profound work of poetry, which gives exquisite voice to the experiences of women who are silenced by the conservative religious community.”
Tasha Golden is the frontwoman and songwriter for the critically acclaimed band Ellery, based in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio, area. Her songs have been heard in major motion pictures, TV dramas, radio and more. Her poetry, prose and research have been published in Pleaides, Ethos Journal, and Coldnoon Poetics, among others. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Rhetoric from the University of Louisville.
Since 1944, the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry annual award has honored native Ohioan authors who write outstanding poetry, including James Wright, David Citino and Rita Dove. This year will mark Ohioana’s 75th annual award ceremony, which will be held at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Friday, September 23. More information is available here.
Copies of ‘Once You Had Hands’ are available at HumanistPress.com. To celebrate the book’s nomination, ebook versions of ‘Once You Had Hands’will be sold here at a 30 percent discount through the month of June.
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Founded in 1941 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., the American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of humanists, atheists and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming philosophy of humanism, which—without beliefs in any gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
Humanist Press is the publishing house of the American Humanist Association, providing material for the humanist/freethought/atheist market since 1995.