Elana Wolff Knihy

Winner of the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry The poems in Swoon speak to the steady wending of a life's thematic drama: the falling / rising permutations across biographical phases. Indications are filtered through relationship, encounter, art, the natural world, and dream. Associations coalesce in a rhythmic clocking of feeling / thought. Randomness and accident may have a part to play, destiny and mystery, too; suggestion of a plot. There's storyline unfolding that resists a denouement.

Weaving homage and history, this collection of poetry was inspired by the life of Charlotte Saloman, the Berlin-born artist who perished at Auschwitz. Saloman was the author of "Life? or Theatre? an evocative fictionalized autobiography in paint that Saloman described as a means of conquering death. Bringing together biography and imagination, the conceptual lyrics in this collection evoke a terrible moment in history and celebrate a life that triumphed despite adversity.

This collection showcases a unique blend of poetry and art, curated by Cuban editor Miguel Ángel Olivé Iglesias. It highlights the rich cultural expressions of Cuba, featuring diverse voices and artistic styles that reflect the island's vibrant heritage. The interplay between the written word and visual art invites readers to explore themes of identity, resilience, and creativity, offering a profound glimpse into the artistic landscape of Cuba.

Thin is the line between dreaming and wakefulness, wellness and disorder, here and there, this and that. Elana Wolff's poems illuminate the porousness of states and relations, the connective compulsion of poetic perception, in language that blends the oracular and the everyday, the elliptical and the lucent, the playful and the heart-raking. The de- and re-constructive workings of the poems in Everything Reminds You of Something Else argue for empathy and attentiveness. At the core of this work is the belief that art is the sanest rage.