A Book Launch to Remember

Dear Reader,

In 2009, when I began to do research on the early life and poems of Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006), I had no intention of writing a book. I was developing a docent program for his boyhood home in Worcester, Massachusetts and the reference guide would be the textbook used in training volunteers to give house tours. But in 2016, I recovered his mother Yetta’s memoir, letters, and diary, transcribed them, and hoped they would find their way into an archive. While transcribing these documents, I became intrigued by this magnificent Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant, seamstress, businesswoman, mother, widow, and writer. I thought, “This woman needs a book!” and fate dictated that I would be the one to write it. More details are available in last month’s Judy’s Journal.

After a few dozen rejections, the biography/memoir was accepted by TidePool Press, and the book began to take shape. Fast forward to June 8th, A feast of losses: Yetta Dine and her son, the poet Stanley Kunitz launched! You can see the video of that evening, compliments of Tim Millunzi, by returning to the home page. It was a night to remember, a 10 on the joyfulness scale, and a paean to persistence. Finding a publisher who believes in your book as much as you do is a challenge, and I was very fortunate.

The afterglow continued during the next several days, as people called and sent messages of congratulations. Being a writer, I needed to hold onto whatever I could of this experience. I searched through my collection blank journals for a suitable “Yetta’s Book” and chose one I had bought at the Burchfield Penny Art Center in Buffalo, New York. Charles Burchfield’s (1893-1967) watercolor and graphite “Wind-Blown Asters” graced its cover. I noticed a date in the lower right-hand corner – 1951. Could this be? He painted it the same year as Yetta wrote her diary! I am always looking for meaning when many would say it’s a coincidence. There began the happy task of recording for Yetta and me the responses to her book.

Now on to making sure that the Don Marquis quotation above will not apply to A feast of losses: Yetta Dine and her son, the poet Stanley Kunitz. A wonderful book is just a wonderful book, unless people actually read it!

Let the marketing begin!