News Release

EVENT NEWS / February 12, 2008

Boise State University's Ahsahta Press Releases 'Realm Sixty-Four' by Poet Kristi Maxwell

“Realm Sixty-Four,” a new book of poetry by Kristi Maxwell, was recently released by Boise State University’s Ahsahta Press.

“Realm Sixty-Four” takes its name from the field of the chessboard. The book explores the dynamics of engagement, both through and within language. The poems are interested in the strategies that interactions encompass — interactions between words, between play and praise, between illusion and non-illusion, illusion and eluding, idea and image, between speakers, between voices and between reader and text. From the history of the chess-playing automaton known as “The Turk” to a series of flirtations cadged in the game’s battlefield language, the subjects of Maxwell’s poems are rarely what they seem to be.

“Hold onto your hat while Kristi Maxwell whirls you through late 18th-century and early 19th-century chess games, such as those between the Turk and Enlightenment figures,” poet Caroline Knox wrote. “Meditating on the moves and strategies of chess gives Maxwell the freedom to enlarge the subject to the whole game of life, as these meditations become more and more abstract. … I really loved this very original book.”

Maxwell is pursuing a doctorate in English at the University of Cincinnati and holds and MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona and holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and English from the University of Tennessee. “Realm Sixty-Four” is her first book. For more information or to order, visit http://ahsahtapress.boisestate.edu. 

Ahsahta Press, an all-poetry imprint at Boise State University, has been publishing since 1974. The name “Ahsahta” comes from the Mandan word for a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, and was first recorded during the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is directed by Boise State professor Janet Holmes.

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Media Contact: Julie Hahn, University Communications, (208) 426-5540, juliehahn@boisestate.edu

Boise State University is emerging as a metropolitan research university of distinction. This transformation is being powered by the university’s first comprehensive campaign to support students, faculty, strategic initiatives, research and infrastructure. That’s why the campaign to raise $175 million in private support is called Destination Distinction.
 

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Last reviewed on Tuesday, February 12, 2008