Position Paper

by Carol Snow

Poetry. In POSITION PAPER, Carol Snow's project of noting the world in relation comes fully assembled. This New and Selected Poems gathers work from Artist and Model , "a first book of singular poetic intelligence and attention" (Michael Palmer), to what Brian Teare called the "compassionately witty" karesansui—collages citing Bashö, Sappho, Picasso, Groucho—to new work in elegy to the poet's sister consolidating a startling range of means. The art of Henri Matisse, touchstone of invention and "attention or gratitude, not madness," is one motif attending this collection; the stone and sand arrangement of the Zen garden at Ryoan-ji another; not to mention the 70 prepositions the poet memorized in Junior High School. Snow's work has been praised as "brilliant, funny, subtle" (Robert Hass), "delicate, masterful" (Cole Swenson), and "a new and mesmerizing way of looking at things" (Fanny Howe). Stones, art, family, elegy, error, perception, prepositions, permutations, "likening ... like an only hope or home." The whole, a kind of suite.

200 pages, Paperback

Published May 16, 2016

About the author

Carol Snow is an American author of contemporary fiction and young adult literature. After graduating from Brown University, she spent many years working as a freelance writer and editor. For a time, she wrote essays about motherhood for Salon magazine but wisely stopped before her children were old enough to read.

Eventually, Snow turned her attention to crafting heartfelt stories with wider appeal, and in 2006, Berkley/Penguin published her first novel, Been There, Done That, a Target Bookmarked Breakout selection that Publisher’s Weekly called “humorous, wise . . . romance with a bit of social commentary.” Since then, she has written five more books for adults, Getting Warmer (2007); Here Today, Gone to Maui (2009); Just Like Me, Only Better (2010); and What Came First (2011), which Amazon UK chose as a best book of the month. Her next title, The Girl on the Beach, a psychological thriller, is slated for June 2026 publication.

Snow has also written four young adult novels: Switch (2008), an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant YA Readers; Snap (2009); Bubble World (2013); and The Last Place on Earth (2016). Both Switch and Bubble World were featured as Scholastic Book Club selections for middle grade and high school readers. Foreign rights to Snow's books have sold to publishers in Germany, Norway, Poland, Indonesia, and Hungary.

Carol Snow grew up in New Jersey. Much of her childhood was spent immersed in books; the rest was focused on avoiding dodgeball. As an adult, Carol Snow has lived all over the US as well as in London, England, and Strasbourg, France. She holds a BA in psychology from Brown University and a MAT in English from Boston College. Before getting her first book published, she had the typical (for a writer) assortment of odd jobs: tour guide, tutor, chambermaid, waitress. She worked for a T-shirt company, a child services agency, and a vanity press. She even had a short stint in local politics. Her campaign brochures were really pretty, with flawless punctuation.

Carol Snow currently splits her time between Cape Cod and Southern California. In her free time, she hangs out with her family, reads (of course), cooks, paints, travels, and talks to her cats. Despite Google's claims to the contrary, she is not and has never been a poet.