Fiction. Quinn, a sculptor literally and figuratively at the end of his rope, flees New York City for a capeside artists' colony. Fixated by trash, and reading Woolf's The Waves, Quinn trawls the streets and beaches of the little fishing village, tentatively exploring his relationship to the place, his art, his new friends, and himself. Moods of weather and landscape suffuse this sparely written tale that, like sunlight that pierces storm-clouds, illuminates exactly how much is stake in Quinn's haunting search for the sublime. "The will to be transformed away from the senses via the senses is a sensualist's mission. It is Quinn's desire, as it is the desire of the gods. The reader will see that such a desire infuses language with a passion for breathing and utterance equally"—Fanny Howe.

Author City: OBERLIN, OH USA

Kazim Ali is author of two volumes of poetry, THE FAR MOSQUE (Alice James Books, 2005) and The Fortieth Day (BOA Editions, 2008), four books of prose—the novels QUINN'S PASSAGE (BlazeVOX Books, 2004) and THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SETH (Etruscan Press, 2009); a collection of critical writing, Orange Alert: Essays on Poetry, Art and the Architecture of Silence (University of Michigan Press, 2010), and the inspirational memoir FASTING FOR RAMADAN (Tupelo Press, 2011)—as well as a mixed-genre book, Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities (Wesleyan University Press, 2009), finalist for the Ohioana Book Award for Poetry and the Lantern Award for Memoir. Born to Indian parents living in England and raised in Canada and the U.S., Ali has worked as a political organizer, lobbyist, yoga instructor, and professor. Founding editor of Nightboat Books, he now teaches at Creative Writing and Literature at Oberlin College and in the University of Southern Maine's low-residency M.F.A. program.