New Books and Music for the Fall

Behold the Bird in Flight

Terri Lewis (BA '72)

“Behold the Bird in Flight” is a coming-of-age story and a royal love triangle based on real events in medieval France and England. Terri Lewis imagines the life of Isabelle “Isi” d’Angoulême, a young girl who is betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan, a French nobleman who consents to marry her, but only for her money. Hoping for his love, Isi flirts with England’s King John to make Hugh jealous. John, though, is so smitten that he abducts Isi and marries her. Now trapped in cold, warring England with a malicious husband, Isi must hide her yearning for Hugh and find her own power. If she fails, she won’t live to return to her beloved. “Behold the Bird in Flight” is set in a period that valued women only for their dowries and childbearing. Isabelle’s story has been mostly erased by men, but the medieval chronicles suggest she was a woman who developed her own power and wielded it.

Where Does This Find You

Adam Gang (MM ’24, adjunct faculty Lamont School of Music)

While working on his master’s degree in music performance, saxophonist Adam Gang began composing his latest jazz album with help from Lamont professors Remy Le Boeuf and Annie Booth on composition. “I was just writing a lot of new music, and in August 2023, I got some of my good friends to record the album with me, to play the music. And it came out much better than I would have hoped for,” Gang says. “Where Does This Find You” is an eclectic mix of songs heavily influenced by Middle Eastern music.

Porthole

Joanna Howard (PhD ’04, associate professor of Literary Arts and director of Creative Writing) 

The latest novel by Joanna Howard, “Porthole,” celebrates the art form of film and filmmaking, and the power dynamics involved. The story is told by Helena, a world-renowned art-house director, who feels responsible for the on-set death of her latest muse, leading man and frequent bedmate Corey. Haunted by the accident, Helena unravels and is sent to a luxury retreat where fellow sufferers of psychic exhaustion ferry her to and from meals, rest activities, and spa experiences, all with hilarity and wit. “Porthole” is a portrait of an auteur at the peak of her powers and in the midst of an extravagant meltdown. Filled to the brim with champagne toasts, boathouse romps, brothels, yoga pants, Parisian hotels, dressing-room hookups, and red-carpet faux pas, “Porthole” gifts us the world through the eye of the camera lens.

Lullaby of Love: Selected Poems

Rebecca Winning (MA ’79)

Rebecca Winning takes us on a journey through her midwestern upbringing, relationships, deep connection with the natural world, and meditations on finding meaning in her latest book, “Lullaby of Love: Selected Poems.” Included are previously published poems from her early years, as well as 30 new, unpublished works. The poems offer personal reflections on love, loss, family, marriage, infidelity, divorce, healing, aging, death, and new beginnings. Each poem crystallizes a point in time that celebrates the mystery and wonder of our everyday lives. Winning explores themes of human frailty and connection, reverence for the natural world, and the intersection of the seen and unseen. Her book is a meditation on finding one’s best self and living in harmony with—and gratitude for—the interconnectedness we all share.

A Colorado Panorama

Don Morreale (BA ’72, MA ’10) 

Don Morreale shares 168 vignettes of Colorado historic figures whose faces grace a wall on the side of the Colorado Convention Center in his most recent book, “A Colorado Panorama.” Morreale was inspired by the photo-based, computer-generated tile mural by CU photography professor Barbara Jo Revelle, and the controversy surrounding it. “Apparently, Denver City Council had a problem with some of the characters the artist had chosen to represent on it,” explains Morreale. “One in particular irked the Council members—Black Panther Lauren Watson. The Council insisted Revelle remove his image. When she refused and threatened to abandon the project altogether, they backed off, at least partially. The Council withheld money for an interactive touch screen that would have informed viewers of the identities of the faces on the wall. For years, viewers were confronted with a 600-foot-long collection of anonymous faces. Colorado historian Dr. Tom Noel later created a guide that offered one-line descriptions of each figure. I used Dr. Noel’s guide to track down the IDs of each face, and then did my research with the help of local historical societies all over the state.” Featured Coloradans include Butch Cassidy’s cattle-rustling girlfriend, the first Asian American in space, and an Oscar-winning blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter.