Herb Scott, the founding editor of New Issues Press, was known for being an inspiring creative writing professor and a tough editor. In the newly released collection of his work, edited with an introduction by David Dodd Lee, we can once again be reminded that Herb was above all a poet, and one of huge talent.
His friends and family, former colleagues and students, have a tradition of raising a glass to his memory every February 8th, his birthday. This year I intend to not only raise my glass to him, but also read aloud and share his poetry. I encourage others to do the same.
The Other Life: Selected Poems of Herbert Scott 1974-2005
Carnegie Mellon University Press
ISBN: 978-0-88748-521-3
$19.95, 240 pages, paper
Buy it on Amazon.com
"
The Other Life is testament to a quiet force in American poetry, to a generous soul who bore witness to the world with goodwill and good humor. While Herbert Scott was a modest man, this collection is not a modest accomplishment. Reading these wonderful, rich poems spanning his entire career gathered together in one book feels like a warm home we enter from the cold. We can take our boots off, sit down and calmly ease into the sustaining light of these poems."
Herb Scott, the founding editor of New Issues Press, was known for being an inspiring creative writing professor and a tough editor. In the newly released collection of his work, edited with an introduction by David Dodd Lee, we can once again be reminded that Herb was above all a poet, and one of huge talent.
February 8 is an important day for New Issues because it's Herbert Scott's birthday. In the past, we would carve out some time in the evening and gather Herb and all the New Issues folks together for a night of Chinese take-out and good wine, talking shop and swapping stories. When we lost Herb to cancer on February 12, 2006, it was hard to imagine the press without its founder. But it was always Herb's vision to see the press continue to publish new work. I know he would be excited about where we are today.