Parallel Press releases new poetry chapbook

“A Visionary’s Company,” by Madison author Rick Hilles, is the newest chapbook from Parallel Press, an imprint of the UW–Madison libraries.

Many of the poems in this latest chapbook were inspired by historic figures and incidents. “Visions of Captivity: Neulengbach, 1912” is written from the point of view of the Austrian painter Egon Schiele. The poem deals with incidents from the artist’s life to create an imaginary world. It also touches broader subjects of censorship and artistic freedom.

The title poem is written from the point of view of William Blake’s wife and artistic collaborator, Catherine Blake.

Hilles is the 1999-2000 Halls Poetry Fellow at UW–Madison’s Institute for Creative Writing. His poems have appeared in Poetry, The Nation, The New Republic, and The Paris Review. His poetry has earned him The Missouri Review’s Larry Levis Editors’ Prize, as well as fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Djerassi Foundation, and the Vermont Studio Center. Hilles was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford University from 1995-1997, and received a B.A./L.S.M. from Kent State and an M.F.A. in writing from Columbia University.

Each chapbook is $10; annual subscriptions for six chapbooks are $50. Titles may be ordered by writing: The Parallel Press, 236 Memorial Library, 728 State St., Madison, WI 53706. For information, visit the Parallel Press Web site, or phone: (608) 262-2600.