Overview

Bold, Marvelous won the 2026 Grayson Books Chapbook Contest. The poems in this collection focus on the photographer Doris Ulmann and her subjects, especially Appalachian craftsmen, musicians, and ordinary folks, people often overlooked by the rest of society. Ullmann worked in the early part of the 20th century, often accompanied by John Jacob Niles, who collected ballads and folksongs from country people. The photographer's curiosity and unflinching gaze, as well as her empathy and humanity, are evident in the poems. The same can be said of the author.

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Reviews

The first poem in Lisa Beech Hartz's Bold, Marvelous begins with a lesson taken to heart by photography student Doris Ulmann: When you are looking you begin to understand your capacity to see. These richly imagined prose poems follow Ulmann (1882-1934) from her youth in New York City to her fame as a photographer, known especially for her portraits of the craftspeople and musicians of Appalachia and the Gullah of South Carolina. Ulmann's lively curiosity and self-reflection make her an apt vessel for contemplating the life of any artist. Reading of Admiral Byrd's Antarctic exploration, Ulmann wonders, What makes us exile ourselves in this way, Admiral? Send ourselves out past where anyone can find us, past everything we know? Bold, Marvelous abounds with good questions. I am so glad to have discovered the poetry of Lisa Beech Hartz. -Suzanne Cleary, author of The Odds

Author Information

Lisa Beech Hartz directs Seven Cities Writers Project which brings creative writing and literacy support programs to under-resourced communities. She guides workshops for men and women in two city jails. Writing in response to visual art is one of her writers' favorite ways to generate new work. Lisa is the author of The Goldfish Window (Grayson Books/2018), These Kismets (CutBank Books/2025), and The Body Taken (UMass Press/forthcoming 2027). She lives in the Tidewater Region of Virginia with her family.

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