Sightlines from the Cheap Seats

Sightlines from the Cheap Seats is the latest book of extraordinary poetry by prize-winning poet Joseph Di Prisco. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Dennis has praised Di Prisco’s “strong and original voice.” Dean Young, Pulitzer Prize finalist, wrote that “addressing unquenchable longing and the shadows of death and failure, the lyric engines of [his] poems propel us with vital combustions”; his work “is proof of the presence of a large, funny, and indefatigable spirit.”

Joseph Di Prisco is the acclaimed author of prize-winning poetry (Wit’s End, Poems in Which, and Sightlines from the Cheap Seats), bestselling memoirs (Subway to California and The Pope of Brooklyn), nonfiction, and novels (Confessions of Brother Eli, Sun City, All for Now, The Alzhammer, Sibella & Sibella, and The Good Family Fitzgerald). He taught for many years and has served as chair of not-for-profits dedicated to the arts, theater, children’s mental health, and schools. In 2015, he founded New Literary Project, a not-for-profit driving social change and unleashing artistic power, investing in writers across generations from neglected, overlooked communities. He also directs NewLit’s annual Joyce Carol Oates Prize, awarded to mid-career authors of fiction, and is Series Editor of the annual anthology Simpsonistas: Tales from New Literary Project. Born in Brooklyn, he grew up in Greenpoint and then in Berkeley. He and his family now live in Lafayette, California.