PRESS
Praise for The Carrying
"An elegant and vulnerable expression of the aching beauty of an imperfect world."—American Library Association
"In what’s arguably her most accomplished work to date, Limón demonstrates her aptitude for making readers attend to the world in ways they likely never imagined. This is an emotionally versatile collection in which the struggles and joys of the body, the oddities and wonders of nature, and the pains and pleasures of the social coalesce with verve."— One of the Best Books of 2018, Publisher's Weekly
"Each poem is a widening lens of the world, an unburdening of the things we carry deep within ourselves."— Staff pick, The Paris Review
"Ada Limón is a poet of ecstatic revelation. Her poetry feels fast, full of detail, often playful, and driven by a conversational voice. This book represents a powerful deepening of the poet’s perspective into themes of loss, chronic pain, fear of the 21st century’s ongoing devastations, concern for the natural world. It’s a book of deep wisdom and urgent vulnerability, driven by language that feels not only beautiful but permanent and powerfully wrought, like a mountain. It leads you to the beautiful bright mountaintop of language, then guides you gently down into the rocky valleys of a conscious human heart." — Tracy K. Smith, recommending The Carrying for The Guardian
"Limón has a novelistic knack for scene, and the narrative lyrics in this remarkable collection, her fifth, could stand as compressed stories about anxiety and the body."—The New York Times
"Evocative dreams and pivotal memories help make this collection a powerful example of how to carry the things that define us without being broken by them."—The Washington Post
"Tender, illuminating. . . . The anxiety of all of life’s realities permeates Limón’s collection, which makes the work feel piercingly of the moment." — San Francisco Chronicle
"Just as The Carrying is perhaps Limón’s most intimate view of the body, it’s also her most external view of America, a country in turmoil. . . . What Limón carries throughout these poems is intense attention and devotion to art. Her new work suggests that this is an imperfect but nonetheless essential salve to a shaken body and a disordered world."— Poetry Foundation
"Ada Limón's latest poetry collection is a masterful blending of the personal and the political — a piercing look into the nature of pain and impermanence. It is a deeply intimate book, but through her generous accounting of her bodily struggles with a crooked spine as a child and infertility as an adult, we see overarching themes of life and death, growth and decay, grief and acceptance. In many ways, it is a paean to nature itself, to the peace in knowing it's both part of us and greater than us — especially when everything else in the world can seem like it's falling apart."—Buzzfeed
"Wherever she’s writing about, Limón’s work is marked by exquisite, minute details that pass by many people."— Rich Copely, Lexington Herald-Leader
"Limón is talented in a way that’s both intimidating and inspiring, and is definitely a strong pillar of contemporary poetry."—Bookriot
"Ada Limon's moving and deeply personal fifth collection of poetry, "The Carrying," chronicles simple joys and profound heartbreak." — Lulu Garcia-Navarro, NPR
"The Carrying is a blunt exploration of loss, and wisely observant of how 'real gladness' and pain manifest in both animals and humans. Limón’s poems personify the twinned-narrative of despair and tenacity that has become part of America’s current political and social reality. Indeed, The Carrying is a spark of courage in our dark and troubled times, one that implores us to remain awake so we can remake our toughest selves 'while everyone else is asleep.'" —PRANK
"Limón is talented in a way that’s both intimidating and inspiring, and is definitely a strong pillar of contemporary poetry."—Bookriot
"The Carrying is about the contradictory joys and burdens we all carry. . . . The societal connection between womanhood, motherhood and power is at the core of her work. . . . For Limón, carrying both the joys and sorrows of a child-free life is a testament to the human ability to exist with many things piled on our shoulders at once." — PBS NewsHour
"The Carrying is a deeply intimate collection, and fans of Limón might likely consider it her most personal collection yet. It touches on everything from the current political climate and nature to love and grief; and a fair amount of the collection is about the struggle of infertility, the deep desire to have a child. . . . It’s a spinning world that, increasingly, is turning to poetry like Limón’s to make sense of — or, at least, to assuage the grief of — it all." — "The Carrying Is A Poetry Collection To Help You Make Sense Of The State Of The World Right Now," Bustle Magazine
"I devoured this exquisite collection in one single day, and highly recommend you cancel your plans this weekend to do the same."— 14 New Books You Need to Know This Week, Bustle Magazine
"With the knowing directness of a letter, Limón’s poems speak to the marrow of our everyday condition. She grapples with fertility, hard fought acceptance, and empathy. . . . The Carrying is a vital collection for a noisy, brutal time. The power of Limón’s unflinching examination of grief and loss is only surpassed by her love of beauty and compassion."— BOMB Magazine
"[In The Carrying] the National Book Award-nominated poet pens paeans to the world's limitless capacity to astonish."— O Magazine, "10 Titles to Pick Up Now"
"Finally, I’ve also been loving Ada Limón’s new poems, The Carrying. They are like a winter garden—somber, full of grief and patience, suddenly visible lines from here to there. To watch a poet in full possession of her power tending the earth with this kind of care feels like an inspiration that comes with a chastened edge: time, they remind, is all we have."— LitHub
"For a book metered by grief, there’s a lot of love here—that shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering Limón’s stylistic control and skill. . . . Limón is very good at pacing her poems to leave us satisfied but also curious. . . . One of the best books of the year."— The Millions
"Lyrical, tender, and knowing. . . Ada Limón’s poetry connects the personal and the universal."— Garden & Gun
"Exquisite poems about love, fertility, desire, this natural world we move through, the political climate, so much more." —Roxane Gay, Goodreads
"A master of examining themes from unexpected angles, Limón rotates her topics in kaleidoscopic turns... Page after page, this proves to be a startling and tender, magnificent collection." —Booklist
"The Carrying is one of [Ada Limón's] best. Even in poems about racism, misogyny, violence, and the darkness that often accompanies life, Limón’s resiliency shines through."— Bitch Magazine
"All of Limón's books have found a home on my bookshelf, each volume a heartfelt reckoning of what it is be alive. In her collections, I find a grace that demonstrates her versatility and wisdom as well as a 'surrendering.' She explains that the central question of her work is, 'How do we live in the world?' Yet she’s a poet as comfortable with questions as with answers." —Diana Delgado, Guernica
"Ada Limón is one of the country's finest poets. . . . Honest, lyrical observations on love, loneliness, life, death and all the mysteries in between. . . . She performs a near-miraculous feat in balancing razor-sharp imagery with deep ambivalence. . . . The Carrying beautifully conveys the power of poetry in an age that needs it most." — Shelf Awareness
From NPR: Ada Limón's previous book, Bright Dead Things, was a National Book Award finalist. Her new collection is her best yet, a much needed shot of if not hope, then perseverance amidst much uncertainty. "Reader," she writes, " want to/ say: Don't die. Even when silvery fish after fish/ comes back belly up, and the country plummets/ into a crepitating crater of hatred, isn't there still/ something singing? The truth is: I don't know." Personal struggles — attempts to conceive a child, chronic pain caused by lifelong spinal issues — mirror and amplify public and political ones. These poems never paint a rosy picture of life in an America at war with itself, and Limón searches herself for the sources of ambivalence and anger. But inspiration comes from unlikely corners, such as a horse "racing, against no one/ but himself and the official clockers, monstrously/ fast and head down so we can see that faded star/ flash on his forehead like this is real gladness." Learning the names of flora and fauna surrounding a new home helps, too: "With each new name, the world expanded."
"Gorgeous, thought-provoking . . . Limón's typically tight narrative lyrics feature simple, striking images . . . fearless."— Publisher's Weekly, starred review
"A stunning collection . . . Limón writes movingly about finding the spectacular in the everyday. . .A reverent, extraordinary take on the world. Don’t miss this life-affirming collection."—Library Journal, starred review
"The Carrying. . . draws the reader in like an ancient forest: dark; pulsing with intricate, layered relationships; hushed yet brimming with sound." — Women's Review of Books
"This is the kind of poetry that strikes that rare balance: deftly crafted and profound but also completely accessible. The collection is about creation, death and everything in between, with so much attention to the thrumming world that just by reading it you become more aware, more in tune with the life around you."— Silas House, Bookpage
"In the dazzling, precise, transformative collection, The Carrying, Ada Limón offers us meditations on mortality, womanhood, the body, and that which grows in the earth, all the while slyly positing: How we should treat each other in this precarious life? Like humans, is her answer. Like humans." — Jami Attenberg
"It is no wonder that Ada Limón's wonderful new book, The Carrying, is full of goldfinches and strawberries and dandelions and hostas and, as she writes, 'all good things that come from the ground.' It's also no wonder that it's full of the life that death makes. And the living that dying is. For this book is a garden. And like a garden, it will nourish you. It will feed you."— Ross Gay
"In her powerful new collection, Ada Limón asks: "What if, instead of carrying// a child, I am supposed to carry grief?" And later: "isn’t there still something singing?" To which I say: yes. In these poems, joy and longing and grief sing with a music that—regardless of what I am burdened or blessed to carry—makes me want to live passionately and fully in the difficult world. The Carrying is a gift. —Natasha Trethewey
"Ada Limón teaches me that language can still surprise me. She shows me that the juxtaposition of words not previously joined can catch me off-guard, make me feel that shimmer of resonance, of curiosity." — Signature Reads
Praise for Bright Dead Things
"In the wonderful and wondering poems of her fourth collection, Ada Limón picks things up, puts them down, daydreams, sings, and casually, unpretentiously finds everything strange, all the while uttering truths that have a light, mysterious accuracy. This poetry is confident enough to let the world (Brooklyn, Kentucky, Montana, and elsewhere) and its words take center stage, again and again. And yet, Limón does far more than merely reflect the world: she continually transforms it, thereby revealing herself as an everyday symbolist and high level duende enabler. At the end of one poem she writes, "What the heart wants? The heart wants/ her horses back," and suddenly even this most urban reader feels wild and free." —Matthew Zapruder
"Ada Limón doesn't write as if she needs us. She writes as if she wants us. Her words reveal, coax, pull, see us. In Bright Dead Things we read desire, ache, what human beings rarely have the heart or audacity to speak of alone—without the help of a poet with the most generous of eyes." —Nikky Finney
"In Ada Limón's Bright Dead Things, there's a fierce jazz and sass ("this life is a fist / of fast wishes caught by nothing, / but the fishhook of tomorrow's tug.") and there's sadness—a grappling with death and loss that forces the imagination to a deep response. The radio in her new, rural home warns "stay safe and seek shelter" and yet the heart seeks love, risk, and strangeness—and finds it everywhere." —Gregory Orr
"If these are dark poems, there's also a poignant openness to them, and a refreshing earnestness in Limón's voice as she examines the upheavals of life. There's an especially close attention paid to the world in these poems—an attention born out of the wreckage of grief and change." — Tahoma Literary Review
"Generous of heart, intricate and accessible, the poems in this book are wondrous and deeply moving." — Karla Huston, starred review in Library Journal
"A poet whose verse exudes warmth and compassion, Limón is at the height of her creative powers, and Bright Dead Things is her most gorgeous book of poems." — Rigoberto González, Los Angeles Review of Books
"Using a litany of dark imagery, Limón's speaker maps where language fails..." — Publisher's Weekly
"Ada Limón's power is in speaking plainly, giving her ideas enough space to breathe, and ending poems with potent last lines." — Front Porch
"The clarity and directness of Limón's voice make for exhilarating reading." —Star Tribune
"This volume opens with the Pushcart Prize winner 'How To Triumph Like a Girl,' and the collection that unfolds demonstrates the same joy, bravado, and sheer push."
—"Key Poets to Discover and Rediscover," Library Journal Reviews
"Good spirited and dynamic, the book is a look back at past loves, then progresses forward. These are emotionally based poems with buoyancy and integrity." — Grace Cavalieri, Washington Independent Review of Books
"Limón is able to show us past what we can control, and channel something of acceptance." — Brandon Amico, Los Angeles Review of Books
"The best compliment one can give a book of poems is that the book loves the reader. Bright Dead Things doesn't just love poetry; it loves the reader. My hunch is, Reader, you'll love it too." —Dean Rader, Huffington Post
"Limón reminds us to keep living and loving despite the things we cannot change."
—Dana Johnson, New Pages
"Limón's calling card is her relaxed, winningly unpretentious voice." -- One of the Best Poetry Books of 2015, The New York Times
"In Bright Dead Things, Ada Limon cuts through the white noise of cliché and replaces it with vital music.", Pulitzer Prize Winner Gregory Pardlo in The Scofield
"Bright Dead Things captures an animal essence, creating a collection for which 'beauty' is less of a calculated word choice than it is a wild instinct." —Kevin Holton, Pleiades: Literature in Context
"Limón, in not fearing the part of her that wants to be unsettled, allows readers to let go of what binds them to their own confining spaces. Reading Bright Dead Things is a pleasure, not because the book in its weaving from discomfort to near-comfort is easy, but because by the end, we can believe that living any style or form of life is enough, no matter its final shape." —Lisa Higgs, Kenyon Review
Reviews of Sharks in the Rivers
"Limón's poems invite me into a consciousness that is always waking up, and always, despite everything that happens, choosing to step in, rather than away. This is a wonderful book."
— Bob Hicok Library Journal
"Ada Limón is a poet of alchemy, able to transform herself into what is named as she utters the words—hummingbird, river, desire, gone. With Sharks in the Rivers she has created the thing itself, alternating rangy invocations with distilled wildness, always open to wonder." —Nick Flynn
Gently Read Literature, "Sharks in the Rivers, May 2012
The Front Porch Journal, "Sharks in the Rivers," December 2011
Brooklyn Rail, "Shark in the Rivers," January 2011
Precipitate Journal: "2010 Titles for the Nature-Bound Book Nerd," January 2011
Coldfront Magazine, "Sharks in the Rivers:" Named in Top 30 Books of 2010, January 2011
Coldfront Magazine, "Sharks in the Rivers": Best Long Poem, Best Final Poem, January 2011
El Paso Times, "Poetry with Teeth," November 2010
Publisher's Weekly, "Sharks in the Rivers," October 2010
Library Journal, "Sharks in the Rivers," October 2010
Reviews of This Big Fake World
"This Big Fake World is not a mere nosegay of poems but a solid world (as real as it is fake, as any good work of art should be), a poetry of story and voice, a narrative of fracture and repair, that through its art becomes a whole--and a whole new thing." — Frank X. Gaspar
"Part domestic fairy tale, part urban grit, part expose of how making a living and making a life are often pitted against each other, This Big Fake World is a sophisticated exploration of manners, marriage, and the fragile bonds that desire both creates and destroys . . . Ada Limon has a gentle touch, and an intelligence that is quick, kind, and precise toward her deftly drawn characters . . . the lives and language of this book are radiant emblems of a truly discerning mind and heart." — Tom Sleigh
"The poems are stunning—the real deal." — Marie Howe
Reviews of Lucky Wreck
"From the first lines of Lucky Wreck, I was drawn in by this smart, jaunty, musing, quirky voice, and as I read the whole book I felt more and more respect for Ada Limón's risky, haunting, wonderfully unexpected work. Like many of the best writers, she is funny and serious at the same time, the depths and heights are one: lucky wreck!" —Jean Valentine
"..the lighthouse through the fog and mist to lost travelers and explorers, structure changes toward an inventive orthodoxy of the heart's stormy reign..bravo..." —Jimmy Santiago Baca