Poetry alumna Emily Simon ’21 has published her first book titled In Many Ways (Winter Editions, 2023), a lyrical essay on selfhood, memory, and language in New York City during the pandemic.
Through different scenes, Simon investigates aspects such as time, embarrassment, and photography to show the contradictions that lie behind our desires. In Many Ways describes a self in process searching for the origins of her unsatisfiable pursuit of meaning. The writerly drive to fix the fleeting moment comes up against a contradictory impulse to escape—through writing—the binds of formal codes and conventions. Simon’s shifts and disjunctions map the unsteady flow of pandemic time, observing the clash of interior experience with the social world.
“Reminiscent of a personal journal kept by a brilliant writer, Emily Simon’s debut is a stunning compendium of intriguing and astute observations, rich musings on literature, and anecdotal fragments of memories of love and life,” writer and Professor of Professional Practice Binnie Kirshenbaum said. “Sharp, witty, heartfelt, and alarmingly thought-provoking, In Many Ways is unique in form, profound of mind, fiercely intelligent, and the prose is jaw-droppingly exquisite.”
Simon's poetic work was previously showcased in her debut chapbook, Reign is Over (Choo Choo Press, 2021), published in a small Risograph press co-founded by fellow alumna Taylor Zhang ’21 and NYC-based designer Emily Bluedorn. Simon’s poems have also appeared or are forthcoming in The Florida Review, Salt Hill, and Some Kind of Opening.
