Risk a Verse: A Year in Daily Sonnets

What kind of person decides to write a sonnet every day for a year? Someone with too much time on hand? In Libby Weber's case, it was someone with too little free time who nonetheless wanted to create something new every day. She expected to get pretty good at writing sonnets. She didn't expect that the project would be the excuse she needed to throw herself into every interesting opportunity that came her way. The result of her year-long literary experiment is a collection full of scintillating wordplay and keen observations, ranging from tales of audition mishaps to delightful nonsense, with reflections on nature, death, art, love, and occasionally television. Risk a Verse comprises Weber's complete sonnet output from her year of poetry, together with detailed annotations to clarify the remarkable array of subjects, works, and people referenced therein. Sonnets remain a popular way to express powerful feelings and reflect on the world, even as they are also used to humorously elevate less rarefied subjects. Weber manages to do all of this, many times over, within the space of fourteen lines. Rarely has such an impressive feat been this much fun.

Author: Libby Weber
Publisher: Burrito Books
Published: 04/23/2018
Pages: 408
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.31lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.91d
ISBN: 9780692960455

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2018
Indie Reader 04/17/2019

About the Author
Libby Weber is a San-Diego based writer and musician. She has written short stories for anthologies A SIX PACK OF STORIES, THOROUGHLY MODERN MONSTERS, and IMMANENCE, provided lyrics for composers Colin Barkley and Jason Carl Rosenberg, and blogged about the arts for the nonprofit news site Voice of San Diego. She is a core singer with SACRA/PROFANA, a choral scholar at All Souls' Episcopal Church, and sings with San Diego Master Chorale and Folklore Guild. She was raised in a log cabin in rural Illinois and educated at Northwestern University before moving to California, where she lives with her husband and two dogs.