New-Release Roundup

Recent book releases from Sun authors include a memoirist’s notes on crafting difficult stories, meditations on the fragility of the natural world, and a poet’s sharp (and often laugh-out-loud funny) observations about life in the Sunshine State. Pick one up today and support these wonderful writers.—Ed.

 

I Would Die If I Were You

Emily Rapp Black’s essay “Surviving the Body” appeared over twenty years ago in our April 2005 issue. Since then, she’s become a bestselling memoirist. Her latest book, I Would Die If I Were You, continues to complicate the stories we tell about disability, illness, and parenthood, and offers practical wisdom for writers attempting to nurture their craft after loss.

From the publisher: “As most artists know, approaching their ‘hard’ stories in a way that feels joyful, redemptive, and meaningful can be difficult to near impossible. . . . I Would Die If I Were You is a bold and bracing blueprint—part memoir, part craft book—for how art making can lead us to our fullest truths.”

More from Emily Black Rapp

Birds of America: Poems

Chera Hammons’s poem, “Classroom Hatch,” appeared in our February 2025 issue. Her most recent collection, Birds of America, takes flight alongside illustrations by Sophie Lucido Johnson.

From the publisher: “In Birds of America, award-winning poet Chera Hammons reckons with the intersection of personal violence and the violence humans have wrought upon our planet and explores the beauty that remains among the ruins. With graceful lyricism, she translates seemingly mundane scenes from the natural world—two eagles locked together in a tandem dive, the fresh sweetness of wild onions—into exquisite revelations of human feeling, inviting us to glimpse the hidden magic of the everyday.”

More from Chera Hammons

Women in Tampa Talking About Alligators

Heather Sellers has published nearly a dozen essays in The Sun, as well as poetry and one piece of short fiction. Participants at The Sun’s 2026 Spring Writing Retreat enjoyed a preview of Sellers’s latest collection, a hilarious and poignant portrait of her fellow Floridians.

From the publisher: “Drawn from the author’s daily observation journals, the collection’s sun-struck, open-hearted poems eavesdrop on conversations among neighbors and follow the quirky behaviors of humans—and other interesting animals—throughout the course of a year in the Sunshine State. And as increasingly powerful hurricanes brew in the background, the reader experiences fresh compassion for the fragile lives carved out of a fragile landscape.”

More by Heather Sellers