O Livro de Frank
by CAConrad, 2010
Portuguese translation by Alice dos Reis and Pedro Neves Marques, 2021
163 pages, first edition
pântano books 02
18€

This is the first translation of celebrated North-American poet CAConrad into Portuguese. The Book of Frank marks a special moment in the poet’s career, alongside their renowned (Soma)tic poems. A reverie in inner America, The Book of Frank is composed of short, one-page poems recounting the tale-like life of Frank, a quirky and imaginative character marked by the non-conformity of desire and gender. Combining everyday puns, pop, and surrealism with a gothic flavour, these poems are both funny and gruesome; they express fantasies of escape from family and religion, as well as society's attempts at subduing the freedom of queer lives. In addition, this edition closes with an afterword by award-winning poet Eileen Myles on CAConrad’s poetry.

CAConrad was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1966 and grew up in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. Renown for their (soma)tic poetry and therapeutic rituals, they are the author of Amanda Paradise (2021), While Standing in Line for Death (2017), Ecodeviance: (Soma)ics for the Future Wilderness (2014), and A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon: New (Soma)tics (2012), among others. They were awarded a Creative Capital grant and a Pew Fellowship, and has won a Lambda Literary Award and a Believer Magazine Book Award.