The Understudy's Handbook - Washington Writers' Publishing House

The Understudy’s Handbook

by Steven Leyva October 2020 In Print

Winner of the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize 2020

Drawing heat and music (and luscious food) from a New Orleans and Houston childhood, Steven Leyva’s poetry reveals a sensibility forged by a growing awareness of race and class: child’s joy and bafflement, a black Baltimore father’s worry. These gorgeous poems sweep the reader as into a parade, of memory, sensation, rhythm, protest.

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ISBN: 9781941551226trade$18.95Official on-sale date: October 15, 2020

Meet the Author

Steven Leyva

Steven Leyva was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Understudy’s Handbook, which won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from Washington Writers’ Publishing House. His second book of poems, The Opposite of Cruelty, was published by Blair Publishing in spring 2025.

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