New Books In Literature

Ladette Randolph has served as editor-in-chief of Ploughshares literary journal since 2008, where she had acquired numerous notable essays and short stories. A publishing professional for 30 years, she is co-owner of the manuscript editing firm Randolph Lundine, and the author of five award-winning books, including A Sandhills Ballad, a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice book, and most recently the novel Private Way. Under Ladette Randolph’s stewardship, Ploughshares is thriving with a solid endowment and an increasing pull toward essays that speak to disturbing trends happening in America and abroad. In this episode, the focus is on five essays of which one, Extractions,” by Mihaela Moscaliuc, centers on life as a young female in Nicolae Ceausescu’s Romania. There, it’s as if one’s pregnancy belongs to the state so eager is it increase the birthrate. Telltale signs of repression are everywhere in an essay notable in part for its chilling, subdued voice. A second essay, “Commuting” by Victoria Gannon,