June Sylvester Saraceno’s The Girl from Yesterday excavates bloodlines, legacy, birthright, and dissolution with bravery and honesty. Saraceno's poems about her son, father, mother, and ultimately “the blue plate of marriage smashed,” transcend the ordinary and illuminate the human experience of love, loss, and redemption. These poems ultimately teach us about relationships, memory, liberation—and the resilient grace of a remarkable poet.
—Lee Herrick
Feral, North Carolina, 1965 caught my breath and shot it back to girlhood so deeply I felt my ten-year-old spine shiver. June Sylvester Saraceno has so profoundly entered the voice and body and sight of a girl from the rural south—image by image, thought by thought, sensory perceptions crescendoing into that ferocious beautiful knot made from place and being, both pushing down too hard on the body of a girl and yet pushing her toward flight. A love letter to all the girls who run in the world with their hair on fire. A heartsong to girlhood.
—Lidia Yuknavitch
June Sylvester Saraceno is a transplant from the rural South to the Western Sierras. Both regions have influenced her work. Her debut novel, Feral, North Carolina, 1965, was published in September 2019. Her third poetry collection, The Girl From Yesterday, was published in January 2020.
"In addition to running a college English program, Saraceno is a prolific poet and fiction writer."
Tim Hauserman
Tahoe Weekly - Read More
"Saraceno wants her students to be inspired and interested in class. She is a passionate teacher who asks a lot of questions and provokes energetic class discussions."
Terra Breeden
Eagle’s Eye - Read More
Photograph by Carolina Cruz Guimarey