Dora / Lora Now Available

Dora / Lora, the new book of poetry by Larissa Shmailo, is now available at https://www.unlikelystories.org/unlikely-books/dora-lora ! Dora / Lora is a harrowing account of the Ukrainian holodomor (mass starvation of the 1930s) and the role of Ukrainian collaborators in the Nazi death camps seen through the lens of one family's experience. Intergenerational Holocaust trauma is agonizingly depicted (suppose your parents joined the wrong side?). The political is personal in this gripping collection. Buy the paperback or Ebook today.

Dora/Lora is an audacious and brutally honest book by one of the most honest and fearless voices on the American literary scene. It takes unimaginable courage to even try to comprehend the incomprehensible – let alone to write about it now, of all times. Larissa Shmailo’s prose, as “unadorned and unperfumed” as the utterings of a Sybil, heroically strives to connect vantage points, which, like dead stars, are impossible to connect with any finality. Her unyielding poetry, crisp, laconic, and masterful, refuses to remain trapped and wrapped in itself. The book opens a gate to compassion and, hence, if not to forgiveness, then to freedom.

—Irina Mashinski, author of The Naked World

“The alphabet sings only / to me,” confides Larissa Shmailo; elsewhere she writes, “I AM YOUR LOGOS, THE WORD MADE FLESH.” Shmailo is an alchemist of words, manipulating rhyme and cadence and all the tricks of form in her quest to produce gold. Whether she’s channeling Anna Karenina in the #me, too era, voicing Icarus’s post-mortem report, or exploring her own family connections to kapos and crematoria, Shmailo’s Dora/Lora explicitly confronts the question of how one can write poetry after Auschwitz. Astonishing, confounding, and deeply moving: in these poems, Shmailo conjures gold from the unlikeliest of substances.

—Katherine E. Young, poet laureate emerita, Arlington, VA

In Dora/Lora, Larissa once again pushes the boundaries of poetry, offering surprises in the pause between comedy and heartbreak.

—Elizabeth L. Hodges, author of Witchery

"This rupture of heart, love’s sharp scalpel will cut mine apart.” With torture, starvation, beatings, and disfigurement, what has changed? Shmailo follows what her father told her, “‘Keep breathing,’ he encouraged me in difficult times! ‘Keep breathing.’” As you read this bravely written book, “keep breathing.”

—Gloria Mindock, editor of Červená Barva Press

Writing Resilience in March!

 Writing Resilience is a 4-week Zoom writing workshop for people who have been affected by trauma, addiction, and/or mental illness. We will write our stories to empower ourselves and increase coping and resilience, as well as to work toward writing a memoir, poetry collection, or novel. Join the workshop that has been called "life changing" "useful and motivating" and "generated a lot of good work." The workshop meets Saturdays, March 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Eastern. $169 for all four sessions. PayPal larissa_shmailo@yahoo.com

“Larissa Shmailo is astute, discerning, and perceptive . . . Larissa brings to the workshop the rare capacity of true interest in the work and the lives of her students. She affirms the writing in a way that demonstrates understanding of the content - through specificity and authentic reaction to the piece. This class allows the processing of personal trauma while also freeing it in the direction of publication. One is left realizing that the world does want to hear your story.” -—Sandra Kleven, publisher, Cirque

"Larissa Shmailo's Writing Resilience Workshop helped me to write again after a period of writer's block. In the past I have not been able to write in response to prompts, or to write in-workshop, but something about Larissa's leadership and compassion—along with the warmth of the group—freed me to participate. I am grateful for the experience and highly recommend the workshop." —Rachel Blum, author of The Doctor of Flowers

"Larissa Shmailo is a true warrior of the written/spoken word, as her life and work ignites her. What an honor to be one of her students! Her class is generative and I produced some pieces that were published quickly. We did in-class exercises and read our work aloud. Got excellent feedback from her, as well as the other students. If you get a chance to take Shmailo’s class, jump on it. She is a gift to the writing community. WOW!"—Meg Tuite, author of five short story collections, two poetry collections, and published in numerous literary magazines, as well as anthologies.

“This course created the space and structure in my life to make writing a regular part of my day. Larissa’s excellent exercises and insightful feedback served as the basis for rich class discussions and workshops. I felt connected to my classmates and found myself feeling at home among them— a rare treasure for such a compact time frame and over Zoom. I would highly recommend this course to any writer who wants to get back on track but is struggling to enact this desire day to day.” — Anna Fridlis, writing instructor, Parsons School of Design