Pat Dyjak's Symphony for the Cutters

Poet Pat Dyjak explores acts of self-harm ("cutting") and survival of child abuse in her new chapbook from Kattywompus Press, Symphony for the Cutters.

A former Graduate Assistant at the New York State Writers Institute, Dyjak is currently Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, Steven's Point.

From the publisher:  "Dyjak takes no prisoners in this searing examination of a culture of trauma that originates in the family and spirals out.This is an author willing to risk baring her soul, and steeped in the leading edge of her craft. Dyjak is determined to pry off the tightly nailed doors of our dark basements and let the light pour in, and in doing so she spins our suffering into art."

Publisher website: http://kattywompuspress.com/content/symphony-cutters

An interview with Professor Dyjak: http://www.uwsp.edu/pointeronline/Pages/articles/English-Professor-Hosts-Poetry-Reading.aspx

Kattywompus Press has achieved widespread notice in the poetry world for its invitation-only "Poets' Greatest Hits" series (300 volumes and counting). Here's an interview with the publishers: http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2011/07/meet-the-press-kattywompus.html