Author Biography

In the 1960s, Edward Sanders co-founded the groundbreaking rock band The Fugs, opened the Peace Eye Bookstore, and appeared on the cover of Life magazine, becoming a hero of the American counterculture. He is a classics scholar, pioneer in investigative poetics, inventor of musical instruments, publisher of The Woodstock Journal, and author of many books, including the best-selling Charles Manson expose The Family, the ambitious, nine-volume project, America: A History in Verse, LET'S NOT KEEP FIGHTING THE TROJAN WAR: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS 1986-2009, and most recently, from Granary Books, A BOOK OF GLYPHS (2014). He lives in Woodstock, New York.

Review

These glyphic works fulfill those grand objectives through modest means and simple tools. Sanders' visual and textual dictions are borrowings from the alphabets and emblems of ancient civilizations. His unassuming colored-pencil drawings engage the viewer-reader directly in the personal, present moment of their creation. -- Tim Keane * Hyperallergic *
But whether or not one reads the Notes, it is a crowning honor to the Glyphs that they can speak in the most fuzzily dreamlike way, making perfect (and different) sense to each reader. Even the most innocent scan through the book will be rewarding. -- Kate Garber * The Improbable *

Long Description

Poetry. Art. A BOOK OF GLYPHS is a facsimile, color reproduction of legendary author, musician and Fugs founder Ed Sanders' first book-length work of glyphs, which he created in Florence, Italy in 2008, using colored pencils and a small sketchbook. Though each piece stands on its own, collectively the 72 glyphs convey, with characteristic humility and humor, many of the themes explored by Sanders over his long and diverse career, including history, myth, activism and pacifism. The glyph--"a drawing that is charged with literary, emotional, historical or mythic and poetic intensity"--has been a dimension of Sanders' poetry since 1962; he cites Zen rock gardens, the markings on Egyptian tombs and the typographic designs in John Cage's writings as influences in the development of the form. Sanders' name for the original notebook is "Smile-Book of Grace-Joy," which aptly describes the range of concerns explored in this important and joyful work.

Review Quote

These glyphic works fulfill those grand objectives through modest means and simple tools. Sanders' visual and textual dictions are borrowings from the alphabets and emblems of ancient civilizations. His unassuming colored-pencil drawings engage the viewer-reader directly in the personal, present moment of their creation.

Details