Burrow Press

As native Floridians, we are thrilled to share WE CAN'T HELP IT IF WE'RE FROM FLORIDA: New Stories From a Sinking Peninsula, an anthology of stories and essays.

Florida is more than just fodder for hard-boiled crime novels and zany farces. This anthology of new stories and essays challenges a star-studded line up of current and former Floridians to write about the state through a literary lens, though not without the requisite weirdness. The Florida within this book contains: lightning, oil spills, road rage, a lizard tied to a balloon, swimmers, sleepwalkers, characters that love Florida, characters that hate Florida, and at least three sinkholes. Featuring new writing by Lidia Yuknavitch, Sarah Gerard, Kristen Arnett, Laura van den Berg, Lindsay Hunter, John Brandon, Jaquira Díaz, Alissa Nutting and many more.

• Paperback // 6 x 9 
• Ed. Shane Hinton
  

The Florida Man meme lodged itself into the national consciousness through viral headlines like “Florida man threw live gator in Wendy’s drive-thru window.” But there’s much more to the meme than a punchline. In this innovative collection, Tyler Gillespie strips away the accepted myths of his home state and its inhabitants in poems centered on Florida’s history and culture. He uses a lyric mix of journalism, science, family lore, and lived experience to reveal complex realities of the state and a redemption that’s wondrously messy and surprising.

Since the collection’s initial publication in 2018, Florida has become even more chaotic and unsafe. In this time, too, Gillespie emerged as one of the state’s rising literary voices for his wit and style. This second edition revisits the original collection and extends its themes with 20 new poems that form the chapbook-length addition HEAT ADVISORY.

“Gillespie has published an empathetic book of poems.” – WASHINGTON POST

• Paperback
• 5.5″ x 8.5″
• 128pp
• LGBTQ+