Shann Ray

A novel in five novellas, Where Blackbirds Fly offers a prismatic deep dive into the human heart through fierce narratives of a intimacy, both lovely and heartbreaking.

From Shann Ray, winner of:

THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARD

THE HIGH PLAINS INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN POETRY

THE HIGH PLAINS INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION

THE INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD

THE FOREWORD BOOK OF THE YEAR READERS’ CHOICE AWARD

THE SPUR AWARD, WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA

Honors:

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS FELLOW

FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR in FORGIVENESS, SOUTH AFRICA

UNITED NATIONS DIALOGUES ON BEAUTY, VISITING POET

Pedagogy:

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY, PROFESSOR of LEADERSHIP

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, COURSE DESIGN, POETRY

PEN AMERICA, PRISON & JUSTICE POETRY MENTOR

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, POETRY & CCL

“With its large cast of wounded, complex, and ethnically diverse characters, all yearning for love, Where Blackbirds Fly creates a world that looks very much like America. That it does so with rich lyricism and polymathic learning is a testament to the love Shann Ray himself has for humankind. Read this novel for the perception-altering poetry in Ray’s prose, the vividly and sympathetically drawn characters, the precise attention to detail, and the expansive spirit that courses through this elegantly rendered story. Beauty, care, and wisdom sing from these pages!” —Charles Johnson, author of Middle Passage, winner of the National Book Award

“A breathtaking narrative of the unspoken histories of couples. How do we find a way to love when there are multigenerational wounds? That struggle informs Where Blackbirds Fly as each pairing carries different burdens and different intimacies. The blackbirds’ appearance is subtle but prophetic, and as with the tricolored blackbird, the startle of its color in flight, their path echoes the uncommon strength of this narrative. Over the years each interwoven life takes on power and poetic significance as we question if love will triumph over loneliness, over loss. We come to care deeply about the people here, their trials and vicissitudes. We celebrate with them, and grieve with them, and when the novel is complete, we don’t want to leave them.” —Mary Jane Nealon, author of Beautiful Unbroken, winner of the Bakeless Prize

“In Shann Ray’s kaleidoscopic and cinematic novel we bear witness to characters grappling to kindle and keep love. Characters yearn, strive, and soften for a transcendent wholeness, a healing they glimpse tenderly in each other. Where no redemption seems isolated or linear, this hard and lovely work urges us to consider the healing strength of love and how we can just as easily ruin each other. The precise telling resists reveling in love’s sweetness. Around each corner another couple rises into view, scuffed and scarred with trying. We mourn the inevitable damage they cause and rejoice in the moments they are able to break loose from personal and collective pain, able to be available and steady for each other. Ray articulates a vital and palpable interconnectedness of humanity.” —Natalie J. Graham, author of Begin with a Failed Body, winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize

“The language, sharp. The story, riveting. The love, physical. Where Blackbirds Fly left me breathless as I caught the thread of Divine Mystery woven in its pages.” —Drew Jackson, author of Touch the Earth

“There is a spirit in the American West—a spirit calling out—and Shann Ray envisions it beautifully. Vivid. Grounding. In imagery of skies, wildlife, and mountainscapes, Ray immerses readers in a story deeply personal and boundless. Thoughtful with the complexities of identity, heritage, and connection, he evokes the timeless bond between land, heart, and the shared human experience.” —CooXooEii Black, author of The Morning You Saw a Train of Stars Streaking Across the Sky, winner of the Rattle Chapbook Prize

“Shann Ray’s prose defies limitations and boundaries. In Where Blackbirds Fly the world he creates is a brutal one where empathy only glows brighter. His sentences stipple the page with such grace and beauty we’re left not with just a book or a story but a true work of art.” —Dane Bahr, author of Stag