A Middle-Aged Woman Rages Reviewed by Michael Escoubas

“Nothing could have prepared me to write a review of A Middle Aged Woman Rages, by Melissa Jørgenrud Helton. Having written well over three hundred book reviews, I have never encountered a collection this outrageous, this angry, this mission focused. Yet, in the same breath, I have yet to engage with a work so compelling, so honest, and so “needed” by western culture. Helton is fresh, bold, and raw. These observations are not in the least pejorative. But they are true.”

Reviewed by Michael Escoubas for “Quill & Parchment.”

Read the rest of the review at https://quillandparchment.com/archives/Oct2026/book.html

Yvonne Johnson and I Am Woman

Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, I Am Woman.

I was lying on a carpeted floor, eyes closed, listening to the specific memories and emotions the different parts of my body held within them. Ellen Hagan, a talented poet and former writing instructor of mine, was leading this exercise at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference in Lexington. When we arose from the floor, we wrote. The result was the first poem I ever wrote for this collection. As I continued to reflect on my own body and to learn about other women’s histories, I felt a growing urge to capture our shared experiences of patriarchal societies in my poetry.

What do you like most about it?

I always strive to create art with a message, and I believe I stayed true to that intention with this collection. I did not shy away from difficult topics, even when they got personal, and I found the courage to share my words with the world. 

What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?

The first poem in the book, The Performance, which is also available to read on the Accents Publishing website, illustrates my fear of not knowing how people would receive my work. To publish this book, I had to learn to be okay with being vulnerable.

What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?

My main goal with anything I write is to confront societal issues: to raise awareness, to question, to challenge, to change. 

However, I also hope that women find community in these poems.

What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?

The most fulfilling part of being a poet is reading in front of an audience and watching everyone’s faces after I deliver the last line. The moment I can see how the poem landed. A nod. A hum. A deep breath. The confirmation that I was heard, that I was seen, that I was felt.

What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publication of I Am Woman.

I am currently working on a new collection of poetry, all centered around the theme of home. I am exploring what makes people leave home, reflecting on my own journey of leaving Kentucky and inspired by the refugees from the Middle East and Africa that I met while studying abroad in Germany.

Optional bonus question: Is there anything you want to get off your chest about writing or publishing? 

I was never any good at writing happy poems. I once asked one of my mentors if that was a problem. Does anyone want to read an entire book of sad poems? He walked to his bookshelf and handed me a book by one of his favorite poets, The Terrible Stories by Lucille Clifton. You can’t please everyone, he told me, all you can do is write your heart and hope it sticks. 

Chris McCurry and The Gospel of God Boy

Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, The Gospel of God Boy.

It starts with being an older brother. What an awful and awesome responsibility that is. And I’ve got to be honest here, I really botched it up. I was mean, controlling, manipulative. I was a kid. I didn’t really understand how to be good. Eventually (and thankfully) I grew up and realized I had abused and misused my power. God Boy explores all that across themes of family, religion, myth.  

What do you like most about it?

I like that it’s bloody. I like that it’s kind of alarming. Oh. I like when I read it to myself, I feel something deep and ancient working within it. 

What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?

Fear that my loved ones would be mad. Fear that it wouldn’t be as good as my first book. Fear that even though I’ve thought about all of this and wrote about it, maybe I haven’t changed all that much, after all. Maybe, just maybe, we are all evil and spiteful and tiny. 

What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?

I guess I felt, and have felt for sometime, the effects of time. I’m not really sure that it heals all wounds, but that it provides context and counterpoints–counter examples. It gives spaces for growth, if you are lucky enough to get a lot of it. Opportunities for reflection and collection, correction. So, yes, in humanity there’s violence. We kill each other. And since this isn’t a book about the consequences, it can be a book about why and how to be or become a person who loves others. 

What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?

Well, I’ve got to say I love when my wife reads my work or is sitting in the audience smiling at me. That gives me confidence and peace. Recently, someone reached out after reading God Boy and asked to get a copy of my first chapbook ever published, Splayed. That was nice of them! I don’t have any more copies, so I couldn’t help them out, but it was still fun that someone wanted to read more after finishing my book. 

What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publication of The Gospel of God Boy.

The next poetry book will be a book of love poems, for sure. And I’d love to share my short stories with the world. Finish a novel I’ve been working on for awhile. I’m working with a team of teachers to draft a Literary Arts curriculum for 6th-12th grade. My son Ecton is a full goose. Abra is a high schooler and in the Literary Arts program that I teach. And I’m leading the Bluegrass Disc Golf Association as the President for 2026. To name just a few of the things I’ve got cooking right now. 

Optional bonus question: Is there anything you want to get off your chest about writing or publishing?

Imagine if every middle and high school had a Literary Arts teacher. How cool would that be? Most people don’t know this, but we need Literary Arts/Creative writing to be included in the legislation that governs Visual and Performing Arts. With that we could start developing a robust system of literary arts teachers to introduce the art of writing from a young age and help those who develop a passion for it to hone their skill and craft.