As in his earlier works, the dozen stories in Bukoski’s fifth collection depict the joys and woes of the Polish American immigrant families living either in the East End of Superior, Wisconsin, or in south Louisiana, where some Poles migrated to work the cane fields. Bukoski’s lower middle-class families are sustained by their neighborhood (now in decline), by the Polish fraternal lodge, by their parochial school training, and, in some cases, by their abiding spiritual faith
Anthony Bukoski is the author of four other story collections, including Children of Strangers (SMU, 1993), Polonaise (SMU, 1999), and Time Between Trains (SMU, 2003), which was a Booklist Editors’ Choice. His stories have been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio, National Public Radio, and in live performance in the “Selected Shorts” series at Symphony Space in New York City. He teaches at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin in his hometown of Superior, where his Polish émigré grandparents settled early in the last century.
What Readers Are Saying:
“These twelve stories are a Polish delight. Bukoski’s language hisses with authenticity, and his characters jut into the waters of humanity like giant ore docks into Lake Superior. A great book.” --Diane Glancy, author of The Mask Maker
“Anthony Bukoski understands how people begin in one place and end up in another and in the process try to preserve or renew or reinvent their very sense of self. Especially in this era, when the issue of if or how or why one becomes an American is increasingly important, Bukoski’s book is downright essential.” --Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a S
“Anthony Bukoski’s characters are funny, devoted, passionate, quarrelsome, hard-working people. These stories will make you want to buy a round for your new friends from Superior, Wisconsin.” --Douglas Unger, author of Leaving the Land
“A quintessential writer of place, Bukoski is one in whom imagination is indistinguishable from empathy. A lovely, soulful book.” --Stuart Dybek, author of I Sailed with Magellan
“These stories belong in the pantheon of American letters not just because they are models for the American short story, but also because they deal with the pressure of ordinary history on the lives of ‘DP’s (displaced persons)—Polish immigrants in the mid-twentieth century.” --Cynthia Shearer, author of The Wonder Book of the Air
“I was already a big fan of Tony Bukoski, and the stories in North of the Port turned me downright avid.” --Robert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain