On Her Poetry Collection, The Last Girl
The Last Girl by Rose Solari casts the spell of a held piano note on a dark key. A haunting melancholy runs through these rich, finely crafted poems. Solari writes with honesty, empathy, and tenderness about the islands we find ourselves on—our shipwrecked lives and our survival. — Jim Daniels, poet and co-editor of American Poetry: The Next Generation
Solari’s poems begin from the center of her heart. Word seduction, myth given life again, these poems descend from the sky as if there was another beautiful galaxy out there, just beyond our reach, breaking apart, poem by poem. —E.Ethelbert Miller, poet and activist
These poems shine like metal with precision, housing content that comes close to reminiscence, reaching almost to melancholy, but turning back before the brink. This technique allows feelings to go through the reader’s body, rather than staying with the writer. – Grace Cavalieri, Washington Independent Review of Books
On Her Novel, A Secret Woman
A Secret Woman is not only a pleasure to read, it is sneaky serious in a way I particularly like. Rose Solari explores the eternal literary theme of self — who we are, who are the ones we love, and how we invent and reinvent these people, trying always to paint ourselves into the vast canvas of life and history. A very promising fiction debut. — Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of Perfume River and Severance
Ms. Solari has measured control in her delivery in that she carefully guides her reader across the pages while creating consistent desire for the reader to find out what lurks beyond the next page to be turned. Her characters are rich and believable. They are all connected with the common link of the world of the arts, yet they have plausible and unique identities that work well together in making this a solid and enjoyable read. I applaud Ms.Solari with the many seeds of wonder she planted in the readers mind toward how well one person truly knows another—particularly if that one person was the one who brought you into the world. Simply put, this was a captivating read and it was effortless to turn each page from beginning to end. Thank you Ms. Solari! I look forward to your next book. —Diane Lunsford, Feathered Quill
Solari lifts the veils of the past to uncover another place and time in this moving and evocative novel. —Jan Lee, Oxford Times
On the poetry collection, Orpheus in the Park:
A new review of Orpheus in the Park by poet Alex McRae has just appeared on Eyewear, a London–based review of literature, film, and music. McRae writes, "The poems in this collection . . . find ordinary human motivations within ancient myths, and something strange and magical within everyday moments." A review of Orpheus in the Park also appears in the current issue of the New Hope International Review, an independent small press review based in the U.K. Reviewer Fionna Simmonds calls the book "a brilliant collection" evoking "the challenges and weaknesses of humanity itself." Click here for the full review.
The Orphic, mythic poems here may wear masks, but they reveal the voices of self–knowledge and self–revelation. Rose Solari is a poet of accomplished emotion, in poems thoroughly felt and wholly thought–through, whether she is speaking in the tongues of gods or for those she loves. In whatever terms, nothing can disguise the tenderness at the heart of her story.
–Stanley Plumly
I admire Rose Solari's poems for their steadiness in the presence of emotional challenge. She writes about the real things that happen to us, transforming them, by means of secure craft and loving attention to detail, into works of art that happen to us in more durable ways.
–Henry Taylor
Rose Solari's brilliant and moving poems spring from a highly original fusion of technique, wit, spirituality, and rare passion. They show a poet working at the height of her powers.
–Andrew Harvey
These poems won me over completely, because they don't use classical mythology as a source of erudite, elitist and off–putting allusion, but instead Solari digs deep, really deep, into the myths themselves to find in them the models, reflections, and illuminations for our own lives.
–David Budbill
On the poetry chapbook, Selections from Myths & Elegies:
This is wonderful poetry, very evocative, sensual, and wry. Rose Solari is a masterful writer.
–Belleruth Naparstek
On the one–act play, Looking for Guenevere:
Solari's background as a poet is often obvious in her choice of imagery, and she's a bit of a comic, too. The message – that Guenevere's transformation into abbess after her life of passion was a positive choice – is convincingly delivered and surprisingly uplifting.
–The Washington Post
Solari studies the legend with an objective eye and comes up with telling observations. Even her speculations, as the two women take turns inventing entries in Guenevere's journal, feel right. Very good indeed.
–The Washington Times