35 Sonnets: For the 21st Century by Sarah B. Royal is a formally inventive and thematically layered chapbook that reimagines the sonnet tradition through a modern, feminist lens. Published on March 10, 2025, by WoPoLi.PS as part of the WoPoLi Chapbook Series, this 120-page collection pays homage to Fernando Pessoa’s 1918 35 Sonnets, which is included at the end of the book. Royal engages in a dialogic structure, responding to Pessoa’s philosophical and existential inquiries with a distinctly 21st-century female voice that challenges and expands the historical constraints of the form. Her formal innovations span classical sonnet types—Italian, French, English, Curtal, Contracted, Kyrielle, and Spenserian—while also venturing into experimental and hybrid territories. A detailed tutorial on constraint-based craft invites readers to explore these forms themselves. Royal’s tone is one of existential inquiry, balancing lyrical beauty with structural rigor as she explores identity, time, and emotional paradox. Her cultural commentary reflects on gender, power, and poetic legacy in a digital and post-pandemic world. Ideal for readers who appreciate sonnet sequences with historical and experimental depth, this collection will resonate with fans of Fernando Pessoa, Anne Carson, and Christian Bök, offering a rich literary dialogue across time.

ISBN: 9798313681153