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I Am Here You Are Not I Love You is a rich and romantic tale of rediscovery for the author, but outright discovery for us. In prose that wanders seamlessly between deeply personal recollections and the cold reality of history, Ryan introduces the reader to his late aunt and uncle, the artists Cindy Suffoletto and Andrew Topolski, the New York art world at the end of the twentieth century, and the long overlooked artistic ferment in his native city of Buffalo. Through the story of his beloved aunt and uncle, Ryan has restored an important missing chapter of the history of American art.

—Mary Gabriel, author of Ninth Street Women, on I Am Here You Are Not I Love You

I Am Here… is a detective story, a bildungsroman, a critical reappraisal. . . . it is a valentine to the couple, to the idiosyncrasies of the city that made them, and to the idea of artistic community. It is itself an artwork of surprising ambition, an attempt to push literature to the limits of its ability to reanimate memory. . . . an original and deep exploration not only of the world of two underrated artists, but of the power of the creative mind to reimagine others’ realities. The unified project of the book, conveyed by its subject matter as well as the author’s expressive treatment of it, is about the courage—author’s and subjects’ alike—to undertake art at all.

—Melissa Holbrook Pierson, The Brooklyn Rail, on I Am Here You Are Not I Love You

Aidan Ryan has an indelible sense for the line as musical phrase, as moment of real psychological need, as expression of possibility, even if just expressing things as they are. In the great sweep of global chaos Aidan is able to take us back to the individual human experience, the major needs of the seemingly minor people who aggregate the whole of humanity. “Belief,” as he writes in one line, “persists in shapes and senses.” Aidan’s poems do the brave work of urging strength from love.

—John Deming, Host, KGB Monday Night Poetry Series

In this lovely essay at The Millions, Aidan Ryan explores his editing process, and the abandoned, unused writing that he’s accumulated and compiled into a “Miscellaneous” document over the years. Ryan shares inspiring examples of how authors write, build their worlds and the stories of their lives, and continue to draw from and tap into existing work as if dipping into a vat of bread starter. In an anecdote about playing with Legos as a child, he beautifully describes how he liked to tell stories with all of his toys and figurines, from different universes — “I was only interested in the story of everything.” This sentiment is reflected in his insights on writing and editing, but also waiting — the act of putting language aside, but still keeping it close, so that “everything remain[s] possible.”

—Cheri Lucas Rowlands on “Stet” in Longreads