Bingo, Bango, Boingo

Alan Michael Parker is the author or editor of nineteen books, including the novels Christmas in July and The Committee on Town Happiness, both with Dzanc Books. He holds the Houchens Chair at Davidson College, where he chairs the Department of English. His awards include the NC Book Award, three Pushcart Prizes, two Best American Poetry selections, and the Fineline Prize. A book reviewer for The New Yorker for nine years, he has judged the 2021 National Book Award in Fiction, as well the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction.

"These stories are pithy, whimsical, ironic, and poignant by turn... a pleasant, chatty overlay of language that sometimes parts to reveal a startling moment of insight." –Kirkus Reviews"The book is a study in the intermeshing of form and content, an illustration of how form can shape narrative even when narrative seems to resist shaping. Bingo Bango Boingo is fun, imaginative and ruminative in the way that it excavates and captures the small moments and large yearnings of life. It is a book to read slowly and to return to often, not just for its content but also its cheekily daring form." –Southern Review of Books"The flash is fantastic. Parker shows mastery over the form with pieces of varying length and style, his long career in poetry and flash fiction manifests itself in the strength of his writing and the imagery packed into the tiny boxes of a bingo card...Parker has written Bingo Bango Boingo as a thoughtful, entertaining, and engaging collection of flash fiction and bingo cards, with something for every reader. As the book claims on its back cover, you’ll probably like it." –Mānoa Journal"This collection is not afraid to question and to leave you questioning. Its stories and form ask you to take part in its creation, and in doing so, allows conflict to exist amid connection." –Mid-American Review