Song After All: The Letters of Reginald Shepherd and Alan Contreras

The late poet Reginald Shepherd corresponded for two years before his death with nature writer Alan Contreras. Song After All offers a new window into Shepherd’s thoughts on writing, music, love and, ultimately, dealing with cancer. Wry, funny, painful, illuminating and glorious, this unique compilation of 120 personal messages, plus blog posts, poetic commentary and essays is a moving and entertaining memorial. Also contains essays by Shepherd's partner Robert Philen and by Evan Eisenberg, and includes the complete text of Fernando Pessoa's poem Antinous, written in English in 1918 and rarely published in the U.S. All royalties from sales of this book benefit the Creative Writing program at the University of Oregon, where Shepherd was scheduled to speak shortly before he died.

Alan L. Contreras is a writer and higher education consultant. He is an internationally known expert on diploma mills and state regulation of postsecondary education. A graduate of the University of Oregon and its law school, he has published frequently on higher education issues. He recently published The Mind on Edge: an Introduction to John Jay Chapman's Philosophy of Higher Education and College and State: Resources and Philosophies. He has also published several books on birds of the Pacific Northwest and two collections of poetry.