If you’re in the Boise area, you probably know about Oldspeak (“Part taproom, part bookstore, part community hub”) — whom we’ve just been reminded of and have added to our Independent Bookstores page.
Well, they’ve tallied up their best sellers from 2025 and Edna Shochat’s poetry book, Decent Exposure, came in fourth — following Gillian Anderson’s Want, two books by Ocean Vuong (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and The Emperor of Gladness).
We congratulate her, noting that her books was number six on Rediscovered Books‘ bestsellers for 2024. On both lists she’s the only local author. A notable achievement!
Edna Shochat’s website.
Her bio: Edna Shochat was born in Mandatory Palestine which, in 1948 became Israel. Her native language is Hebrew. She studied art and graphic design and worked in book publishing before coming to the U.S. with her family in 1971.
She worked in advertising and daily newspapers and lived in New Orleans, LA, Lexington, KY, Maplewood, NJ and Palo Alto, CA, before moving to Boise in 2018.
She began to write poetry at age 70 while undergoing chemotherapy. What started as a vehicle to carry her on a journey through breast cancer continues to inspire her on the path we all share – the passage of time and the journey of aging.
