A Girl and Her Room finds another eager and excited audience at La Lettre de la Photographie. With a slideshow of ten photographs from the book and a statement by Rania Matar about her work, La Lettre is proudly sharing this wonderful book!

And La Lettre isn’t the only one! In the past few months A Girl and Her Room has received praise all across the media: CNN‘s photo blog did a slideshow of Rania’s images, Brooklyn-based Working Class Magazine featured the book in their May “Girl” issue, Allure got up close and personal with a fascinating interview with Rania, Marie-Claire named A Girl and Her Room one of their “Best of May,” L’Orient Le Jour in Lebanon raved about Rania’s exhibition in Beirut and the book, The Huffington Post, Lenscratch, and Photo-eye blog all did features about the book and Rania, and this past weekend it was named as one of Amazon.com‘s “Hot New Releases”!

Congratulations Rania!

Check out this beautiful book here, and save the date — Friday, May 18 — for A Girl and Her Room’s exhibition opening and book signing with Rania Matar at Umbrage Gallery!

And we don’t blame them! Rania Matar’s new book graces the pages of this month’s MC in the Things We Love About May spot. Grab a (gasp!) print copy from your local newsstand, or check it out on the web.

Lori Waselchuk was recently interviewed on Neiman Storyboard about her latest project, Grace Before Dying, published as a book with Umbrage (2011), and currently in exhibition traveling around the country. Thoughtful and sharp, Lori discussed the complexities of documentary photography and the role of photography like her’s as a tool for bringing attention to serious social issues.

“I really think you can draw people in with a universal. We are connected to each other in really fundamental ways, and in order to tell stories that will connect with others you have to use those tools and look for common ground….But you have to deepen the conversation, and you have to be honest about who this is serving, and what your goals are….

Who does it benefit? What is the value of the information of the issue versus the empowerment of the actual community being affected by the story? All of these issues continue to be part of how I work.“

Read the whole story here.

Rania Matar’s new release A Girl and Her Room (officially released May 2012) is featured in the April “Girl” issue of Brooklyn’s Working Class Magazine. This month’s issue focuses on what it means to be a girl, the modern girl’s life, and features the lives and work of some amazing  local, Brooklyn-based girls.

One of their features is dedicated to A Girl and Her Room, with a thoughtful (and glowing!) review by Ryan Michael Commins.

“There are no photographs in which the girl doesn’t seem to perfectly fit in the room.  They must work together because these are two symbiotic beings living in coexistence. As the girl evolves, so goes the room. A Girl and Her Room is a candid vivisection of that process in book form.”

Read the full article here.

Valley of Shadows and Dreams, photographs by Ken Light, officially opens next week. Ken and Melanie, who wrote the text of corresponding monograph, will be in the gallery signing books and available for questions and small talk from 6-9 pm, Thursday, April 5 at Umbrage Gallery.

In Valley of Shadows and Dreams, Ken Light digs deep into the harsh truths of farm workers’ daily experience in California’s Central Valley. The eponymous monograph (May 2012, Heyday) includes an introduction by Thomas Steinbeck and impassioned essays by Melanie Light about the importance of recognizing a slow motion train wreck of unsustainability where it is all too evident. With Ken’s photographs and Melanie’s text, Valley of Shadows and Dreams eloquently captures the day-to-day lives of hardworking people fighting to preserve their livelihoods and traditions.

Hope to see you there!

Rania Matar will showcase her new book A Girl and Her Room at this year’s Foto Fest International in Houston, TX. She has two events lined up in Texas — one at the Houston Center for Photography and another with PhotoEye —  before she flies out to Beirut to promote A Girl and Her Room to the middle eastern audience! Books will be available for purchase at all events. Congratulations to Rania on such a beautiful book! For more information about upcoming events click here.

Wyatt Gallery, the author of Tent Life Haiti (Spring 2011), is featured in the upcoming issue of the New York Review of Books (March 22, 2012). In “A Farewell to Haiti,” Mischa Berlinski uses Gallery’s photographs of post-earthquake Haiti to aid his profile of current state of Haitian life.

“In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the people of Port-au-Prince displayed admirable cohesion. A strange calm, beautiful and moving, reigned over the ruined city… It was as if two hundred years or more of Haitian life had exquisitely prepared this people for this moment, when everything would be stripped away but their own internal fortitude and discipline.“

Green Card Stories made the front page of the Huffington Post Books last week, getting a slideshow and everything.

“The book shows a larger story about the trends in immigration…Along with showing the difficulties underlying this process, Green Card Stories conveys the persistent resourcefulness and optimism that immigrants bring with them to this country.”

Read Saundra’s lovely abstract and check out the slideshow!