Professor Konrad Eisenbichler’s book The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics and Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Siena is one of the finalists in the ForeWord 2012 Book of the Year Award. ForeWord Reviews, a quarterly print journal dedicated to reviewing independently published books, was established in 1998 to provide booksellers, librarians, agents, and publishing professionals with reviews of the best titles from small, alternative, and academic presses. This year’s finalists were selected from more than 1300 titles submitted for the awards. The winners in the various categories will be announced on 28 June at the American Library Association annual conference in Chicago.