Dear Perennial Volcanoes in Bloom,
This is a special digest for those of you who will be attending the AWP Conference this week in Denver. If you won’t be there, then you can stop reading now and accept our apology for posting a handful of kilobytes that aren’t immediately germane to your existence. If you are going, then boldly read on to discover all we have in store for you!
BOOKFAIR:
We will be at the bookfair all day every day in Exhibit Hall A, at table J25. We have some really cool neighbors this year, as was the case last year, so come join the party. I, your humble publisher, will be there for much of each day along with our newest staff member and Associate Editor, A. Minetta Gould. At various times throughout the conference some of our authors will be sitting around as well: Zachary Schomburg, Paula Cisewski, Julie Doxsee, Joe Hall, and Johannes Göransson. Allison Titus, co-editor for our journal Handsome, will also be around. All our books will be offered directly for the special price of $10, and various package deals will be made available. We’ll also be giving away free perfect bound books and handmade & decorated saddle-stitched chaps by Bill Knott to the first 75 people who request them!
READINGS & EVENTS:
The official Black Ocean event takes place on Saturday. I know it’s a lot of presses and readers on the last day of a long week, but look at this lineup! Also, total reading time will be capped to less than two hours, with a new reader every 5-10 minutes and plenty of breaks:
Possess Nothing: a small press event
Plus Gallery, 2501 Larimer Street (near the conference)
Saturday, April 10th, 7:00-10:00 p.m.
“Watch yourself unfold and close-out the AWP week with five presses that walk the path of dispossession. Fourteen readers; 100 minutes; singular enlightenment. Action Books, Apostrophe Books, Black Ocean, Slope Editions and Tarpaulin Sky Press present: Jessica Baran, Crystal Curry, Julie Doxsee, Sandy Florian, Lara Glenum, Johannes Goransson, Joe Hall, Lucy Ives, Paul Foster Johnson, Gordon Massman, Zachary Schomburg, Abraham Smith, Shelly Taylor, Amy Wright.”
Although it’s not a Black Ocean reading, I would be remiss if I didn’t plug this event, which I’ll be reading at in support of my own chapbook published by Brave Men Press. More to the point, I’ll be joined by some really excellent poets, who also happen to be killer readers on stage:
Historic Falcon
Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street (near the conference)
Thursday, April 8th, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
“You should definitely come to this reading of six small presses: Birds, LLC; Brave Men Press; Harp & Altar; Immaculate Disciples Press; Mississippi Review Poetry Series; and New Issues Press. Poets include: Julia Cohen, Brian Foley, Elisa Gabbert, Kate Greenstreet, Dan Magers, Justin Marks, Linnea Ogden, Christopher Salerno, Kim Gek Lin Short, Sam Starkweather, Janaka Stucky, and Chris Tonelli.”
MISCELLANEOUS:
This conference happens only once a year and it’s really great to meet the people who read our books. Please do stop by our table, even if you own every title we have, and just say hi. The poetry publishing business is a secluded one and any opportunity we have to put faces to the nameless readers is really fulfilling. See you all there!
~Janaka