Best of the Small Press 2012: Bart Plantenga

1. The Revolution of Everyday Life by Raoul Vaneighem (Reissue on PM Press/Autonomedia, 2012)

2. On Bolus Head by Michael Carter with etchings by Brian Gormley (En Garde Books, 2012)

3. Tsunami of Love by Eddie Woods (Barncott Press, 2012)

4. The Banjo Clock by Karen Garthe (University of California Press, 2012)

5. Backwards the Drowned Go Dreaming by Carl Watson (Sensitive Skin Press, 2012)

6. To Cook A Continent: Destructive Extraction and Climate Change in Africa by Nnimmo Bassey (Pambazuka Press, 2012)

--Picks by bart plantenga, author of Yodel in Hi-Fi (University of Wisconsin Press, 2012) and the two urban-mirror, zen-street books Paris Scratch and NY Sin Phoney in Face Flat Minor (both on Barncott Press, 2012).

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Please see a late addition to Ron Kolm's 2012 picks. As always, I hope you'll browse the numerous posts for the Best of The Small Press 2012.

New Bookstore Memoir Chapter

"The Secret Life of Magazine Covers" is the latest installment of my Bookstore Memoir-in-progress. While reminiscing on a poetry reading from 2002, the essay includes some thoughts on the small press and hype:
 

"It reminded me that the small press seemed to exist in this funny place. You could get a small group of your friends together, start a magazine or a publishing house, and it could add up to the most basic version of that: a good time, a cordial salon, a fertile exchange of ideas, a record of a cluster of talent. Or, it could go national, global. A hot title, a cool look, a dynamite new writer, a necessary conversation, a new energy, a zeitgeist, a legacy. You never knew whether you’d be overlooked as More of the Same, or become the next One to Watch. Stakes were small and huge at the same time, consequences could be negligible or cosmic. Ever since HOWL in 1955 was the 18-minute poetry reading heard round the world, hype was a part of the equation, something to be embraced or ignored by poets and publishers, but always a choice to be made."

Read the full essay in Issue No. 10 of Composite Arts Magazine, a smart and gorgeously-produced digital quarterly.

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Check the Composite website for the calls for proposals for upcoming theme issues:

http://compositearts.com/submit/

View the Composite archives here, or find Composite on Facebook or Twitter.

Listen to Booksellers Read Works on Bookselling

The Fleeting Pages reading, Bookstore Clerks Who Write About It, came together even better than I had hoped. The readings (poems, nonfiction, and short story) by booksellers about their experiences working in bookstores were at turns hilarious, insightful, neurotic, nostalgic, and poetic. Bookstores were described as the refuges of the high-minded and the homeless, the avant-garde and the out-moded, and at least two stories were about bookstore thieves. Eight booksellers participated in all, see the full list here. Please enjoy the above video of the readings, made from audio recorded by Will Snook.

Small Press Holiday Recommendations: Day 24

Today’s recommendations come from three multi-talented women of the small press. Lynn Alexander is a poet who also works non-stop behind the scenes: She’s one of the main creative forces behind the full-service Full of Crow, a press, literary website, online audio show, and distro. She’s also the creator of numerous zines, co-edits the journal Fashion for Collapse, works on production and distribution for the micro-fiction journal Blink-Ink, and was a force behind the latest incarnation of the Outsider Writers Collective. Andria Alefhi is a writer and zinester who hosts the radio show Zine Therapy and publishes the awesome non-fiction zine, We’ll Never Have Paris. The zine gets better-looking everytime another issue comes out, and I love that it’s dedicated to the theme of “all things never meant to be.” Christen Clifford is a fearless writer and performer of some powerful one-woman shows tackling taboo subjects, including the acclaimed “Baby Love”: This Off-Broadway show talked frankly about the sexuality of maternity, and started out as an essay on Nerve.com. I’m also a fan of Christen’s essay about moving out of Williamsburg (published at Evergreen Review) and of her illustrated memoir piece, My Home Birth at Smith Magazine. Christen offers three memoir recommendations today, while Lynn recommends poetry, and Andria focuses on zines and the micro-press.

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1. In Praise Of Absolute Interpretation, Felino A. Soriano (Desperanto-Foster, 2010)
See Lynn’s review here:
http://karenslibraryblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/guest-review-felino-soriano-reviewed-by.html

2. Prominences, John Swain (Flutter Press)
This was John's first chapbook, he has a few out now and actually we just printed one at Full Of Crow called "Burnt Palmistry". He is definitely one to keep an eye on.

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/prominences/6264172

3. Voices, Kyle Muntz (Enigmatic Ink)
See Lynn’s review here at Crow Reviews:
http://www.fullofcrow.com/crowreviews/2010/09/voices-by-muntz/

Recommended by
Lynn Alexander, co-editor at Full of Crow and Fashion For Collapse, and production assistant at Blink Ink
http://www.fullofcrow.com

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1. Aaron Lake Smith, self-published author of zines Big Hands and Unemployment
2. Tin House literary journal
3. I Like to Keep My Troubles on the Windy Side of Things, Buzz Poole (Fractious Press)
4. Microcosm Publishing and Parcell Press: two great, great websites for window shopping

Recommended by
Andria Alefhi, curator of the zine We'll Never Have Paris.

http://neverhaveparis.blogspot.com/
Andria is also working on a collection of her personal writings, essays and creative nonfiction, out on Fractious Press sometime in 2011.

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1. Inferno: A Poet’s Novel, Eileen Myles (O/R Books)
2. There's a Road to Everywhere Except Where You Came From, Bryan Charles (Open City Books)
3. The Adderall Diaries, Stephen Elliott (Greywolf Press)

Recommended by
Christen Clifford, writer and performer
Christen at Evergreen Review: http://www.evergreenreview.com/112/contents.htm
Christen at Smith Magazine:
"My Home Birth: A Graphic Graphic Memoir by Christen Clifford & David Heatley":

http://www.smithmag.net/memoirville/2009/05/06/my-home-birth-a-graphic-graphic-memoir-by-christen-clifford-and-david-heatley/

"Clippings": http://www.smithmag.net/memoirville/2007/06/15/clippings-by-christen-clifford/

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Stay tuned for more small press holiday gift recommendations, publisher giveaways, and guest reviews.