Marly Youmans's Blog, page 154

Halving cherries, I prie the stonesfrom their black hearts,blood poolingbeneathmy fingernails.

Interview with Beth Adams of Phoenicia Press, continued
Marly:  Beth, you live a highly creative life. You draw, take pictures, write poetry, keep a blog, sing in a choir—probably there's more that I don't see. All these things are satisfying. A small publishing house is quite a bit of work and

"Illuvia dorado," courtesy of
Ignacio Leonardi of Ushuaia, Argentina
and sxc.hu.
A. C. Grayling, you eminent and rational man of the leonine mane, despite the weight of all your reason, I still will float in mystical gold.

I will go to the pouring fount. I will stand in burning gold rain. I will be ravished and obliterated and transformed. I will be hollowed out, and I will be filled.

Beth Adams talks about small press publishing, continued



Three small stones observed,
made of pigment, paper, love--
January's gifts.

31 January 2011

Another strength of a micro-press is that it can be a speedy hare. We can bring high-quality books out a lot faster than the typical publishing cycle, and sometimes there's an important reason to do that. Rachel Barenblat's book happened very

"The Madonna of the Laptop" (casein, 2010)
ashleynorwoodcooper.com
Yesterday I spent the afternoon driving over to Earlville (five miles from Colgate University in Hamilton) to attend the well-attended opening of Ashley Cooper's show, "Homebodies." If you're in the region, I highly recommend a visit. The show will be up from April 9-May 14 in the East Gallery of the Earlville Opera House.

It



"Touched" by Clive Hicks-Jenkins
Cover and jacket image for The Throne of Psyche
(Mercer University Press, 2011)

The House of Words will be back on weekdays.

Time for an excerpt from The Throne of Psyche: this passage is about halfway through the title poem. I thought maybe you needed a little drama, a little visit from Eros, a marriage of your Psyche-soul and Eros-body here at the

Elizabeth (Beth) Adams is the founder of Phoenicia Publishing, a small independent publishing house in Montreal, and co-managing editor of qarrtsiluni online literary magazine. Her prose and poetry have appeared in venues from The Witness to Tikkun, and in June 2006 her book Going to Heaven: The Life and Election of Bishop Gene Robinson, was published by indie NY publisher Soft Skull Press. She

"Luminous Letters" by Mary Bullington.
Acrylic & oil pastel on paper, 21" x 26." 
We read each other's poems in college,
and now look at us, long grown up.
Continued

SMALLER PUBLISHERS

No longer is any large house exempt from the rule of marketing. This change in publishing means that many writers look for a secure home and never quite find it—sometimes they are uneasy where they are or they

"Hot Type" courtesy of photographer Andrew Beierle
of Running Springs, California and sxc.hu.
Let's sum up and then push off in a new direction.

Once publishers and editors felt it an honor to choose the best books, guide a career, and develop an audience for a writer. No longer is that so (at least not to the same extent and not for most writers) as anyone who hasn't been living under a




VisitingCooperstown.com
On the 7th, Thursday, at the Cooperstown Village Library: come by a chance to yack with novelists Alice Lichtenstein and Peggy Leon.  The three of us are going to dinner beforehand, it seems. And then we are to talk about whatever you like--I posted that piece of news on facebook about a minute ago and already have requests: Julie says "paisley"; David says "what

"Buying a book," courtesy of photographer Herman Brinkman
of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and sxc.hu.
Doing What You Want to Do, continued
Question for the day: Is there something to be learned from one writer's experience?

At this juncture, I am fairly confident that I will continue to be able to publish the books I want to write. I'm not promising where I will publish. I have three books of