Small Press Points: Tavern Books

by
Staff
From the November/December 2014 issue of
Poets & Writers Magazine

A nonprofit poetry press based in Portland, Oregon, Tavern Books (www.tavernbooks.com) exists “to print, promote, and preserve works of literary vision, to foster a climate of cultural preservation, and to disseminate books in a way that benefits the reading public.” Led by founding editor Carl Adamshick and managing editor Natalie Garyet, the press publishes original poetry collections; works in translation; and select reprints through its Living Library series, a catalogue of “innovative poets ranging from first-time authors and neglected masters to Pulitzer Prize winners and Nobel Laureates.” Recent titles include Fire Water World & Among the Dog Eaters by Adrian C. Louis and Collected Translations by David Wevill. Original full-length manuscripts by emerging women poets are accepted annually through the press’s Wrolstad series, established in honor of Greta Wrolstad, a poet who died at the age of twenty-four and whose books, Notes on Sea & Shore (2010) and Night Is Simply a Shadow (2013), were published by Tavern Books posthumously. Women poets ages forty and under who are U.S. citizens may submit to the series, which carries a twenty-five-dollar reading fee, from October 1 through January 15 each year. The press also accepts year-round submissions of poetry collections in translation and single-author reprints of out-of-print collections (from writers of any age or gender), and publishes the Honest Pint, a unique monthly literary journal comprising a prose piece—an essay, hybrid work, comic strip, or handwritten letter—by a contemporary author that celebrates the work of a single poet. Edited by poet Matthew Dickman, each issue is distinctively designed and printed, and often includes original artwork and rare ephemera related to the featured poet’s work.

Comments

I love that line "print,

I love that line "print, promote, and preserve works."  That is a fantastic way to think of a publishing company or imprint.  Because really, isn't that what it is all about?  Printing and publishing makes the words last forever.  It opens the door for others to get inspired by words, and not just those in this lifetime but forever and ever.  For me, that is one of the draws of writing and publication.  That I can contribute and those contributions will survive longer than my body ever can.  Janelle www.janellefila.com