November/December 2014

Our Independent Publishing Issue features an in-depth interview with Graywolf Press editor Jeff Shotts; a look at the successful partnerships of eleven small-press authors and their editors; a profile of indie essayist Charles D'Ambrosio; Donald Hall recalls a golden age of American poetry; best-selling author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore on the rewards of self-promotion; advice for self-published authors; a conversation with Guernica publisher Lisa Lucas; and much more.

Features

A Profile of Charles D'Ambrosio

by Kevin Nance
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In the essays in his new collection, Loitering, published this month by Tin House Books, Charles D’Ambrosio places the emphasis on language and sympathy to uncover the story behind the story.

Turning Time Around: A Profile of Donald Hall

by John Freeman

Donald Hall may not be producing any more new poems, but the eighty-six-year-old author of more than fifty books is still revising; still polishing his prose, including the pieces in his new book, Essays After Eighty; and still reminiscing about a golden age of American poetry.

Special Section

This Thing I Made: Letterpress Meets High Tech at the IPRC

by Michael Bourne
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Writers take bookmaking into their own hands at Portland, Oregon’s Independent Publishing Resource Center.

Agents & Editors: Jeff Shotts

by Michael Szczerban
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Graywolf Press executive editor Jeff Shotts discusses the power of patience in publishing, editing as an act of empathy, and why it’s an en exciting time to be a poet.

The Aha! Moment: McSweeney’s Poetry Series editor Dominic Luxford

by Michael Bourne
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McSweeney’s Poetry Series editor Dominic Luxford reveals what made him notice, and then decide to publish, Arif Gamal’s poetry collection, Morning in Serra Mattu: A Nubian Ode.

News and Trends

Literary MagNet

by Travis Kurowski

Literary MagNet chronicles the start-ups and closures, successes and failures, anniversaries and accolades, changes of editorship and special issues—in short, the news and trends—of literary magazines in America. This issue’s MagNet features the American Reader, the Atlas ReviewApogeeSlice, and Parcel.

Small Press Points: Tavern Books

by Staff

Small Press Points highlights the innovation and can-do spirit of independent presses. This issue features the Portland, Oregon–based Tavern Books, which publishes original, translated, and reprinted poetry, as well as the Honest Pint, a unique take on the literary journal.

The Practical Writer

The Savvy Self-Publisher: Jeffrey Blount

by Debra W. Englander

In the second installment of our new self-publishing column, indie author Jeffrey Blount discusses his book, Hating Heidi Foster, while publicist Anna Sproul-Latimer and bookseller Bradley Graham weigh in on how to grow a self-published book’s audience from family and friends to a wider community of readers.

The Literary Life

Rejection Letters: Keeping the Judgment of Agents and Editors in Perspective

by Louise DeSalvo
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An author extols the importance of keeping rejection in perspective, with a reminder that even classic books first struggled to find a home.

Coming Home to Writing: Exile and Literary Citizenship

by Elizabeth Huergo
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Having left her home in Havana as a refugee at the age of three, an author explores the truth of what it means to be a writer in exile.

Where We Write: New York City Via Bavaria, Germany

by Sabine Heinlein
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Learning to inhabit a new country and language helps a German-born writer discover her voice and understand how that voice hinges on the place in which she lives.

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