Small Press Points: Damaged Goods Press

Since 2015 this indepedent press in Richmond, Virginia, has been championing “offbeat books” of poetry and lyrical nonfiction by queer and trans writers.
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Since 2015 this indepedent press in Richmond, Virginia, has been championing “offbeat books” of poetry and lyrical nonfiction by queer and trans writers.
Anitra Budd got her start at Coffee House Press as an intern and now serves as publisher and executive director of the press. She discusses her approach to leadership and putting people before profit.
A look at the growing number of online scams that lure writers with offers of speaking engagements or by posing as an agent or editor online. Two writers directly affected by scams share their experiences.
Jonathan Galassi pays tribute to the late Roberto Galasso; Macmillan cancels plans to reopen offices in January; Luis H. Francia and Eric Gamalinda recall editing Flippin’: Filipinos on America twenty-five years ago; and other stories.
Michael Pietsch reflects on what lies ahead of the publishing industry; Riva Lehrer discusses rendering disability in writing and in visual art; Madeleine Thien discusses the unique nature of her protagonist from “Lu, Reshaping”; and other stories.
Submissions are open for the 2021 Essay Press Book Contest, cosponsored by the University of Washington in Bothell MFA program. Given for manuscripts “that extend or challenge the formal possibilities of prose,” the award includes publication by Essay Press, a cash prize of $1,000, and an invitation to read on the Bothell campus near Seattle, travel expenses covered. Lyric essays, prose poems or poetics, experimental biography and autobiography, and hybridized text/art manuscripts, among other forms, are eligible. Ronaldo Wilson will judge.
Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 70 to 200 pages with a $20 entry fee ($25 to receive a copy of a previously published Essay Press book) by December 15. Some fee waivers are available. All entries will be considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Authors Eula Biss, Stephen Cope, and Catherine Taylor founded Essay Press in 2006. The independent, volunteer-run press publishes “artful, innovative writing that questions convention and explores issues of significant contemporary relevance.” Previous winners of the book contest include Valerie Hsiung, Silvina López Medin, and Yanara Friedland.
The Loft Literary Center selects Arleta Little as next executive director; Kirstin Valdez Quade’s The Five Wounds earns the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize; the Guardian names the top books of the year; and other stories.
Musician and culture writer Greg Tate has died; Knopf hires Jennifer Barth as senior vice president and executive editor; poets Mai Der Vang and Sophia Terazawa discuss how to write about difficult histories; and other stories.
Kira Josefsson writes on credit and pay for translators; Ashley Hope Pérez reiterates the high stakes of the recent wave of book bans; Literary Hub determines the best covers of the year; and other stories.
Spanish novelist Almudena Grandes has died; Harper has hired Adenike Olanrewaju; Shilpi Suneja writes about pervasive mythologies of dirtiness and cleanliness; and other stories.