We’d like to think that Lucky Jefferson was spiritually born during a text message conversation with a good friend of ours. In that conversation, a typo occurred and the words Lucky Jefferson was born. Our founder saved the typo in a note on her phone and little did she realize, she’d use that typo a few years later to start Lucky Jefferson.
So our official founding occurred sometime in 2018 and our first issue Testament was produced and published in print in the winter of 2019.
If Lucky Jefferson was an animal, what would that be?
Lucky Jefferson is constantly changing and adapting to the current pulse of publishing so it makes sense that our spirit animal would be a chameleon. We’re eclectic and so full of life and creativity.
What is Lucky Jefferson’s favorite issue?
That’s a tough one! Our favorite issue might be Introspection. It’s the most mature issue we’ve put out and it’s all about nature and organic relationships and how they affect our daily lives. The art in Introspection is also some of our favorite to date, especially having been designed by a number of art students that have since graduated from our Literary Illustrator Internship Program.
Define Lucky Jefferson’sfavorite genre of literature.
It’s a tie between absurdist, speculative, and gothic literature.
Total number of authors published to date?
238—4 print issues and 3 digital collections.
What’s your largest issue to date?
We published 43 authors for our issue Exposed.
Lucky Jefferson’s biggest pet peeve?
When it’s clear someone hasn’t become besties with our Submit page. We call it the holy grail of everything you need to know when submitting to us and sometimes it just doesn’t get enough love.
We also find it odd that some people submit to journals for sport or just to receive a rejection (there are “rejection challenges” where authors strive to get 100 submissions in a year). We find these challenges or goals a little problematic at times because, from an editor’s perspective, it encourages authors to submit work ‘just because’ which we find disrespectful of our time and energy as a journal and literary community.
There’s nothing wrong with a little fun and games, but we love it when people actually want to be a part of what we do. Journals have feelings too!
What about Lucky Jefferson’s unique social media art?
We try to make sure each published work has supplementary artwork that represents and visually communicates the narrative at hand. We’re a pretty ambitious journal and while we don’t promise or guarantee this, it’s certainly something we strive for!
One of Lucky Jefferson’s dreams?
We’d like to open up a gallery where people can enjoy poetry and art in real-time. We’d also like to branch out and dig even deeper into the art and music scene. Maybe an artsy podcast of sorts!
Looking for a spooky read? A cozy mystery? Something historical?
Otherwords Press is an award-winning independent press with a love of history, mystery, and more. Otherwords was originally founded as Dark Ink Press in 2016, launching authors such as Sheena MacLeod (Reign of the Marionettes), P.A. Turner (Comes the Dark), and Conner McAleese (The Goose Mistress). Otherwords is also home to Douglas Debelak’s Ghostwriter series and Michael Walsh’s romp through the French wine trade (Spilt Wine). This year, Otherwords takes the plunge into nonfiction with the release of Joseph Langlois’ A Brief History of Taunton State Hospital and the Massachusetts Farm Bureau’s collection of Massachusetts Century Farms. These two volumes join Dee Michel’s seminal work Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love ‘The Wizard of Oz’, a best seller for three years running.
Fall fiction includes the second in Ed Farrell’s Angel series. Clergyman Mickey Powell is back in Snow Angel, the follow up to Farrell’s smash debut, White Angel. In the midst of a retreat in the middle of the woods, one of Powell’s students is found dead, coated in snow and staring up to the heavens. Powell is convinced there is more to the scene than local law enforcement is willing to acknowledge but what will it take to get them to listen?
If you’re looking for a good coming of age novel, Westfield State University senior Lindsay Stenico’s debut, The Assignment, follows high school student Sammi as she navigates an unexpected relationship amidst family turmoil and teenaged introspection.
Check out our entire catalog where you’re sure to find your next favorite book!
Activist and author Frederick Joseph speaks directly as a friend to the teen or young adult reader in his new book The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person. This book, published by BBF sponsor Candlewick Press, is for white readers who are committed to furthering anti-racism action and thinking by providing them with reflections on his personal experiences with racism, and also features conversations and anecdotes from prominent artists and activists. We sat down with Frederick Joseph to learn more about this much-needed new book, which will be published on December 1 and is available for pre-order now.
How did you come to write this book?
I felt there was a gap in the anti-racism space. We have phenomenal books that give context and history about global racism, but not much exists that is meant to resonate with young people. I wanted to write something that wasn’t as simple as “racism bad,” but rather explain how racism manifests through real world experiences. The goal is to build not only understanding, but empathy as well.
Why did you choose to write it for a YA/teen audience, and what do you hope readers will take away from it?
I chose to write for the YA/teen audience because I honestly feel young people are better at being open to new ideas and actually letting them influence who they are.
Which aspects of your conversations with artists and activists most surprised you?
I think I was most surprised by how universal our problematic experiences and traumas were.
For the past two years, it’s been wonderful to collaborate with the Museum of African American History and the MAAH Stone Book Award on a BBF session featuring the scholarship of award winners and nominees. This year’s session, set for Saturday, October 17 at 3pm ET, features four notable historians—Vincent Brown, Jelani M. Favors, Garrett Felber, and Kerri Greenidge—in conversation about their work with one of last year’s finalists, Kelli Carter Jackson. This discussion follows the award ceremony, set this year for Thursday, October 15, with free registration available now. We sat down with Pamela Waterman, director of the MAAH Stone Book Award, to talk about the background of the award and its place within the larger work of the museum.
What does the MAAH Stone Book Award mean at the Museum of African American History, and how do you select your winners?
The book award is an opportunity for the museum to inspire future scholarship in the field of African American history and culture in a very focused way. Each year we award $25,000 to the winner and $5,000 to two finalists for exceptional new nonfiction writing in the field. In addition to expanding the existing literature, our hope is that the winning books also engage the community and spark dialogue within and between different groups. Our winner and finalists are selected each year by an amazing panel of three jurors who read all of the submitted books, select a short list of nine, and then chose the winner and two finalists from there.
Tell us a little more about the 2020 award winner, Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism by Jelani M. Favors.
Jelani Favors is a brilliant young scholar on the faculty at Clayton State University in Georgia. His book is a history of historically black colleges (HBCUs) from 1837 to the present with a focus on how these institutions shaped generations of politicians, community leaders, reformers, and activists. One shining example of this is Kamala Harris who is a very proud graduate of Howard University.
What does working with the BBF mean to the MAAH?
We’re thrilled to be able to sponsor a session at the BBF where we can feature our authors and their work and share them with a larger audience! Each year, our session includes at least one of our winners from the prior year. This year, our panel comprises last year’s finalist Kellie Carter Jackson, this year’s winner Jelani M. Favors, and three other dynamic authors whose works were also nominated for the prize this year.
How can the Boston community get involved with the MAAH Stone Book Award?
We only have room for about 200 when we hold the event in-person at the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill, however since we’re virtual this year, everyone can come! Register for the event, which will be on October 15th @ 6:30pm here: bit.ly/maahstonebookaward2020. We also sponsor an author talk with our winning author at the Boston Public Library the day after our event — October 16th @ 3pm — and you can register for that on the BPL website (www.bpl.org). Also, feel free to visit the museum at 46 Joy Street when it reopens to check out our latest exhibit. You can buy all of our winning books at the gift shop too!
Are there any other BBF events you are particularly excited about?
Lucky us—we have Callie Crossley as host and discussant at our award event on October 15th, so of course we’re very excited about her under the radar book club session with Natasha Tretheway on October 4th!
The following Q&A was conducted with Jazz, a Partner on the youth team at More Than Words (MTW), a social enterprise that empowers youth ages 16–24 who are court-involved, in the foster care system, out-of-school, or homeless to take charge of their lives by assuming responsibility of a business. Youth at MTW earn a job working 20–30 hours each week while simultaneously participating in youth development programming. After 6–12 months, young people graduate into the Career Services program, where they receive two years of additional support pursuing education and employment.
What is MTW doing to stay engaged with important conversations about disadvantaged youths in Boston?
MTW helps to stay engaged by talking about what is going on in the world. I joined the Power is Yours workshop. This workshop focused on Raise the Age and MTW advocacy to raise the age of the juvenile justice system from 18 to 22. We talked about how people, especially those of color, are being locked up at a young age. You can support this work too. Check out the Raise The Age webpage to learn more.
How do the youth you employ get involved with the bookselling and publishing aspects of MTW? What do they find the most rewarding or challenging?
At MTW youth collect donated books. We sort them out and scan them to see how they can be sold online. Once a book is sold, we find it on the shelves, scan it, weigh it, print a label, and package the book to send out.
My favorite thing about working at MTW is that I can actually do something during the day that I like. It is one of the jobs I look forward to, and I can actually have a good time. I feel a part of the little family. I like shipping books and receiving orders. On the You Job [MTW’s youth development program] I like talking to my YD about everything that is going on in my life because I actually connect with her.
What other businesses and nonprofit organizations do you partner with? How are partnerships important to the work you do?
We partner with many businesses and nonprofits. MTW works with schools, shelters, and public agencies to provide referrals of youth and to provide resources to young people. We also partner with local businesses for donation drives, volunteer events, and social enterprises throughout the country, whose products we sell online.
How can Boston youth get involved with More Than Words?
Boston youth can get in contact with MTW to talk with a manager, set up an interview, and apply for work on ourwebsite.
How can others get involved with your organization?
You can get involved with MTW and show support by spreading the word about the work that we do, donating books, money, or clothing, or volunteering at one of our two sites.
You can check out opportunities to get involvedhere.
The poems of award-winning poet Yona Harvey’s much anticipated You Don’t Have to Go to Mars for Love follow an unnamed protagonist on her multidimensional, Afro-futuristic journey.
A reflective look at the legacy of institutional, accepted violence against Blacks and Latinos and the personal and societal wreckage wrought by long histories of subjugation.
In his electric debut collection, Maldonado bends poems through bilingual lyrics that present spartan observation as evidence for its exacting verdict, “We never leave when life is elsewhere. The clemency of men disappears / as does the light, tarring the roofs.”
Pavlić’s lyric lines are equal parts introspection and inter-spection, a term he coins for the shared rumination that encourages a collective “deep think” about the arbitrary boundaries that perpetuate racial and geographic segregation and the power of words to transcend those differences.
Lippman’s poems are wildly inventive yet grounded in the 21st century dailyness of parenting and dinner parties and Dunkin Donuts, all of which serve as launch pads into perennial questions of mercy and trust.
“Because it is easier to miss a stranger / with your mother’s name,” Allison Benis White instead writes about five women named Wendy as a way into the complex grief that still lingers after the death of a sixth Wendy, the author’s long-absent mother.
The characters inhabiting Buttenwieser’s debut story collection stand at the margin of society, often perched on the knife’s edge of economic disaster.
These poems consider how one becomes the parent of another when their own uncertainties, their own wounds — intergenerationally from war, from strained race relations, from constantly being denied a place to belong — are still healing.
Whether observing nature with steadfast precision or sensing the presence of his absent father while doing chores, Harrison sings the songs of experience in late middle life.
Greenberg hauls out what has previously been stored under dark counters and labeled deviant—kink, fetish, and bondage— and moves it into the sunshine of sex-positivity and mutual consent.
This week, we had the opportunity to speak with Sailaja Joshi, founder of Mangold & Marigold Press.
Could you tell us about why you started Bharat Babies? What gap did you see?
With the impending birth of my first child, I was searching for books about my Indian culture. Upon reading the few stories that existed, I realized that many of them were inappropriate or worse, insensitive.
Knowing the power of representation, I decided that I would not raise my daughter in a world where she wouldn’t see herself on the cover of a book as the hero. So with my sister and a close friend, we set out to change home libraries. The first book we released was Hanuman and the Orange Sun. And WOW did we see some magic with kids seeing themselves firsthand.
Since we were founded in 2015, the state of diverse books has improved but there’s still a long way to go to close this diversity gap. In 2018, 50% of books depicted white kids and 27% featured animals or others leaving the remaining 23% to be divided between characters of diverse backgrounds. We are a company dedicated to closing this diversity gap and we won’t stop!
Could you talk about the name change from Bharat Babies to Mango & Marigold?
Bharat Babies started as a small, mission-driven boutique publishing house and turned into a movement. With award-winning books across multiple categories, features in national media and international tv, we’ve helped to showcase the importance of diversity in children’s literature and make a stand for representation.
When we started, our vision was to share the stories of our home, our heritage, of India. It’s why we selected our name Bharat Babies, to reflect the home of our families and the community we were trying to reach. But over the past few years, we’ve quickly realized just how much more work needs to be done. We’ve realized that the stories of the entire South Asian experience need to be told. Stories that go beyond the borders of India. Stories that go beyond childhood.
After nearly two years of reflection and conversations, our team decided to make a change to our name. A change that will reflect our broader mission and vision behind our brand. A change that reflects our path forward.
So in January 2020, Bharat Babies transitioned to the name Mango and Marigold Press, an award-winning independent publishing house that shares the sweet and savory stories of the South Asian experience.
With a new look, a new tagline, our vision is to continue to share the stories of the South Asian experience, expanding beyond children’s literature to the likes of middle grade, young adult, and more. In addition, we expand our borders beyond those of India to include countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, and more.
What makes your press unique?
Our books open up the world, reflecting a broader picture of the world at large. Even in 2020, the number of books that feature non-white characters is shockingly low. We aim to close not only the diversity gap but also the accessibility gap. In 2019, we founded our #1001DiverseBooks initiative. Members of the community sponsor our new release books for just $10 and that copy is donated to nonprofit and literacy advocacy organizations who then get these books into the hands of those who need them the most.
When you buy a Mango & Marigold Press book you ensure that every child sees themselves as the hero of their story. When children see themselves in the ordinary and extraordinary, they realize that anything is possible.
Could you tell us some highlights from the last year?
Oh wow! We have had such an exciting year with starting our #1001DiverseBooks campaign, rebranding, and officially releasing our very first young adult anthology, untold: defining moments of the uprooted, and middle grade novel,Rea and the Blood of the Nectar. We have so many more books that are coming and we can’t wait to share them with the world! are in the process of rolling out more middle grade and young adult content.
Our #1001DiverseBooks initiative is the heartbeat of our expanded mission to bridge both the accessibility and diversity gap within children (and young adult) literature by providing new, high quality diverse books in underserved communities. We launched this initiative with our 14th book Finding Om and reached their goal of raising funds for 1001 books in just five short days.
What are you looking forward to with Mango & Marigold in 2021?
OH MAN! SO MANY INCREDIBLE THINGS! I still cannot believe that this year we will be celebrating the sixth anniversary of Mango and Marigold Press. Stay tuned as we have a lot of wonderful scripts coming out, and I’m so honored to be a part of that wonderful, exciting process. I also love how so many amazing new, Desi mompreneurs have come onto the scene and it makes my heart so so happy to see us paving such a wonderful path forward for our children.
I would like to see my team change the world. No, that’s too proud and broad. Or actually, on second thought, not too proud. I truly believe that there is so much power in literature to create meaningful conversations about diversity at all ages and this will change the world!
In this Q&A, we spoke with Meg Kearney, Founding Director, and Quintin Collins, Assistant Director, at Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program.
What exactly is a Master of Fine Arts degree, and why do I need one?
It’s the terminal degree necessary for those who wish to teach at the college level. Most of our students want to earn an MFA for three reasons: community, networking opportunities, and—this is the main one—to become the strongest writers they can be.
What concentrations do you offer?
Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and writing for young people. We are also building a cohort to start our comics & graphic narratives concentration in summer/fall 2021.
What does “low-residency” mean, and what are the benefits of a low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program?
It means you don’t need to move to Boston to earn your degree. Our students want to learn not only the craft of writing but also how to make writing and reading a regular practice alongside life’s other obligations. During our two-year program, students attend five 10-day residencies, then work 1:1 with a mentor each semester. By graduation, they have a craft foundation, an understanding of how to publish their work, and a supportive community of fellow writers, many of whom become lifelong friends.
What makes the Solstice MFA Program different from other low-residency programs out there?
Our community. You’d be hard-pressed to find a friendlier, more supportive group. And from our founding in 2006, we’ve been dedicated to a diverse faculty of world-class writers who love to teach—in a setting intimate enough to have real conversations. We’ve found that intimacy exists even when our residencies are virtual because of COVID! Our Pedagogy Track also sets us apart. There’s more—writers should contact us to learn more.
Say more about how you encourage cross-genre work.
We certainly encourage students to take craft classes across genres during our residencies. Also, students may focus on a completely different genre in semester two than they did in semester one. Writers who have an MFA can check out our Post-Grad Programs to study in another genre.
You say you support diverse voices. How?
By featuring a diverse faculty. Solstice also offers Fellowships and our Writers Helping Writers Scholarships. Plus, our flexible schedule enables students to complete our program at a pace best suited to them.
What is a typical residency like/how is it structured?
Virtual or on-campus, the basic schedule is the same: students spend three hours a day in workshop. They fill the rest of the time with craft classes, elective sessions (including publishing-related events), and readings. By day seven, students receive mentor assignments and begin creating their semester plans.
Because of COVID-19, you held a virtual residency in July 2020. How did that go? Will you go virtual again this winter 2021?
We went virtual, and we waived our application fee because of the economic stress most are under. The virtual residency went smoothly; we were all surprised by how intimate Zoom can feel. We ensured that everyone felt comfortable with the technology. So yes, we’ll be virtual again this winter; it’s best for everyone’s health and safety.
How much contact do I have with my mentors?
Quite a lot. Often, they are your workshop leaders. When on campus, students and faculty typically share meals and attend readings and social events together. Students and mentors then exchange packets once a month. By the end of the semester, students have a treasure-trove of written feedback.
So students send five packets to their mentor during each semester—please say more about that?
Year one, packets are a combination of the students’ creative work plus short craft essays based on what they’re reading. During semester three, students write a critical thesis, also craft-based—or pedagogy based if the student is in our Pedagogy Track. In semester four, students complete their creative thesis—say, a full-length collection of poems or short stories or the first 130 to 150 polished pages of a novel or memoir.
That’s the second mention you’ve made of the Pedagogy Track. What is that, exactly?
The Pedagogy Track gives students training to teach at the college level—at no extra charge. As one of the few low-residency programs to offer this Track, Solstice gives its grads a leg up as they seek work in higher education.
How would you describe the typical Solstice MFA Program student?
They hail from 15 different states and beyond and range in age from 22 to 60-plus. Their backgrounds are as various as their geographic locations! But they all share a passion for the written word and seek a community that is friendly, open-minded, and supportive.
How do you support students financially?
Through Fellowships and our Writers Helping Writers Scholarships, which are need-based. And we keep our tuition and fees low—Solstice is quite competitive in that regard compared to most other low-residency MFA programs.
How do you support students academically?
Our community is purposely small; students get lots of individual attention. Workshops are kept to ten or fewer; our student-to-mentor ratio is 5:1. And we offer students myriad resources. Again, writers should contact us to learn more.
How do you support your alumni?
We love our alums, and they love us, too! We write them monthly, feature an alumni event at every residency, crow about them in our e-newsletter and on social media, and offer a “grad buddy” program to help see new alums through those first post-graduation months. Our alumni also organize a reading at every annual AWP conference.
You mentioned a post-grad program and a certificates—say a bit more?
People take advantage of our Post-Grad Semester when they’re working to complete a manuscript. Our Post-Grad Certificate enables writers to study for one year on a genre other than the one they concentrated on as students. Both are open to anyone with an MFA.
How do your alumni fare in the publishing and academic job market?
While a number of them are landing teaching jobs, 30 percenthave published at least one book since graduation. That amazing statistic covers many genres: books of poetry, memoirs, short story collections, and novels for adults and for young people.
Is there anything new in the works that you’d like to mention?
We’re excited about the Writing Social Justice Track launching in 2021. It’s going to be like nothing else, and we can’t think of a more crucial time to offer this sort of programming.
Game Over Books is a small Boston-based press run by nerdy artists. Our mission? Print unique books from diverse voices that push creative writing forward into the Next Level. From acceptance to publication, we give continual guidance to emerging writers as they continue to gain experience points, grow their craft, and navigate the world of publishing.
We are so excited to be a part of the 2020 Boston Book Festival and want to thank the festival staff for hosting this necessary virtual space!
I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty: A Playable Chapbook
I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty is a poetic and artistic collaboration among four bipolar poets and a bipolar poet/illustrator resulting in a functional 52-card playing card deck. A standard card deck (ex: the classic Bicycle Poker Deck) contains four suits: hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds. I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty follows the same format. Each of the four poets is given a suit in which their poem is written across.
All of the cards and deck boxes will be sized like standard poker cards: 2.5″ x 3.5″.
The cards are printed in color on both sides and feature custom artwork from Catherine Weiss. The backs of the cards will all be uniform, but the faces of the cards are individually designed with an illustration and one line from a featured poet’s poem.
Living with bipolar disorder is often full of surprising juxtapositions. Mania can cause thoughts to make unexpected connections. Depression can bring confusion and a sense of distant unreality. Every line of every poem in I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty is designed to be a stand-alone thought or image, read as part of its whole poem, or combined in unexpected ways with cards from other suits. Playing a game of cards with this deck creates opportunities for poetic fragments to offer up an ever-shifting found poem, which echoes the experience of living with extreme mood-states.
Any game you can play with a standard 52-card deck, you will be able to play with I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty. For more information, click here.
Sana Sana by Ariana Brown
“I am thankful to once again be witness to these poems that welcome and make space for the people who most need it. And for how Ariana Brown sets a lens on the world that is critical, but always caring.” —Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Fortune for Your Disaster
After ten years of performing her spoken word poetry, Ariana Brown gathers her favorite poems to return to in her chapbook Sana Sana. With a tender and critical voice, she explores Black girlhood, the possibilities of queerness, finding your people, and trying to survive capitalism. All are explored as acts of different kinds of love—for self, for lovers, for family, for community. Brown’s collection refuses singularity, insisting on the specificity of her own life and studies. As she writes toward her own healing, Brown asks readers to participate in the ceremony by serving as witnesses. Sana Sana, colita de rana, si no sana hoy, sana en la mañana.
“Dena Igusti is a poet of undying urgency – this is a bold, heart-shattering chapbook debut.” —George Abraham, author of Birthright (Button Poetry)
In a post-colonial world shaped by what is and what will be lost, what is there left to celebrate? In Dena Igusti’s debut collection CUT WOMAN, Dena is overwhelmed by the loss of her people. The loss includes but is not limited to: the deaths of Muslims around the world due to xenophobia and Islamophobia; the deaths of Indonesians as a result of post-colonialism, state violence, environmental racism, and overall media negligence due to the world prioritizing white people over her own; the mortality of friends, lovers, and family from economic disparity and gentrification in New York City; the loss of her body that could’ve been her body if she didn’t undergo female genital mutilation. She knows that one day, her time will be up too. Rather than stay in mourning, however, She tries to turn these wakes, both current and future, into the biggest celebrations of her life.
“we get to meet bodega cats, and Ariana Grande, her family and her loves, but most importantly we get to meet gigi: wholly human and wholly herself. this book is as tender as it is fierce, and will be opened like a gift by the hearts of so many.” —Andrea Gibson, author of Pansy and Take Me With You
Big Feelings is a grand tour of love and loss, femininity, and the nuances inherent in the simple messiness of just being alive. Bella masterfully works within the ambiguity of feelings that do not ever truly end, of what it feels like to be a ghost within those feelings, and she guides the reader through the origin point of every haunting. She navigates the tragedies of heartbreak, the experience of brown girlhood, the loneliness ingrained within artists, and the courage it takes to get back up again even when it feels like you have already died many times before. With compassion and much needed humor, Big Feelings allows us the necessary space to be alone with one another.
“Yet this is a collection wrought, too, with something like hope—something, at least, like the belief that new names might grow in the old one’s place.” —Franny Choi, author of Soft Science
Heavier Than Wait is a tender guide to a queer experience in mental illness. Evander challenges the idea that apathy equals stability through her exploration of dysmorphia and dissociation in mental health. Here, the body is not just a thing of flesh, but a being filled with possibility and bound by tangibility. Using hypertext, memory, and interrogation of truth, Evander showcases the pains and hopes of healing.
“These poems circle the unknown until we recognize it as already part of us. I read them & feel smaller than I realized I was, but what a gift to find the known universe granular as it travels through Pierce’s lens, at once exploding & perfected by attention. Here, the vocabulary of particle physics, of math, of medicine, of humility, of grief, of orbit, is a limitless love language we all have in common.” —Emily O’Neill, author of a falling knife has no handle
The Visible Planets is a celebration and a eulogy of galactic proportions. Simultaneously an exploration of universal joy and the mourning of a lost sister, Aly Pierce’s The Visible Planets is a reminder of all the beauty in this fleeting life. Utilizing the cosmos and its celestial bodies, Pierce exposes the juxtaposing starlight and black holes inherent in every human. Along the way the reader will meet a colorful cast of characters including Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, and Phobos who all have their own flaws, insecurities, and desires just like any body in this universe would. The Visible Planets request the reader to love as deeply as they can while they have the time and space because eventually every star must fade no matter how bright it is.
You can find all of our titles and projects at gameoverbooks.com. If you are a bookseller, librarian, or an educator, you can contact SPD Books (johnny@spdbooks.org) for information on ordering and discounts.
Today’s blog post was contributed by Leora Zeitlin, co-director of Zephyr Press.
Towards the end of her life, Anna Akhmatova wrote:
What is lurking in the mirror? Grief.
What is stirring beyond the wall? Calamity.
Having lived through the violent upheavals of the Russian Revolution, two world wars, and the Stalinist terror, she had chronicled both her personal grief and calamities, and those of Russia, in more than eight hundred poems. Her early poems, often expressing anguished love, inspired a generation of Russians in the years before World War I. Later, refusing to leave the Soviet Union, she gave voice to the suffering of all of Russia.
Seventeen years after her death in 1966, a proposal to publish her complete poems arrived at the fledgling Zephyr Press in Somerville, Massachusetts. Poet Judith Hemschemeyer had already spent a decade translating Akhmatova’s poems before her friend and colleague Susan Gubernat—one of five editors then at Zephyr—presented them to us. We were young and audacious enough to think we could undertake this massive task: publish what would become a 1,600-page, two-volume, bilingual edition that would be the first of its kind in either Russian or English.
No one imagined that preparing the first edition would take seven years. Zephyr editor Ed Hogan spearheaded the project, coordinating myriad details to create, finance, and design the encyclopedic edition. We enlisted Dr. Roberta Reeder, a scholar at Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Center, who became the book’s overall editor, wrote a 160-page introduction, and compiled notes to the poems. British philosopher and historian Isaiah Berlin gave us permission to reprint his famous essay about his few but fateful conversations with Akhmatova between 1945 and 1965. Two of Akhmatova’s protégés, Dmitry Bobyshev and Anatoly Naiman, provided invaluable feedback on the manuscript and information about the poet. Numerous others were involved. In March 1990, The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova was published to immediate acclaim. Two years later, we published an English-only, single-volume edition.
Several tragedies befell the project, most notably the death of Ed Hogan in 1997. Diverse factors sustained it. Thirty years later, the book remains in print and Akhmatova’s fame as one of the twentieth century’s greatest poets continues to grow. To honor our book’s 30th anniversary, Zephyr Press has planned two events in one weekend:
Saturday, October 17, 1:30 EDT: As part of the Boston Book Festival, Zephyr co-editors Jim Kates and Leora Zeitlin, and former editor Susan Gubernat, will present a reading of Akhmatova’s poems—chosen by translator Judith Hemschemeyer —and a discussion about The Complete Poems.
Sunday, October 18 (time TBA): Zephyr will present a dramatic reading online of The Akhmatova Journals, a play by Ginger Lazarus based on the journals kept by Akhmatova’s associate, Lydia Chukovskaya. Through conversations between the two women and poems—notably from Akhmatova’s monumental “Requiem”—the play dramatizes the terror, anguish, poverty, and losses they experienced under Stalin. Actresses Lisa Bostnar and Gillian Mackay-Smith will perform. Full details will be posted at zephyrpress.org.
Fun Facts About Lucky Jefferson Magazine
When was Lucky Jefferson Founded?
We’d like to think that Lucky Jefferson was spiritually born during a text message conversation with a good friend of ours. In that conversation, a typo occurred and the words Lucky Jefferson was born. Our founder saved the typo in a note on her phone and little did she realize, she’d use that typo a few years later to start Lucky Jefferson.
So our official founding occurred sometime in 2018 and our first issue Testament was produced and published in print in the winter of 2019.
If Lucky Jefferson was an animal, what would that be?
Lucky Jefferson is constantly changing and adapting to the current pulse of publishing so it makes sense that our spirit animal would be a chameleon. We’re eclectic and so full of life and creativity.
What is Lucky Jefferson’s favorite issue?
That’s a tough one! Our favorite issue might be Introspection. It’s the most mature issue we’ve put out and it’s all about nature and organic relationships and how they affect our daily lives. The art in Introspection is also some of our favorite to date, especially having been designed by a number of art students that have since graduated from our Literary Illustrator Internship Program.
Define Lucky Jefferson’s favorite genre of literature.
It’s a tie between absurdist, speculative, and gothic literature.
Total number of authors published to date?
238—4 print issues and 3 digital collections.
What’s your largest issue to date?
We published 43 authors for our issue Exposed.
Lucky Jefferson’s biggest pet peeve?
When it’s clear someone hasn’t become besties with our Submit page. We call it the holy grail of everything you need to know when submitting to us and sometimes it just doesn’t get enough love.
We also find it odd that some people submit to journals for sport or just to receive a rejection (there are “rejection challenges” where authors strive to get 100 submissions in a year). We find these challenges or goals a little problematic at times because, from an editor’s perspective, it encourages authors to submit work ‘just because’ which we find disrespectful of our time and energy as a journal and literary community.
There’s nothing wrong with a little fun and games, but we love it when people actually want to be a part of what we do. Journals have feelings too!
What about Lucky Jefferson’s unique social media art?
We try to make sure each published work has supplementary artwork that represents and visually communicates the narrative at hand. We’re a pretty ambitious journal and while we don’t promise or guarantee this, it’s certainly something we strive for!
One of Lucky Jefferson’s dreams?
We’d like to open up a gallery where people can enjoy poetry and art in real-time. We’d also like to branch out and dig even deeper into the art and music scene. Maybe an artsy podcast of sorts!
Check out Lucky Jefferson here.
Header image credit: Janine Liu.
Otherwords Press – Spooky reads and more
Looking for a spooky read? A cozy mystery? Something historical?
Otherwords Press is an award-winning independent press with a love of history, mystery, and more. Otherwords was originally founded as Dark Ink Press in 2016, launching authors such as Sheena MacLeod (Reign of the Marionettes), P.A. Turner (Comes the Dark), and Conner McAleese (The Goose Mistress). Otherwords is also home to Douglas Debelak’s Ghostwriter series and Michael Walsh’s romp through the French wine trade (Spilt Wine). This year, Otherwords takes the plunge into nonfiction with the release of Joseph Langlois’ A Brief History of Taunton State Hospital and the Massachusetts Farm Bureau’s collection of Massachusetts Century Farms. These two volumes join Dee Michel’s seminal work Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love ‘The Wizard of Oz’, a best seller for three years running.
Fall fiction includes the second in Ed Farrell’s Angel series. Clergyman Mickey Powell is back in Snow Angel, the follow up to Farrell’s smash debut, White Angel. In the midst of a retreat in the middle of the woods, one of Powell’s students is found dead, coated in snow and staring up to the heavens. Powell is convinced there is more to the scene than local law enforcement is willing to acknowledge but what will it take to get them to listen?
If you’re looking for a good coming of age novel, Westfield State University senior Lindsay Stenico’s debut, The Assignment, follows high school student Sammi as she navigates an unexpected relationship amidst family turmoil and teenaged introspection.
Check out our entire catalog where you’re sure to find your next favorite book!
Q&A with Frederick Joseph, author of The Black Friend
Activist and author Frederick Joseph speaks directly as a friend to the teen or young adult reader in his new book The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person. This book, published by BBF sponsor Candlewick Press, is for white readers who are committed to furthering anti-racism action and thinking by providing them with reflections on his personal experiences with racism, and also features conversations and anecdotes from prominent artists and activists. We sat down with Frederick Joseph to learn more about this much-needed new book, which will be published on December 1 and is available for pre-order now.
How did you come to write this book?
I felt there was a gap in the anti-racism space. We have phenomenal books that give context and history about global racism, but not much exists that is meant to resonate with young people. I wanted to write something that wasn’t as simple as “racism bad,” but rather explain how racism manifests through real world experiences. The goal is to build not only understanding, but empathy as well.
Why did you choose to write it for a YA/teen audience, and what do you hope readers will take away from it?
I chose to write for the YA/teen audience because I honestly feel young people are better at being open to new ideas and actually letting them influence who they are.
Which aspects of your conversations with artists and activists most surprised you?
I think I was most surprised by how universal our problematic experiences and traumas were.
Can you talk about the connections between your online campaigns, such as the Black Panther Challenge and Rent Relief, and this book?
The connection is simply trying to help people and do the right thing.
The Black Friend will be published on December 1 and is available for pre-order now.
Q&A with Pamela Waterman, director of the MAAH Stone Book Award
For the past two years, it’s been wonderful to collaborate with the Museum of African American History and the MAAH Stone Book Award on a BBF session featuring the scholarship of award winners and nominees. This year’s session, set for Saturday, October 17 at 3pm ET, features four notable historians—Vincent Brown, Jelani M. Favors, Garrett Felber, and Kerri Greenidge—in conversation about their work with one of last year’s finalists, Kelli Carter Jackson. This discussion follows the award ceremony, set this year for Thursday, October 15, with free registration available now. We sat down with Pamela Waterman, director of the MAAH Stone Book Award, to talk about the background of the award and its place within the larger work of the museum.
What does the MAAH Stone Book Award mean at the Museum of African American History, and how do you select your winners?
The book award is an opportunity for the museum to inspire future scholarship in the field of African American history and culture in a very focused way. Each year we award $25,000 to the winner and $5,000 to two finalists for exceptional new nonfiction writing in the field. In addition to expanding the existing literature, our hope is that the winning books also engage the community and spark dialogue within and between different groups. Our winner and finalists are selected each year by an amazing panel of three jurors who read all of the submitted books, select a short list of nine, and then chose the winner and two finalists from there.
Tell us a little more about the 2020 award winner, Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism by Jelani M. Favors.
Jelani Favors is a brilliant young scholar on the faculty at Clayton State University in Georgia. His book is a history of historically black colleges (HBCUs) from 1837 to the present with a focus on how these institutions shaped generations of politicians, community leaders, reformers, and activists. One shining example of this is Kamala Harris who is a very proud graduate of Howard University.
What does working with the BBF mean to the MAAH?
We’re thrilled to be able to sponsor a session at the BBF where we can feature our authors and their work and share them with a larger audience! Each year, our session includes at least one of our winners from the prior year. This year, our panel comprises last year’s finalist Kellie Carter Jackson, this year’s winner Jelani M. Favors, and three other dynamic authors whose works were also nominated for the prize this year.
How can the Boston community get involved with the MAAH Stone Book Award?
We only have room for about 200 when we hold the event in-person at the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill, however since we’re virtual this year, everyone can come! Register for the event, which will be on October 15th @ 6:30pm here: bit.ly/maahstonebookaward2020. We also sponsor an author talk with our winning author at the Boston Public Library the day after our event — October 16th @ 3pm — and you can register for that on the BPL website (www.bpl.org). Also, feel free to visit the museum at 46 Joy Street when it reopens to check out our latest exhibit. You can buy all of our winning books at the gift shop too!
Are there any other BBF events you are particularly excited about?
Lucky us—we have Callie Crossley as host and discussant at our award event on October 15th, so of course we’re very excited about her under the radar book club session with Natasha Tretheway on October 4th!
Q&A with More Than Words
We are pleased to profile fellow Wagner Foundation grantee More Than Words on our blog this week!
The following Q&A was conducted with Jazz, a Partner on the youth team at More Than Words (MTW), a social enterprise that empowers youth ages 16–24 who are court-involved, in the foster care system, out-of-school, or homeless to take charge of their lives by assuming responsibility of a business. Youth at MTW earn a job working 20–30 hours each week while simultaneously participating in youth development programming. After 6–12 months, young people graduate into the Career Services program, where they receive two years of additional support pursuing education and employment.
What is MTW doing to stay engaged with important conversations about disadvantaged youths in Boston?
MTW helps to stay engaged by talking about what is going on in the world. I joined the Power is Yours workshop. This workshop focused on Raise the Age and MTW advocacy to raise the age of the juvenile justice system from 18 to 22. We talked about how people, especially those of color, are being locked up at a young age. You can support this work too. Check out the Raise The Age webpage to learn more.
How do the youth you employ get involved with the bookselling and publishing aspects of MTW? What do they find the most rewarding or challenging?
At MTW youth collect donated books. We sort them out and scan them to see how they can be sold online. Once a book is sold, we find it on the shelves, scan it, weigh it, print a label, and package the book to send out.
My favorite thing about working at MTW is that I can actually do something during the day that I like. It is one of the jobs I look forward to, and I can actually have a good time. I feel a part of the little family. I like shipping books and receiving orders. On the You Job [MTW’s youth development program] I like talking to my YD about everything that is going on in my life because I actually connect with her.
What other businesses and nonprofit organizations do you partner with? How are partnerships important to the work you do?
We partner with many businesses and nonprofits. MTW works with schools, shelters, and public agencies to provide referrals of youth and to provide resources to young people. We also partner with local businesses for donation drives, volunteer events, and social enterprises throughout the country, whose products we sell online.
How can Boston youth get involved with More Than Words?
Boston youth can get in contact with MTW to talk with a manager, set up an interview, and apply for work on our website.
How can others get involved with your organization?
You can get involved with MTW and show support by spreading the word about the work that we do, donating books, money, or clothing, or volunteering at one of our two sites.
You can check out opportunities to get involved here.
14 New Titles From Four Way Books in 2020
Four Way Books is thrilled to publish 14 new, amazing books of poetry and fiction this year:
You Don’t Have to Go to Mars for Love by Yona Harvey (September 2020)
The poems of award-winning poet Yona Harvey’s much anticipated You Don’t Have to Go to Mars for Love follow an unnamed protagonist on her multidimensional, Afro-futuristic journey.
Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry by John Murillo (March 2020)
A reflective look at the legacy of institutional, accepted violence against Blacks and Latinos and the personal and societal wreckage wrought by long histories of subjugation.
The Life Assignment by Ricardo Alberto Maldonado (September 2020)
In his electric debut collection, Maldonado bends poems through bilingual lyrics that present spartan observation as evidence for its exacting verdict, “We never leave when life is elsewhere. The clemency of men disappears / as does the light, tarring the roofs.”
Fantasia for the Man in Blue by Tommye Blount (March 2020)
Blount orchestrates a chorus of distinct, unforgettable voices that speak to the experience of the black, queer body as a site of desire and violence.
Let It Be Broke by Ed Pavlić (March 2020)
Pavlić’s lyric lines are equal parts introspection and inter-spection, a term he coins for the shared rumination that encourages a collective “deep think” about the arbitrary boundaries that perpetuate racial and geographic segregation and the power of words to transcend those differences.
Mesmerizingly Sadly Beautiful by Matthew Lippman (March 2020)
Lippman’s poems are wildly inventive yet grounded in the 21st century dailyness of parenting and dinner parties and Dunkin Donuts, all of which serve as launch pads into perennial questions of mercy and trust.
Guidebooks for the Dead by Cynthia Cruz (March 2020)
Cruz returns to a familiar literary landscape in which a cast of extraordinary women struggle to create amidst violence, addiction, and poverty.
The Wendys by Allison Benis White (March 2020)
“Because it is easier to miss a stranger / with your mother’s name,” Allison Benis White instead writes about five women named Wendy as a way into the complex grief that still lingers after the death of a sixth Wendy, the author’s long-absent mother.
We Were Lucky with the Rain by Susan Buttenwieser (September 2020)
The characters inhabiting Buttenwieser’s debut story collection stand at the margin of society, often perched on the knife’s edge of economic disaster.
Seize by Brian Komei Dempster (September 2020)
These poems consider how one becomes the parent of another when their own uncertainties, their own wounds — intergenerationally from war, from strained race relations, from constantly being denied a place to belong — are still healing.
Between Lakes by Jeffrey Harrison (September 2020)
Whether observing nature with steadfast precision or sensing the presence of his absent father while doing chores, Harrison sings the songs of experience in late middle life.
I Live in the Country & other dirty poems by Arielle Greenberg (March 2020)
Greenberg hauls out what has previously been stored under dark counters and labeled deviant—kink, fetish, and bondage— and moves it into the sunshine of sex-positivity and mutual consent.
The Newest Employee of the Museum of Ruin by Charlie Clark (September 2020)
In this collection, poet Charlie Clark interrogates masculinity, the pastoral, the lasting inheritance of one’s lineage, and the mysterious every day.
The Land of the Dead Is Open for Business by Jacob Strautmann (March 2020)
An extended elegy for Strautmann’s home state of West Virginia and its generations of inhabitants sold out by the false promise of the American Dream.
Learn more about Four Way Books here.
Q&A with Mango & Marigold Press’ Founder, Sailaja Joshi
This week, we had the opportunity to speak with Sailaja Joshi, founder of Mangold & Marigold Press.
Could you tell us about why you started Bharat Babies? What gap did you see?
With the impending birth of my first child, I was searching for books about my Indian culture. Upon reading the few stories that existed, I realized that many of them were inappropriate or worse, insensitive.
Knowing the power of representation, I decided that I would not raise my daughter in a world where she wouldn’t see herself on the cover of a book as the hero. So with my sister and a close friend, we set out to change home libraries. The first book we released was Hanuman and the Orange Sun. And WOW did we see some magic with kids seeing themselves firsthand.
Since we were founded in 2015, the state of diverse books has improved but there’s still a long way to go to close this diversity gap. In 2018, 50% of books depicted white kids and 27% featured animals or others leaving the remaining 23% to be divided between characters of diverse backgrounds. We are a company dedicated to closing this diversity gap and we won’t stop!
Could you talk about the name change from Bharat Babies to Mango & Marigold?
Bharat Babies started as a small, mission-driven boutique publishing house and turned into a movement. With award-winning books across multiple categories, features in national media and international tv, we’ve helped to showcase the importance of diversity in children’s literature and make a stand for representation.
When we started, our vision was to share the stories of our home, our heritage, of India. It’s why we selected our name Bharat Babies, to reflect the home of our families and the community we were trying to reach. But over the past few years, we’ve quickly realized just how much more work needs to be done. We’ve realized that the stories of the entire South Asian experience need to be told. Stories that go beyond the borders of India. Stories that go beyond childhood.
After nearly two years of reflection and conversations, our team decided to make a change to our name. A change that will reflect our broader mission and vision behind our brand. A change that reflects our path forward.
So in January 2020, Bharat Babies transitioned to the name Mango and Marigold Press, an award-winning independent publishing house that shares the sweet and savory stories of the South Asian experience.
With a new look, a new tagline, our vision is to continue to share the stories of the South Asian experience, expanding beyond children’s literature to the likes of middle grade, young adult, and more. In addition, we expand our borders beyond those of India to include countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, and more.
What makes your press unique?
Our books open up the world, reflecting a broader picture of the world at large. Even in 2020, the number of books that feature non-white characters is shockingly low. We aim to close not only the diversity gap but also the accessibility gap. In 2019, we founded our #1001DiverseBooks initiative. Members of the community sponsor our new release books for just $10 and that copy is donated to nonprofit and literacy advocacy organizations who then get these books into the hands of those who need them the most.
When you buy a Mango & Marigold Press book you ensure that every child sees themselves as the hero of their story. When children see themselves in the ordinary and extraordinary, they realize that anything is possible.
Could you tell us some highlights from the last year?
Oh wow! We have had such an exciting year with starting our #1001DiverseBooks campaign, rebranding, and officially releasing our very first young adult anthology, untold: defining moments of the uprooted, and middle grade novel, Rea and the Blood of the Nectar. We have so many more books that are coming and we can’t wait to share them with the world! are in the process of rolling out more middle grade and young adult content.
Our #1001DiverseBooks initiative is the heartbeat of our expanded mission to bridge both the accessibility and diversity gap within children (and young adult) literature by providing new, high quality diverse books in underserved communities. We launched this initiative with our 14th book Finding Om and reached their goal of raising funds for 1001 books in just five short days.
What are you looking forward to with Mango & Marigold in 2021?
OH MAN! SO MANY INCREDIBLE THINGS! I still cannot believe that this year we will be celebrating the sixth anniversary of Mango and Marigold Press. Stay tuned as we have a lot of wonderful scripts coming out, and I’m so honored to be a part of that wonderful, exciting process. I also love how so many amazing new, Desi mompreneurs have come onto the scene and it makes my heart so so happy to see us paving such a wonderful path forward for our children.
I would like to see my team change the world. No, that’s too proud and broad. Or actually, on second thought, not too proud. I truly believe that there is so much power in literature to create meaningful conversations about diversity at all ages and this will change the world!
Learn more at Mango & Marigold Press.
A Q&A with Solstice Low-Residency MFA’s Founding Director
In this Q&A, we spoke with Meg Kearney, Founding Director, and Quintin Collins, Assistant Director, at Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program.
What exactly is a Master of Fine Arts degree, and why do I need one?
It’s the terminal degree necessary for those who wish to teach at the college level. Most of our students want to earn an MFA for three reasons: community, networking opportunities, and—this is the main one—to become the strongest writers they can be.
What concentrations do you offer?
Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and writing for young people. We are also building a cohort to start our comics & graphic narratives concentration in summer/fall 2021.
What does “low-residency” mean, and what are the benefits of a low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program?
It means you don’t need to move to Boston to earn your degree. Our students want to learn not only the craft of writing but also how to make writing and reading a regular practice alongside life’s other obligations. During our two-year program, students attend five 10-day residencies, then work 1:1 with a mentor each semester. By graduation, they have a craft foundation, an understanding of how to publish their work, and a supportive community of fellow writers, many of whom become lifelong friends.
What makes the Solstice MFA Program different from other low-residency programs out there?
Our community. You’d be hard-pressed to find a friendlier, more supportive group. And from our founding in 2006, we’ve been dedicated to a diverse faculty of world-class writers who love to teach—in a setting intimate enough to have real conversations. We’ve found that intimacy exists even when our residencies are virtual because of COVID! Our Pedagogy Track also sets us apart. There’s more—writers should contact us to learn more.
Say more about how you encourage cross-genre work.
We certainly encourage students to take craft classes across genres during our residencies. Also, students may focus on a completely different genre in semester two than they did in semester one. Writers who have an MFA can check out our Post-Grad Programs to study in another genre.
You say you support diverse voices. How?
By featuring a diverse faculty. Solstice also offers Fellowships and our Writers Helping Writers Scholarships. Plus, our flexible schedule enables students to complete our program at a pace best suited to them.
What is a typical residency like/how is it structured?
Virtual or on-campus, the basic schedule is the same: students spend three hours a day in workshop. They fill the rest of the time with craft classes, elective sessions (including publishing-related events), and readings. By day seven, students receive mentor assignments and begin creating their semester plans.
Because of COVID-19, you held a virtual residency in July 2020. How did that go? Will you go virtual again this winter 2021?
We went virtual, and we waived our application fee because of the economic stress most are under. The virtual residency went smoothly; we were all surprised by how intimate Zoom can feel. We ensured that everyone felt comfortable with the technology. So yes, we’ll be virtual again this winter; it’s best for everyone’s health and safety.
How much contact do I have with my mentors?
Quite a lot. Often, they are your workshop leaders. When on campus, students and faculty typically share meals and attend readings and social events together. Students and mentors then exchange packets once a month. By the end of the semester, students have a treasure-trove of written feedback.
So students send five packets to their mentor during each semester—please say more about that?
Year one, packets are a combination of the students’ creative work plus short craft essays based on what they’re reading. During semester three, students write a critical thesis, also craft-based—or pedagogy based if the student is in our Pedagogy Track. In semester four, students complete their creative thesis—say, a full-length collection of poems or short stories or the first 130 to 150 polished pages of a novel or memoir.
That’s the second mention you’ve made of the Pedagogy Track. What is that, exactly?
The Pedagogy Track gives students training to teach at the college level—at no extra charge. As one of the few low-residency programs to offer this Track, Solstice gives its grads a leg up as they seek work in higher education.
How would you describe the typical Solstice MFA Program student?
They hail from 15 different states and beyond and range in age from 22 to 60-plus. Their backgrounds are as various as their geographic locations! But they all share a passion for the written word and seek a community that is friendly, open-minded, and supportive.
How do you support students financially?
Through Fellowships and our Writers Helping Writers Scholarships, which are need-based. And we keep our tuition and fees low—Solstice is quite competitive in that regard compared to most other low-residency MFA programs.
How do you support students academically?
Our community is purposely small; students get lots of individual attention. Workshops are kept to ten or fewer; our student-to-mentor ratio is 5:1. And we offer students myriad resources. Again, writers should contact us to learn more.
How do you support your alumni?
We love our alums, and they love us, too! We write them monthly, feature an alumni event at every residency, crow about them in our e-newsletter and on social media, and offer a “grad buddy” program to help see new alums through those first post-graduation months. Our alumni also organize a reading at every annual AWP conference.
You mentioned a post-grad program and a certificates—say a bit more?
People take advantage of our Post-Grad Semester when they’re working to complete a manuscript. Our Post-Grad Certificate enables writers to study for one year on a genre other than the one they concentrated on as students. Both are open to anyone with an MFA.
How do your alumni fare in the publishing and academic job market?
While a number of them are landing teaching jobs, 30 percent have published at least one book since graduation. That amazing statistic covers many genres: books of poetry, memoirs, short story collections, and novels for adults and for young people.
Is there anything new in the works that you’d like to mention?
We’re excited about the Writing Social Justice Track launching in 2021. It’s going to be like nothing else, and we can’t think of a more crucial time to offer this sort of programming.
To find out more, visit Solstice MFA’s site.
Contact: Meg Kearney, Founding Director & Quintin Collins, Assistant Director
Email: mfa@pmc.edu
Game Over Books: 2020 Titles & Projects
Game Over Books is a small Boston-based press run by nerdy artists. Our mission? Print unique books from diverse voices that push creative writing forward into the Next Level. From acceptance to publication, we give continual guidance to emerging writers as they continue to gain experience points, grow their craft, and navigate the world of publishing.
We are so excited to be a part of the 2020 Boston Book Festival and want to thank the festival staff for hosting this necessary virtual space!
I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty: A Playable Chapbook
I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty is a poetic and artistic collaboration among four bipolar poets and a bipolar poet/illustrator resulting in a functional 52-card playing card deck. A standard card deck (ex: the classic Bicycle Poker Deck) contains four suits: hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds. I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty follows the same format. Each of the four poets is given a suit in which their poem is written across.
All of the cards and deck boxes will be sized like standard poker cards: 2.5″ x 3.5″.
The cards are printed in color on both sides and feature custom artwork from Catherine Weiss. The backs of the cards will all be uniform, but the faces of the cards are individually designed with an illustration and one line from a featured poet’s poem.
Living with bipolar disorder is often full of surprising juxtapositions. Mania can cause thoughts to make unexpected connections. Depression can bring confusion and a sense of distant unreality. Every line of every poem in I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty is designed to be a stand-alone thought or image, read as part of its whole poem, or combined in unexpected ways with cards from other suits. Playing a game of cards with this deck creates opportunities for poetic fragments to offer up an ever-shifting found poem, which echoes the experience of living with extreme mood-states.
Any game you can play with a standard 52-card deck, you will be able to play with I Wish I Wasn’t Royalty. For more information, click here.
Sana Sana by Ariana Brown
“I am thankful to once again be witness to these poems that welcome and make space for the people who most need it. And for how Ariana Brown sets a lens on the world that is critical, but always caring.” —Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Fortune for Your Disaster
After ten years of performing her spoken word poetry, Ariana Brown gathers her favorite poems to return to in her chapbook Sana Sana. With a tender and critical voice, she explores Black girlhood, the possibilities of queerness, finding your people, and trying to survive capitalism. All are explored as acts of different kinds of love—for self, for lovers, for family, for community. Brown’s collection refuses singularity, insisting on the specificity of her own life and studies. As she writes toward her own healing, Brown asks readers to participate in the ceremony by serving as witnesses. Sana Sana, colita de rana, si no sana hoy, sana en la mañana.
For more information, click here.
Cut Woman by Dena Igusti
“Dena Igusti is a poet of undying urgency – this is a bold, heart-shattering chapbook debut.” —George Abraham, author of Birthright (Button Poetry)
In a post-colonial world shaped by what is and what will be lost, what is there left to celebrate? In Dena Igusti’s debut collection CUT WOMAN, Dena is overwhelmed by the loss of her people. The loss includes but is not limited to: the deaths of Muslims around the world due to xenophobia and Islamophobia; the deaths of Indonesians as a result of post-colonialism, state violence, environmental racism, and overall media negligence due to the world prioritizing white people over her own; the mortality of friends, lovers, and family from economic disparity and gentrification in New York City; the loss of her body that could’ve been her body if she didn’t undergo female genital mutilation. She knows that one day, her time will be up too. Rather than stay in mourning, however, She tries to turn these wakes, both current and future, into the biggest celebrations of her life.
For more information, click here.
Big Feelings by Gigi Bella
“we get to meet bodega cats, and Ariana Grande, her family and her loves, but most importantly we get to meet gigi: wholly human and wholly herself. this book is as tender as it is fierce, and will be opened like a gift by the hearts of so many.” —Andrea Gibson, author of Pansy and Take Me With You
Big Feelings is a grand tour of love and loss, femininity, and the nuances inherent in the simple messiness of just being alive. Bella masterfully works within the ambiguity of feelings that do not ever truly end, of what it feels like to be a ghost within those feelings, and she guides the reader through the origin point of every haunting. She navigates the tragedies of heartbreak, the experience of brown girlhood, the loneliness ingrained within artists, and the courage it takes to get back up again even when it feels like you have already died many times before. With compassion and much needed humor, Big Feelings allows us the necessary space to be alone with one another.
For more information, click here.
Heavier Than Wait by Ilyus Evander
“Yet this is a collection wrought, too, with something like hope—something, at least, like the belief that new names might grow in the old one’s place.” —Franny Choi, author of Soft Science
Heavier Than Wait is a tender guide to a queer experience in mental illness. Evander challenges the idea that apathy equals stability through her exploration of dysmorphia and dissociation in mental health. Here, the body is not just a thing of flesh, but a being filled with possibility and bound by tangibility. Using hypertext, memory, and interrogation of truth, Evander showcases the pains and hopes of healing.
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The Visible Planets by Aly Pierce
“These poems circle the unknown until we recognize it as already part of us. I read them & feel smaller than I realized I was, but what a gift to find the known universe granular as it travels through Pierce’s lens, at once exploding & perfected by attention. Here, the vocabulary of particle physics, of math, of medicine, of humility, of grief, of orbit, is a limitless love language we all have in common.” —Emily O’Neill, author of a falling knife has no handle
The Visible Planets is a celebration and a eulogy of galactic proportions. Simultaneously an exploration of universal joy and the mourning of a lost sister, Aly Pierce’s The Visible Planets is a reminder of all the beauty in this fleeting life. Utilizing the cosmos and its celestial bodies, Pierce exposes the juxtaposing starlight and black holes inherent in every human. Along the way the reader will meet a colorful cast of characters including Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, and Phobos who all have their own flaws, insecurities, and desires just like any body in this universe would. The Visible Planets request the reader to love as deeply as they can while they have the time and space because eventually every star must fade no matter how bright it is.
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Weave Me a Wreath of White Roses: 30 Years of Publishing Anna Akhmatova in English
Today’s blog post was contributed by Leora Zeitlin, co-director of Zephyr Press.
Towards the end of her life, Anna Akhmatova wrote:
What is lurking in the mirror? Grief.
What is stirring beyond the wall? Calamity.
Having lived through the violent upheavals of the Russian Revolution, two world wars, and the Stalinist terror, she had chronicled both her personal grief and calamities, and those of Russia, in more than eight hundred poems. Her early poems, often expressing anguished love, inspired a generation of Russians in the years before World War I. Later, refusing to leave the Soviet Union, she gave voice to the suffering of all of Russia.
Seventeen years after her death in 1966, a proposal to publish her complete poems arrived at the fledgling Zephyr Press in Somerville, Massachusetts. Poet Judith Hemschemeyer had already spent a decade translating Akhmatova’s poems before her friend and colleague Susan Gubernat—one of five editors then at Zephyr—presented them to us. We were young and audacious enough to think we could undertake this massive task: publish what would become a 1,600-page, two-volume, bilingual edition that would be the first of its kind in either Russian or English.
No one imagined that preparing the first edition would take seven years. Zephyr editor Ed Hogan spearheaded the project, coordinating myriad details to create, finance, and design the encyclopedic edition. We enlisted Dr. Roberta Reeder, a scholar at Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Center, who became the book’s overall editor, wrote a 160-page introduction, and compiled notes to the poems. British philosopher and historian Isaiah Berlin gave us permission to reprint his famous essay about his few but fateful conversations with Akhmatova between 1945 and 1965. Two of Akhmatova’s protégés, Dmitry Bobyshev and Anatoly Naiman, provided invaluable feedback on the manuscript and information about the poet. Numerous others were involved. In March 1990, The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova was published to immediate acclaim. Two years later, we published an English-only, single-volume edition.
Several tragedies befell the project, most notably the death of Ed Hogan in 1997. Diverse factors sustained it. Thirty years later, the book remains in print and Akhmatova’s fame as one of the twentieth century’s greatest poets continues to grow. To honor our book’s 30th anniversary, Zephyr Press has planned two events in one weekend: