Celebrating Small Presses: A Round-Up of Debuts
A celebration of small press authors who debuted with first books at age 40 or older.
A celebration of small press authors who debuted with first books at age 40 or older.
A chunk of wood, softball size, has found a final harbor
on my desk. Boldly asymmetrical, it reveals, turning
in my hand, two sawtooth planes, a confusion of knotwood,
a crevice of crustaceous bark.
On March 28, more than 300 small presses learned that their distributor, Small Press Distribution, had abruptly closed. The news left many small presses wondering: when, and how, will we get our books back? Will we ever see the royalties we’re owed? And even—can we survive this? Bloom asked one of the affected publishers, Peg …
Finding time to write is challenging. I’ve become a “binge” writer.
Now, finally, in the parking lot, all the sum total of minutes she had extracted when the time was so precious, did not have any value when stacked on top of each other.
At Bloom, we believe it is never too late to take a risk and try something new. In that spirit, we are excited to announce that we are now accepting poetry and fiction submissions from blooming authors who first publish or publish in a new genre (for example, a novelist who publishes a poem, an academic …
In solidarity with antiracism protests around the country and internationally, Bloom strives to be antiracist in what we publish, whom we interview, and the books we choose to excerpt. Bloom understands that many who fit that profile come from marginalized communities of all varieties, and that paths to publication are too often challenged by systemic racism. Our goal is to amplify the underheard and to celebrate the undersung—the authors who are not reviewed in mainstream publishing. Our all-volunteer editorial team is fiercely dedicated to realizing a just society through the dissemination of diverse voices that speak to equality for all.
Bloom had the pleasure of attending “I Published My First Book After 50: A Reading and Conversation” at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Kansas City this month. Moderator Anne Elliott joined Karen Schubert, LeTonia Jones, Louise Marburg and Jimin Han to talk about their paths to publication, persistence, and the joy … Continue reading
In my past is a land of patchwork farms
where potato peels grow
planted eye up to spot the sun,
where tradition gets tacked to your core. Continue reading
The Plague Year hit New York like a tsunami. The panicked scramble for face masks and sanitizer, the shuttered restaurants and bars, the confused armies of homeless people wandering the abandoned streets and subways, the morgue trucks. We all experienced it together and yet we were all alone. Continue reading
Sometimes I think of my classmate John
with his colleagues in the burning skyscraper. Continue reading
Among the ashes was a book. A Spanish translation of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Why it didn’t burn he didn’t know. Continue reading
Bloom spoke with Jennifer Lunden about her debut book, American Breakdown: Our Ailing Nation, My Body’s Revolt, and the Nineteenth-Century Woman Who Brought Me Back to Life, out now from Harper Wave. Leah De Forest: First, congratulations on the publication of this wonderfully thought-provoking book. Jennifer Lunden: Thank you. I am just so happy to … Continue reading
Omar El Akkad, author of American War, said, “…Kesha Ajọsẹ-Fisher is a brilliant new talent, and No God Like the Mother the beginning of an equally brilliant literary career.” Continue reading