Throughout the month of August, we're running a sale on our first two titles of 2016:
Free shipping, as always.
Tree Light Authors at AWP
It was a hard choice to make, but we decided to skip the festivities at AWP this year. Instead, we'll be pouring that money back into the press to publish more chapbooks, increase the size of our print runs, and increase the prize money awarded for the Tree Light Books Prize, while simultaneously lowering the reading fee.
Our backs and table legs are still hurting from last year's haul, anyway.
And, as The Lettered Streets Press points out, there's no shortage of new releases and enticing online offers, making it easy for those of us skipping AWP to support small presses this week without crowd surfing at the bookfair.
Tree Light authors Tasha Cotter and J. Scott Brownlee will be attending AWP this year, and if you can squeeze it into your undoubtably jam-packed schedule, here's where you can find them:
Tasha Cotter
Thursday
10:00-11:00AM: Book signing @ Superstition Review, table 1107
11:00AM - 12:00PM: Book signing @ Bluegrass Writers Studio, table 1616
1:00-1:30PM: Book signing @ Black Fox Literary, table 1600
3:00-5:00PM: Book signing @ Gold Wake Press, table 1731
Friday
2:30-4:00PM: Blue Lyra Press & Naugatuck River Review Off-Site Reading @ Triple 8 China Bar & Grill, 800 W Olympic Blvd.
J. Scott Brownlee
Thursday
8:00PM: LA Confidential AWP Off-Site Reading with Dorianne Laux, Joseph Millar, Richard Garcia, David Tomas Martinez, Cynthia Atkins, Francesca Bell, Michelle Bitting, & Alexis Rhone Fancher @ Beyond Baroque
Saturday
7:00PM: YesYes Books / Button Poetry Off-Site Reading with Aziza Barnes, Danez Smith, Cam Awkward-Rich, Ocean Vuong, Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, Tanya Olson, Jamie Mortara, and Jonterri Gadson @ ArtShare LA
Can't make one of Scott's readings? Stop by the Orison Books table to chat with him throughout the conference.
J. Scott Brownlee Interviewed at Chicago Review of Books
Chicago Review of Books talks with Tree Light author J. Scott Brownlee about his new chapbook, On the Occasion of the Last Old Camp Meeting in Llano County, championing marginalized voices, and the role of music in his poetry.
In the interview, Brownlee says "the right tonal register and music may be the toughest thing for a young poet to discover," and he gives valuable insight into how music informs his poetry, including offering a soundtrack to his chapbook featuring songs by Jason Isbell, Alison Krauss, and Sharon Van Etten, among others.
Sneak Peek: "On the Occasion of the Last Old Camp Meeting in Llano County"
Today's the final day to get a pre-order discount for our first title of 2016, On the Occasion of the Last Old Camp Meeting in Llano County. For a final sneak peek, J. Scott Brownlee reads the title poem from his chapbook:
Sneak Peek: "Wine Cups"
We're just days away from shipping out the first orders of On the Occasion of the Last Old Camp Meeting in Llano County. While you wait for your copy to make its way to your doorstep, J. Scott Brownlee reads his poem "Wine Cups" for your anxious ears:
Now Available for Pre-Order: On the Occasion of the Last Old Camp Meeting in Llano County
For the next week, you can pre-order J. Scott Brownlee's On the Occasion of the Last Old Camp Meeting in Llano County for a discounted price! We've spent the last few weeks trimming, folding, and sewing our hearts out in preparation for the chapbook's March 1 release, and we're excited to finally get this book out of our paper-cut hands and into yours.
Our first foray into saddle-stitching with thread!
Pre-order On the Occasion of the Last Old Camp Meeting in Llano County—a book D.M. Aderibigbe says "provides an indispensable understanding of what makes us vulnerable, and damned, and distinctly human—now through March 1!
Looking Forward / Looking Back
As we get set to print and assemble the first title in our 2016 publishing queue, we're doing plenty of reminiscing on all that's happened since our little chapbook press was conceived nearly 5 years ago.
Our first chapbook, Susan Slaviero's Selections from The Murder Book was a beaut, featuring unique end pages from vintage science textbooks, cover art that elicited oohs and aahs at conferences and bookfairs, and poems that were lauded over, landing a spot in Best of the Net and also winning us our first Pushcart Prize!
Our second title, Necessary Objects, we released in 2013, and Molly Gaudry named it among her favorite and most influential chapbooks.
Our third chapbook, Bye Sea, won praise in PANK as an "absolutely gorgeous" example of "inspired typography and design" and from Barrelhouse's Dan Brady, who named it among the best chapbooks of the year.
The next year we released our fourth and fifth titles, Pedro Ponce's Stories After Goya and Alexander York's The Vanity House. Ponce's off-kilter flash fictions received lots of love from PANK and Sharkpack Poetry Review for being wildly imaginative and deftly written. York's collection earned the praise of many for its memorable, "beautiful darkness."
So what's next? We've got a publishing lineup for 2016/2017 that we're ecstatic about:
J. Scott Brownlee - On the Occasion of the Last Old Camp Meeting in Llano County
Abigail Zimmer - child in a winter house brightening
C.J. Opperthauser - Cloud the Shape of Bedroom
Tasha Cotter - Girl in the Cave
Duncan Campbell - Joysong Demarcation
Jennifer Hanks - gar child
We're thrilled to be working with such a talented group of writers, to give their piercing words a home, and to partake in the utter joy of editing, designing, and building beautiful books. Here's to another year of organized chaos and stunning art!