Tag Archives: Tinfish Press

More on Indie Publishing and Poetry Community

I am currently working on my next Poetry Foundation post, which I think will conclude my series of posts on independent publishing. I am pretty much done with what I mean to write, and am just waiting now, on one or two independent publishers to respond to my two questions.

Actually, if you are reading this, and are an independent publisher of full and chapbook length collections of American poetry/ies (however you choose to define it), and if you would like to answer my questions for inclusion on the Poetry Foundation blog, and if you can do so by the end of today, then by all means, please do so, and back channel me at bjanepr at gmail dot com.

The questions: Why did you start your small press/why did you become an independent publisher? What need was not being met by the existing presses?

That said, I am so glad discussion is happening in poet e-world. Pamela Lu, Craig Santos Perez, and Susan Schultz bring up some great points regarding communities formed by publishers as curators in the comment stream of this here blog’s previous post.

Some links for my Poetry Foundation post (ideally I’ll be able to post this by the end of today): Susan discusses “communities of destination” over at the Tinfish Editor blog. Over at HTMLGIANT, Rauan Klassnik asks: “What’s Right and What’s Wrong with the Small Press World?” Read responses from Reb Livingston and Justin Marks.

Tinfish 19: the labor intensive issue!

Aloha Tinfish friends–

I am writing to announce publication of our 19th issue of the annual journal, which is beautifully designed, covered by hand-made stuffs, and full of wonderful work. Please support our efforts to publish experimental poetry from the Pacific.

_Tinfish 19_ includes parodies of Wallace Stevens by Jill Yamasawa and Gizelle Gajelonia; a letter to the editor in verse by Ryan Oishi; poems from Daniel Tiffany’s forthcoming Tinfish volume, _Dandelion Clock_; landlord poems by Oscar Bermeo and Deborah Woodard; interventions in Maoist indigestion by Kenny Tanemura and Guantanamo by Rachel Loden; as well as poems by such luminaries as Barbara Jane Reyes, Jody Arthur, Jennifer Reimer, Janna Plant, Brandon Shimoda, Mandy Luo, Dennis Phillips, Emelihter Kihleng, Paul Naylor and others. Graphic design by Chae Ho Lee,covers and centerfold by Maya Portner, editorial assistance from Jade Sunouchi, art direction from Gaye Chan, and editorial diligence by Susan M. Schultz. The covers were handmade, the books handbound. $10.

We are charging $12 through 2checkout.com (go to http://tinfishpress.com , click on “purchase,” go to the bottom of the 2checkout page and order that way) because we no longer get our postage from UH. You can also order at 47-728 Hui Kelu Street #9, Kane`ohe, HI 96744, the home office.

For more, please read the Editor’s Blog here. Includes photographs of our making the covers by hand, and of very cute children (if I may say so myself!).

http://tinfisheditor.blogspot.com/2009/10/tinfish-19-as-unalienated-labor-only.html

aloha, Susan M. Schultz
Editor

The Opposite of the Death of Poetry

Thank you to those of you who came out and supported! Yesterday’s reading with Randall Mann, Kristin Naca, Debbie Yee, and Mariano Zaro was just fabulous.

As Randall noted, he and Kristin are apparently the boy and girl versions of each other, both presenting poetry of torrid love affairs and other deep cutting, concrete and meticulous, unapologetic work. Debbie brought her best work, very particularly detailed, imaginative and full of critters who are aspects of human personalities. Mariano recited in two languages portions of a longer poetry project set in Thailand, paying acute attention and with compassion, witnessing in a language and culture not known to him. Everything sounds better in Spanish.

Actually, for all the poets, I think of the word “recitation,” in its best connotations; each was very poised, very professional, very self-knowledgeable and confident in his/her presentations.

You can find pictures and video, courtesy of Oscar Bermeo, up on the PAWA blog:

http://pawainc.blogspot.com/2009/07/scenes-from-71109-pawa-arkipelago.html

Here is our schedule for the rest of the year:

08/23/2009: Penélope V. Flores, Joaquin (Jay) Gonzalez, Kevin Nadal, and Benito M. Vergara, Jr. 2 pm @ the Bayanihan Community Center (Mission @ 6th), SF.

09/19/2009: Oliver de la Paz, Joseph O. Legaspi, Mari L’Esperance, and Theresa Calpotura (guitar). 2 pm @ the Bayanihan Community Center.

10/17/2009: Writing Workshop with Luis Francia. 10 am @ the Bayanihan Community Center (register). Reading with Neela Banerjee, Luis Francia, Alejandro Murguía, and Jean Vengua. 2 pm @ the Bayanihan Community Center.

11/07/2009: Justin Chin, Sarah Gambito, Maiana Minahal, and Marianne Villanueva. 2 pm @ the Bayanihan Community Center.

All readings are free and open to the public.

–

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Some thoughts: poetry, work 2.0 (too)

OK, I’m done with being bothered with all of last week’s annoying e-discussion. I think I get caught up in other people’s issues because I don’t have a lot to complain about, because things actually go pretty well over on this end of the poetry world, on both a national and local level, and I mean “pretty well” in ways that are a result of concrete work (imagine that!).

This is my year in review:

Poeta en San Francisco went into its second printing in 2008, which is not bad at all, especially considering that the book actually started to sell in the beginning of 2006. So, “Word!” to Tinfish Press, and “Word!” on selling out an entire print run, and for continuing to be a course-adoptable and relevant text.

While I was rather disappointed that I did not bag a book contract for my third book Diwata in 2007, it all turned out just fine, given that my second of two Philippines trips in 2007 facilitated a manuscript overhaul, another mild flurry of manuscript submissions in 2008, and ultimately, a book contract with BOA Editions, Ltd. as a part of their American Poets Continuum series.  I realize that I need to stop trippin’ on being called an “American Poet” by orgs and bodies that represent American literary institutions. The conversations I’ve had with the editors so far have been energetic, respectful, and positive, and even when they told me that revisions and edits were going to happen, I’ve become assured that we would indeed learn to work together.

I had two print chapbooks and one e-chapbook published in 2008. Brenda Iijima of the Brooklyn-based Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs took on Cherry, the beginnings of my truncated, spammy porn/war project. Carrie Hunter of the SF-based Ypolita Press took Easter Sunday, which were the poems I rejected from my own manuscripts, and which still, in their loveliness or specific experimentation, needed a home, and ended up being pretty cohesive as a body of work. Stephanie Young and David Horton of Deep Oakland proposed an e-chapbook after following the poem drafts on this here blog. The e-chapbook became West Oakland Sutra for the AK-47 Shooter at 3:00 AM and other Oakland poems, which is a series of litanies based off poems by Juan Felipe Herrera, Bob Kaufman, Anne Waldman, and others.

Speaking of Juan Felipe Herrera, we (a bunch of us) nominated him for the position of California Poet Laureate, and that was great, having so many folks’ input for the write-up, help with logistical stuff, and all. And while he didn’t get the position, he was one of four finalists, which made me happy that we could even accomplish this much. At any rate, 2008 was quite a year for him, with two PEN awards and a NY Times notable book.

I was invited to become a board member for the SF-based Small Press Traffic, which I accepted, and so far, this has been an interesting experience. I’ve gotten to co-host readings for Sesshu Foster and R. Zamora Linmark, and Edwin Torres. One thing: I do wish that these readings were attended by more outwardly enthusiastic poetry enthusiasts. I mean, even for Aaron Shurin’s and Anne Waldman’s reading, the general mood in the place felt restrained and a little formal. This criticism of course comes from my own experience of poetry reading attendees hootin and hollerin when they feel it, voicing affirmation precisely because they are feeling it. I’ve heard this kind of rowdy behavior is looked down upon by some as base; I’ve heard of people I’ve never heard of talk shit about me because when I attend readings, I tend to respond to what the poets are saying if it speaks to me. I continue to be a proponent of voicing affirmation at poetry readings, of loving poetry, and of living and being in praise of poetry.

Oscar and I started attending the PAWA, Inc. meetings, and have been actively involved in event proposal and planning. I started the PAWA blog, which their members and many others appreciate very much. We also proposed and started the quarterly literary reading series, which involves the SFPL Main Library, Arkipelago Books, and Poets and Writers, Inc. We were fortunate to have the first reading be a celebration of Luisa Igloria’s latest book, Juan Luna’s Revolver, and to have Joi Barrios of UC Berkeley’s Southeast Asian Studies Department read with us. Karen Llagas brought PAWA, Inc. into SF’s Litquake, and with the release of the Field of Mirrors anthology, 2008 was filled with readings at various public libraries and local bookstores. These readings will continue on into 2009, starting with the UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Library in March.

So unless something radical happens in the next few days, I’d say 2008 was a pretty good year of work and rewards for my work. There are some plans germinating for 2009, and these I will talk about soon. For now, we continue to work.

Tinfish Press News

From Susan Schultz:

Tinfish Press has published six books this year; we have also done three reprints of older publications. Please see our website  for information about these reprints:

Sista Tongue, by Lisa Linn Kanae (on being a pidgin speaker in HI; widely taught experimental memoir/essay) Under chapbooks on the website.

Corpse Watching, by Sarith Peou, on the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. Finalist in the Asian American Writers Workshop Awards.
Under chapbooks.

Poeta en San Francisco, by Barbara Jane Reyes. Winner of the 2005 James Laughlin Award, but more importantly a magnificent book on the Philippines, the USA, and Apocalypse Now. Under Books.

These make good teaching tools and gifts all year round. Please also consider subscribing to our annual journal.

Happy holidays from Tinfish Press.

* * *

In the meantime, for next semester, thank you to Catherine Ceniza Choy of UC Berkeley and Rob Wilson of UCSC for teaching (or considering teaching) Poeta en SF. I was just contacted by Professor Choy who said she was considering teaching my book for her Contemporary Narratives on the US and the Philippines class in Asian American Studies, and asked me if I’d be able to visit them for a talk and reading. I ran into Rob Wilson at SPD this past weekend, and have learned that for his class, he’s ordered over 100 copies of the second edition of Poeta en SF, which were just shipped to him. I think he’s also just finished teaching my book for Fall 2008 as well.

I can’t say enough how pleased I am. It’s both affirming and humbling to have my work be considered a good “teaching tool”; it is affirming as a Filipina, a Pinay, that my work can come to mean something to people outside of myself and my community, and that I can grow my community from the act of writing.

Here is an excerpt of Eileen Tabios’s outro to the anthology Babaylan: An Anthology of Filipina and Filipina American Writers (2000):

When someone types the word “Filipina” into an internet search engine … the top 10 “hits” that come up are usually sites pertaining to “Naked Filipinas” or “Mail-Order Brides.”

This is the pre-internet and existing internet context of debasing in which I grew up as a writer. That Filipinas can be literary figures and not domestic labor or half naked speechless bodies that can be purchased is something I believe is a very important message to impart upon existing and new readers. That Filipinas can use literature to speak against the very history and global economic conditions which have debased us is something I believe is very important to impart upon existing and new readers.

I’m not afraid of being defiant about this, and I am not afraid or ashamed of saying this is why I write. I don’t have to invent reasons for my own relevance. This is why poetry is relevant in my life and in my growing community.

Craig Santos Perez: Book Launch in Berkeley

Both Oscar and Javier have already posted about the launch of Craig’s book, From Unincorporated Territory, at University Press Books in Berkeley this past Tuesday. Oscar’s got pictures and Javier’s got questions he should have asked during the Q&A section of the evening.

Regarding the Q&A, I thought it was great, and perhaps this is because a majority of the folks in attendance were Craig’s Ethnic Studies graduate program colleagues. And you know how graduate students tend to ask long-winded questions that end up not being questions? These folks did none of that, much to my relief. So in other words, everyone’s questions were actual questions, and they were located, topical, relevant to Pacific poetries and poetic process.

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Tinfish: Pre-publication sale, part deux ou trois

From Susan Schultz:

Thank you for your on-going support of our projects at Tinfish Press. We’ve been in an intense harvest mode the last month or two. Our next crop will be TINFISH 18.5: THE BOOK, which will retail for $15. We are offering it to you for $10 until October 10, when it’s due from the printer.

TINFISH 18.5 is not a journal issue, but an entire book of wonderful poems by five poets from Hawai`i: Kai Gaspar, Ryan Oishi, Jill Yamasawa, Sage Uilani Takehiro, and Tiare Picard. The book is interactive, features puzzles, word games, and more. Design by Gaye Chan, simply da bes’. You can see a photo of the cover on the friends of Tinfish page–it’s bright red.

ALSO: please consider subscribing to the journal for $25 over three issues. TINFISH 18 (the journal) is just out and offers a wonderful selection of long poems between the covers of a reclaimed real estate advertising magazine. Get 18 and 18.5 for the low price of $18, down from the retail price of $25!

Please send checks to Tinfish Press, 47-728 Hui Kelu Street #9, Kaneohe, HI 96744 or go to our website, tinfishpress.com, and use the credit card thingy.

aloha, Susan

Tinfish Press Pre-publication sale!!!

Dear friends:

Craig Santos Perez’s book, from unincorporated territory, has gone to the printer. It’s a marvelous book about Guam, about history, about languages, about colonialisms, about family. For more, please see here:

http://tinfishpress.com/books.html

The book will retail for $15; we offer a pre-publication price of $10 until September 1. You can pay via our website, under “purchase” and number 54, which is Craig’s book, as it’s listed on the 2checkout.com page.

In addition, we offer our three full-length books of 2008 for $35.00. That will get you Meg Withers’s A Communion of Saints, Hazel Smith’s The Erotics of Geography and Craig’s new one, as well. That’s #55 on the 2checkout list.

If you do not want to use the website, please send checks to Tinfish Press, 47-728 Hui Kelu Street #9, Kane`ohe, HI 96744.

Also note that we have recently done a second edition of Lisa Kanae’s important chapbook, Sista Tongue and are about to reprint Barbara Jane Reyes’s Poeta en San Francisco.

We could use some cash flow. You could use some damn good reading. So please support Tinfish Press!

http://tinfishpress.com

aloha, Susan M. Schultz
Editor

From Tinfish Press

47-728 Hui Kelu Street #9
Kane`ohe, HI 96744
22 July 2008

Dear Friends of Tinfish Press:

I am writing to ask for your support for several upcoming projects by Tinfish Press. I’d like to describe them to you so that you’ll feel enthusiastic about supporting our publications of experimental poetry from the Pacific region. All gifts are tax deductible.

Already this year, we’ve published two full-length books, Meg Withers’s A Communion of Saints, a prose poetic elegy for men who died of AIDS in 1980s Honolulu, and Hazel Smith’s The Erotics of Geography (with cd-r), a selection of that British-Australian poet’s page and performance poems. We printed a new corrected edition of Lisa Kanae’s important work, Sista Tongue, which is widely taught in universities and schools here and on the mainland. We are in the process of having Barbara Jane Reyes’s book, Poeta en San Francisco, reprinted. This book won a James Laughlin award and has been near the top of the SPD best-seller lists for a couple of years now. The New York Times indie list this past Sunday showed the book at #2. Even my dean noticed! Many of our publications have been taught at the university and high school levels; please consider “adopting” our books for your courses, if you teach.

We will publish four more Tinfish products this summer and fall. Tinfish 18 features long poems by poets such as Mani Rao, Lyn Xu, Alysha Wood, Norman Fischer, and Endi Hartigan. Tinfish 18 ½ will be a perfect bound book of word games and poems designed by our Art Director, Gaye Chan, curated by MFA student Lian Litvin, and featuring work by recent stellar M.A. graduates of the UH English department and students in the art department, as well as more established artists. This book will be fun and interactive. Craig Santos Perez’s full-length volume, from unincorporated territory, engages colonial histories, family, and language(s); it’s a marvelous first book for him, and fits our mission to a T. Finally, we are working on a chapbook by Norman Fischer, zen priest and poet.

With all of these projects coming together at once, our coffers are emptying quickly. Please give through our website (www.tinfishpress.com) or send a check to the above address. We will acknowledge you on our website, if you give us permission to do so. Tinfish Press is a non-profit organization, so your gifts will be tax-deductible.

Aloha,

Susan M. Schultz
Editor, Tinfish Press

* * *

In the meantime, my blurb for Craig’s forthcoming from unincorporated territory is as follows:

In Craig Santos Perez’s from unincorporated territory we hear the movement of the Pacific Ocean; turning each page we hear the oars of the people navigating this ocean. This is a smart, formalistically rigorous, and unapologetically political collection of poetry. Personal, tender, and tough, Perez’s poems, collages of text and images offer a necessary critical, historical perspective on American ownership, Western tourism, and simultaneous erasure of the island of Guam. from unincorporated territory rejects the blank space on American maps and in American consciousness. This is a very satisfying read that I will return to again and again.

* * *

So there’s that.

Independent. Indie. Small Press.

In related news, Poeta en San Francisco is back on SPDBooks’ Bestseller List for January 2008.

And in related news, here’s an announcement from Susan Schultz:

ANOTHER new Tinfish title!!!

A Communion of Saints, by Meg Withers.

R. Zamora Linmark, author of Rolling the R’s and other books, writes of Withers’s new volume of prose poems:

Welcome to Meg Withers’ Hawai’i: the eighties’ Eden for exiles, outcasts, and the “eternally tormented,” where Rose is sometimes Bob, Arlene used to be Allen, George is Georgia, and “hard sex (is) by Pfizer.” These saints, living on the margins of Honolulu, get dolled up, get high on coke and cocktails, whore day and night, bar fly from Hotel Street to Kuhio Avenue, find home in each other, and, when tragedy strikes, seek healing and wisdom from na po mokole. Divided into three books and interspersed with Biblical passages that offer an alternative, if not more happening, way of interpreting Luke et al, A Communion of Saints reverberates with the street beat of the eighties and captures the glam and heart of that era. Unapologetic, vibrant, and at times, elegiac; in short, a fine work from a promising poet.

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