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The sister press of NewLights, The Press at Colorado College, was featured in a piece on C-SPAN2 Book TV's Cities Tour. It shows some students from a History class printing on the Vandercook for the first time, and NewLights/Press at CC proprietor Aaron Cohick talking about letterpress printing & making books by hand, and why, why, why. The image above is a screenshot, but you can watch the whole video here: http://www.c-span.org/video/?321938-1/press-colorado-college
(And the broadsides on press in the video are a short poem by CJ Martin.)
There has been a lot of growth in our (still) little print-book-publishing community here in COS in the past year: new independent artists, new publishers, new community studios, new recording studios, new zines, new letterpress studios. It’s been wonderful, amazing, and I can’t wait to see how far we can take this.
The first part of a lively scene is the people doing the work. We’re getting us some people, making us some work. The second part is a place where those people can gather, to share their work with other people also gathered. To bring those “other people” (the public, let’s say) in, to let the artists already there out, to make those “other people” not “other,” but people, each belonging in their individual way.
A secret group with a static membership does not grow as a community, plays no role as a group in the larger community. A place of sharing & gathering & growing/changing is crucial. One such place is on the verge of opening in south downtown Colorado Springs: Mountain Fold Books. (Full disclosure: I am a board member of Mountain Fold, and I believe fiercely in the project.) The description from the MFB website:
Mountain Fold Books is a new kind of bookstore. We're a non-profit,
membership-based bookstore and reading room/gallery that will make
small-press books and magazines accessible to the community of Colorado
Springs and the greater Pikes Peak Region. While we have an amazing
library district and two university libraries, small-press books of
poetry and art books remain difficult to access. Our aim is to help
connect Colorado Springs to the growing art and literary communities
along the Front Range of Colorado by providing a welcoming place for the
community to gather, read, exchange ideas, give readings and see books
and art that currently can only be found in larger metropolitan areas.
We are entering the last week of Mountain Fold’s first Membership Drive & Fundraiser. Success in this endeavor means that MFB will be funded until July of 2015, which means that the folks in charge can focus on making it the crucial thing that it needs to be, that this community needs, and that the small press-artists’ book-zine-print-etc. community at large needs. All of the information that you need to make your (tax deductible) donation is here:
http://www.mountainfoldbooks.org/shop/
& the second of two for today, this day, August 13, our last day of summer, not really: Transister / Identity Colleges by j/j hastain and Noel Black. Say Hello to Your Last Chapbook! 2014, No. 5. The fifth of five books produced in the last three months.
Transister / Identity Colleges is another single-spine dos-a-dos book, featuring brand new work from both authors—some individual pieces written to common themes, and one directly collaborative poem called “Pinky Swear.”
From the colophon(s):
This book was made for a reading by Noel Black and j/j hastain, the fifth in the 2014 Say Hello to Your Last Poem! series, on August 9, 2014 in Manitou Springs, CO. Many hands and hearts participated, with the reading series and this book: Marina Eckler, Noel Black, Corie Cole and Aaron Cohick. […]
The covers were printed using a combination of letterpress printed lead type, chipboard and vinyl collagraphs, and digitally printed photographic images. The text pages were laser printed. All of the photographs forming the title lettering are by j/j hastain. The paper is from the French Paper Company, made with recycled content and hydroelectric power. Title lettering design by NewLights. 100 copies were made […]
About the authors:
j/j hastain is a collaborator, writer and maker of things. j/j performs ceremonial gore. Chasing and courting the animate and potentially enlivening decay that exists between seer and singer, j/j, simply, hopes to make the god/dess of stone moan and nod deeply through the waxing and waning seasons of the moon.
Noel Black is the author of La Goon, Furniture Press Books, 2014; Uselysses, Ugly Duckling Presse, 2011 and the publisher of The New Heave-Ho, a new .pdf press at thenewheaveho.blogspot.com. With Corie Cole, Marina Eckler and Aaron Cohick, he's the co-host of the Say Hello to Your Last Poem! Reading Series in Colorado Springs.
Transister / Identity Colleges
Say Hello to Your Last Chapbook! 2014, No. 5
Poems by j/j hastain & Noel Black
32 pages, saddle stapled dos-a-dos
7” x 5.25” (closed)
Laser printed interior, laser and letterpress (collagraph & lead type) cover
Edition of 100
2014
$8 (plus shipping)
Two more, the sweet last two, chapbooks from the 2014 Say Hello to Your Last Chapbook! series are out today. First up for August 13: Conditions / Conditioning by Jen Hofer & TC Tolbert.
This book is a single-spine dos-a-dos, written in direct collaboration by the two authors specifically for the format, specifically for this publication. It’s an honor to have had the opportunity to provide an opportunity (as TC said, “a space”) for these two poets to work together. And it was fun to collaborate with them on the design as well—it pushed NewLights into new (for us) territory—making a type ornament using actual font design software….
There is no colophon in the book, because there is no space for “end matter,” but if there was it might go something like this:
This book was made for a reading by Jen Hofer & TC Tolbert, the fourth in the Say Hello to Your Last Poem! series, on July 29, 2014 In Manitou Springs/Colorado Springs, CO. Corie Cole helped with proofreading, and CJ Martin & Julia Drescher helped with binding.
The covers were printed using a combination of letterpress and digital processes: the pattern on the interior was laser printed, and the rest of the colors/elements were letterpress printed from chipboard collagraphs or lead type. The text pages were laser printed. All of the paper is from the French Paper Company, made using hydroelectric power and recycled content. The typefaces are Adobe and ATF Garamonds. Title lettering and ornament design by NewLights. 100 copies were made.
About the authors:
Jen Hofer is a Los Angeles-based poet, translator, social justice interpreter, teacher, knitter, book-maker, public letter-writer, urban cyclist, and co-founder of the language justice and literary activism collaborative Antena. Her books are available from numerous small presses, including Action Books, Atelos, Counterpath Press, Dusie Books, Kenning Editions, Insert Press, Les Figues Press, Litmus Press, LRL Textile Editions, Palm Press, Subpress, Ugly Duckling Presse, and in various DIY/DIT incarnations.
TC Tolbert is a feminist queer, a poet, and a teacher. S/he’s the author of Gephyromania (Ahsahta Press) and the chapbooks i:not he:not i (pitymilk press), spirare (Belladonna), and territories of folding (Kore Press). S/he co-edited Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics (Nightboat Books), and is Assistant Director of Casa Libre en la Solana in Tucson, where s/he lives.
Conditions / Conditioning
Say Hello to Your Last Chapbook! 2014, No. 4
Poems by Jen Hofer and TC Tolbert
32 pages, saddle stapled dos-a-dos
7” x 5.25” (closed)
Laser printed interior, laser and letterpress (collagraph & lead type) cover
Edition of 100
2014
$8 (plus shipping)
OUT OF PRINT
And the second book of this July 10, number 3 in this year’s Say Hello to Your Last Chapbooks series: Alexis, Oren & Sara’s Halves, with poems by Alexis Almeida, Oren Silverman and Sara Renee Marshall.
Because this one has three halves and thus a lack of symmetry, it had to become a traditional single signature, sewn codex. But there is still a retina-searing surprise inside.
From the colophon:
This book was made for a reading by Alexis Almeida, Oren Silverman & Sara Renee Marshall on July 5, 2014, part of the Say Hello to Your Last Poem! series. If only we were allowed to talk about that.
Many hands & eyes go into each of these rapid chapbooks. Noel Black assisted with proofreading, Corie Cole helped with binding and other intangible aspects.
This book was designed, printed & bound by the NewLights Press. The text pages were laser printed. The covers were letterpress printed from lead type and MDF/chipboard collagraphs. All of the paper is from the French Paper Company, made with recycled content and hydroelectric power. The text typefaces are Adobe and ATF Garamonds. The modular titling lettering is another variation of a design by NewLights. 100 copies were made.
About the authors:
Alexis Almeida teaches creative writing at the University of
Colorado, where she is at work on an MFA in poetry. Her translations and
poems have appeared, or are forthcoming in Likestarlings, La Vague, The
Ampersand Review, Aufgabe, and elsewhere. She lives in Denver.
Oren Silverman lives in Denver. His most recent work can be found in the critically-acclaimed chapbook Alexis, Oren & Sara's Halves from the NewLights Press.
Sara Renee Marshall hails from the southwest. She is the author of a chapbook, Affectionately We Call This The House, and her poems appear places like Colorado Review, Omniverse and Octopus. Sara is headed to Athens, Georgia to pursue a PhD at the University of Georgia.
Alexis, Oren & Sara’s Halves
Say Hello to Your Last Chapbook! 2014, No. 3
Poems by Alexis Almeida, Oren Silverman & Sara Renee Marshall
36 pages, saddle stapled pamphlet
7” x 5.25” (closed)
Laser printed interior, cover letterpress printed from lead type and chipboard collagraphs
Edition of 100
2014
$8 (plus shipping)
Today, on this day, July 10, 2014, the NewLights Press is releasing two new chapbooks from the Say Hello to Your Last Chapbook! Series. The first is CJ’s Half / Julia’s Half, poems by CJ Martin and an essay (excerpt) by Julia Drescher.
This accordion dos-a-dos edition features variable covers printed from a flexible matrix of unfixed vinyl strips stretched across a plexiglass block. Here are some of the covers:
From the colophon(s):
This book was designed & printed by the NewLights Press. The text pages were laser printed and the covers were letterpress printed from lead type, flexible vinyl collagraphs and chipboard collagraphs. All of the paper is from the French Paper Company, made with recycled content and hydroelectric power. The text was set in Adobe and ATF Garamonds. The modular title lettering was designed by NewLights. 100 copies of the book were made.
This book was made for a reading by CJ Martin and Julia Drescher on Saturday, June 21, 2014, as part of the Say Hello to Your Last Poem! reading series in Colorado Springs, Chris and Julia’s new home. It seems that with each book our star-cross’d crew grows, and we are so grateful: folded, collated and stapled by Marina Eckler, Noel Black, Corie Cole, Aaron Cohick, CJ Martin, Julia Drescher and Natalia Jaeger. Thank you for reading.
About the authors:
C.J. Martin is the author of Two Books (Compline, 2011), as well as four chapbooks: 2012 (Supersuperette, 2013), Unused Cover (Portable Press @ Yo-Yo Labs, 2013), 1978 (Self-published, 2010); WIW?3: Hold me tight. Make me happy (Delete Press, 2009); Lo, Bittern (Atticus/Finch, 2008) and CITY (Vigilance Society, 2007). For the past two years, he has been working on broadside collaborations with poets who do visual art. His essays and reviews have appeared in ON: Contemporary Practice, Jacket2, American Book Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Colorado Springs, CO, and works as a bookbinder. With Julia Drescher, he publishes Further Other Book Works.
Julia Drescher is the author of the chapbooks Plural Bell (LRL Textile series) and Birds Of Paradise (Ypolita Press) and her most recent poems may be found, or are forthcoming, in Aufgabe, Dusie, Likestarlings, the *belladonna chaplets series and Omniverse. She lives in Colorado Springs.
CJ’s Half / Julia’s Half
Say Hello to Your Last Chapbook! 2014, No. 2
Poems by CJ Martin & and essay Julia Drescher
40 pages, saddle stapled dos-a-dos binding
7” x 5.25” (closed)
Laser printed interior, cover letterpress printed from lead type, chipboard collagraphs and unfixed vinyl strip collagraphs
Variable edition of 100
2014
$8 (plus shipping)
OUT OF PRINT
The newest issue of JAB (The Journal of Artists’ Books), #35, has a short, thoughtful paragraph (& a color photo!) about The Heads of My Family, My Friends, My Colleagues, by Justin Sirois, in the “Books Received” section. The mini-review was written by Columbia College Chicago MFA student & Print Production Fellow Levi Sherman. This issue of JAB is pretty phenomenal—it is mostly artists’ books, six of them, to be exact.
Here is the full text on The Heads:
Justin Sirois has a knack for writing with, about, and for digital technology, so it is a pleasant surprise to see NewLights Press adapt his new book of poems The Heads of My Family, My Friends, My Colleagues to a letterpress printed codex that is perfectly suited to the content and style of the writing. On each page, black type is framed by dizzying, RGB-colored pixelesque patterns constructed out of en quads. Eight-bit tiles are knocked out of these borders, and like the poems themselves refer to online communication in their style, though the text itself also holds explicitly to the conventions of writing on the web and on cell phones. The book is as surprising as the poetry it contains, including blind embossed verses set on the interior spine fold—a thoughtful use of the double pamphlet structure. The book evokes a reading experience similar to browsing online—a schizophrenic, rhizomatic tour of sex, politics, pop culture, and everything in between, The writing, first-person and conversational, is engaging and holds the book together despite the breadth and obscurity of topics. This is a book that knows its audience and speaks powerfully both to and about them. (LS)
Thanks Levi! Thanks JAB!
The first installment of our summer reading series here in the Springs, Say Hello to Your Last Poem! happened this past Friday (5/16/14). And the first chapbook of the year happened as well, featuring work by Divya Victor & Mathias Svalina.
Like the Anna/Anselm book, this is an accordion-style, dos-a-dos chapbook. Digital interiors (with more experiments in modular title lettering) and letterpress (sort of) covers. “Sort of” letterpress because one of the layers was printed with an experimental, woven matrix—more on that in a later post.
From the colophon(s):
This book was designed & printed by the NewLights Press. The text pages were printed with lasers and the covers were letterpress printed from lead type, gel medium collagraphs and a flexible lettering matrix woven from painted chipboard and vinyl. All of the paper is from the French Paper Company, 100 percent recycled and made with hydroelectric power. The text was set in Adobe and ATF Garamonds. The modular title lettering was designed by NewLights. 100 copies of the book were made.
This book was made for a reading by Divya Victor and Mathias Svalina on Friday, May 16, 2014, as part of the Say Hello to Your Last Poem! reading series. It was amazing. Where were you anyway? Folded, collated and stapled by our extended mountain-town family: Marina Eckler, Noel Black, Corie Cole and Aaron Cohick. Thank you for reading.
About the authors:
Mathias Svalina is the author of three books, most recently The Explosions from Subito Press. Big Lucks Press will release his book Wastoid in 2014. He is an editor for Octopus Books.
Divya Victor is the author of Things To Do With Your Mouth (Les Figues, 2014), Partial Derivative of the Unnameable (Troll Thread, 2005) Goodbye John! On John Baldessari (2012) and PUNCH (2011) from Gauss PDF; and the chapbooks UNSUB (2014), Hellocasts by Charles Reznikoff by Divya Victor by Vanessa Place (2011), and SUTURES (2009). Her book Natural Subjects is the 2014 winner of the Bob Kaufman Award, selected by Anselm Berrigan and is forthcoming from Trembling Pillow Press. Her poetry, poetics, and criticism have appeared in Dusie, Journal of Commonwealth & Postcolonial Studies, Crux, and P-QUEUE, among others. She earned a PhD from the University at Buffalo, and she currently lives in Buffalo where she is a teaching artist for Just Buffalo Literary Center and a writer for Jacket2.
Divya’s Half / Mathias’s Half
Say Hello to Your Last Chapbook! 2014, No. 1
Poems by Divya Victor & Mathias Svalina
40 pages, saddle stapled dos-a-dos binding
7” x 5.25” (closed)
Laser printed interior, cover letterpress printed from lead type, gel medium collagraph and woven, vinyl lettering matrix
Edition of 100
2014
OUT OF PRINT
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