The GenPop Consortium

     

GENPOP BOOKS

Well, "we're not just the president" (or however that old commercial goes), "we're also a member." Enough said: you can find out all you need to know about GenPop Books by perusing this website, so we'll let you get on with looking at our other members . . .

     
GENPOP.ORG

A blog devoted to bringing prison issues to light, run by volunteers who want to bring positive change to the American Criminal Justice system for the benefit of both victims and perpetrators. GenPop.org is not a member of the Consortium, but, rather, GenPop Books is a member of the large community to whom GenPop.org provides support.

     

HARBOR MOUNTAIN PRESS
Est. 2006
Peter Money, Director/Editor

From Poets & Writers: Some people possess a potent energy that serves them well in the grassroots world of independent publishing. One could easily say this about Peter Money, the publisher of the lesser-known Harbor Mountain Press in Brownsville, Vermont—well, actually the press was founded in Brownsville in 2006, and while its letterhead still uses that address, Harbor Mountain is now located a couple of towns away, in White River Junction, which is just the kind of detail that launches Money into a line of thought that can lead to, say, a fascinating fact about the town's baker—"He used to work at the Plaza!"—or maybe the dimensions of the press's office (thirteen by twenty-three feet). Harbor Mountain's logo is another good conversation piece. Just a couple of brush marks depicting a mountain, right? Nothing, it seems, is quite so simple to Money, who says the logo was drawn in a sumi style and depicts nearby Mount Ascutney—the granite from which was used to make the columns of Columbia University's Low Memorial Library in 1895. More than a Jeopardy! contestant with a penchant for literature, though, Money is a poet who studied with Allen Ginsberg and founded the literary magazines Writers' Bloc and Lame Duck; he's also written a number of poetry collections, including To dayMinutes only, a prose poem sequence with Arab poet Saadi Youssef, published in 2004 by Goats and Compasses Press. All of which—and much more—fuels the fire that heats Harbor Mountain Press, which aims to publish six poetry collections annually. So far the press has published twelve titles, all of which are available through Small Press Distribution. They include Sinan Antoon's Baghdad Blues, which was reviewed in Time magazine, and Norman MacAfee's One Class: Selected Poems 1965-2008. In addition to running the press, Money teaches at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction—the nation's only two-year cartooning college, he is quick to explain—but it's clear his real passion is the written word. And it's on this point that Money is the most succinct. "Poetry is good food," he says.

     

MONKEY PUZZLE PRESS
Est. 2007
Nate Jordon, Creative Director

Monkey Puzzle Press is an independent trade publisher based out of Boulder, Colorado, publishing books from both emerging and established writers, and also publishing a biannual literary arts journal, Monkey Puzzle. The publishing philosophy of Monkey Puzzle Press is to give poets and writers unique, artistic collections of their work in bound form as a springboard to their futures, as well as enduring testaments to their writing careers. MPP appreciatse daring writing that exhibits intelligence and creativity, socio-political-cultural awareness, and humor. For additional information, please visit www.monkeypuzzleonline.com.

     

NEW YORK WRITERS COALITION
Est. 2001
Aaron Zimmerman, Founder and Executive Director

NY Writers Coalition Inc. (NYWC) provides free and low-cost creative writing workshops throughout New York City for people from groups that have been historically deprived of voice in our society. We also publish our workshop participants’ writing and organize public readings of their work. Writing with others in an atmosphere of respect and acceptance, participants discover the value of their own stories, gain confidence and a stronger sense of self and become less isolated from themselves and from society. By creating a community of writers and leaders from diverse backgrounds, we galvanize the voices of the marginalized and create opportunities for all writers to connect with the larger community. NYWC’s goal is to create an inclusive city, one that is aware of the diversity of voices within it and honors the lives of all of its citizens.

The New York Writers Coalition believes:

  • Everyone is a writer, regardless of prior writing experience and formal education;
  • Through encouragement and support, people grow as writers and artists;
  • In the value of the uniqueness of every individual’s voice;
  • Each person’s experiences are a source of strength and power as a writer and an artist;
  • In creating and maintaining a non-judgmental, open and respectful community where everyone is encouraged to support and listen to each other and to take risks and grow as writers;
  • Each person, through writing, can shape and influence the lives of others; and
  • We can achieve social change by providing access and opportunity for all writers, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, age, gender, sexual orientation and physical ability.
     

TARPAULIN SKY PRESS
Est. 2002 (online mag) & 2006 (books & paper mag)
Christian Peet, Publisher/Editor

Tarpaulin Sky Press is a small press publisher of hybrid texts as well as poetry and prose, producing full-length books, chapbooks, trade paperbacks, hand-bound books, and a literary journal that appears in online and paper editions. Their trade paperbacks include Danielle Dutton's Attempts at a Life, the first full-length work of fiction by poet Joyelle McSweeney, Nylund, the Sarcographer; a collaborative book of poetry by Noah Eli Gordon and Joshua Marie Wilkinson, with images by Noah Saterstrom, Figures for a Darkroom Voice; hand-bound and perfect-bound editions of the second book by Jenny Boully, [one love affair]*; and hand-bound and perfect-bound editions of the first full-length collection of poems by Max Winter, The Pictures. The press's chapbooks include prose poetry and verse by Sandy Florian, Andrew Michael Roberts, Chad Sweeney, and Brandon Shimoda. In a Poets & Writers feature on new small presses, Tarpaulin Sky Press is described as "intrigued by work that doesn’t announce its genre," enjoying "found items, lists, odd constraints and mathematical constructs." They are "happy to read texts that are distinctly un-poetic . . . indices, email, job descriptions, instruction manuals, etc."; but, as a caveat, but also seek to publish "work in which experimentation with language and form is a means to an end, rather than an end unto itself; innovation alone doesn’t do much for us." The press's books have been described as "fresh, daring, creepy, and significant.... The opposite of boring....an ominous conflagration devouring the bland terrain of conventional realism, the kind of work that tickles your inner ear, gives you the shivers, and tricks your left brain into thinking that your right brain has staged a coup d'état" (Bookslut on McSweeney's Nylund). In November 2007, after thirteen online issues, Tarpaulin Sky Press published the first paper edition of its literary journal, Tarpaulin Sky. Since its creation, the journal has published over three hundred writers including Chris Abani, Brian Evenson, Matthea Harvey, Douglas A. Martin, Ethan Paquin, Eleni Sikelianos, Juliana Spahr, and John Yau, among others. Since 2006, the content of the online journal has been curated by guest editors including Rebecca Brown, Bhanu Kapil, and Selah Saterstrom.

     

TRICKHOUSE
Est. 2008
Noah Saterstrom, Founder & Curator

Trickhouse is a quarterly curatorial project whose mission is to serve as an environment for visual art, writing, sound, video, interviews, essays, and experiments. Trickhouse is interested in the generative nature of collaboration, the notion that temporary venues can suggest intriguing strategies for engagement and community, the proximity of medium and genre, the possibilities within given venues (site-specific work), and the unformed and the raw; the polished and the pristine. Trickhouse writers have included Sara Veglahn, Christian Peet, Peter Markus, Julianna Spallholz, Kristen Nelson, Akilah Oliver, Brenda Coultas, Brenda Iijima, Rebecca Brown, Michelle Naka Pierce, Noah Eli Gordon, James Belflower, Danielle Dutton, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Joanna Howard, Thalia Field, Robert Anasi, Erik Anderson, Robert S. Eshelman, Lisa Birman, Ian Ganassi, and Nancy Stohlman, among others.

     

WORKS ON PAPER
Est. 2008
Carolyn Frisa, Owner and Head Conservator

Works on Paper provides professional, museum-quality conservation services for artistic and historic works on paper, and specializes in the conservation of drawings, watercolors, prints, historic documents, posters, maps, paper ephemera, blueprints and other architectural plans, and historic wallpaper. They also treat parchment and vellum as well as three-dimensional paper artifacts such as folding screens and fans. Serving non-profit institutions such as museums, archives, historical societies, and libraries, along with art galleries, framers, dealers in fine art and antiquities, private collectors, corporate clients, and insurance companies, Works on Paper provides the following services:

* Condition reports and treatment proposals
* Conservation treatments
* Construction of archival housings and storage enclosures
* On-site collection surveys and condition assessments
* On-site conservation treatment of wallpaper
* Written guidelines for storage, exhibition and handling
* Insurance claim examinations, assessments, and recommendations for treatment
* Telephone consultations and general preservation advice

Works on Paper is located in Southeastern Vermont, in the village of Bellows Falls. If you are interested in finding out more about their conservation services or would like to schedule an appoinment, please visit their website: worksonpaperconservation.com