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11/15/2007: Coffee House Press Newsletter - November 2007
With the holiday season approaching, I was thinking about why books really are the perfect gift, and four Rs came to mind:Release, Recharge, Re-imagine, and Reengage. That's what books do for me. They provide a release from the limitations of time and space; they recharge my mental batteries; they help me re-imagine the imagination itself; and they impel me to reengage with the world. And considering the state of the world today, we need those four Rs now more than ever.
During 2007, Coffee House Press published a dazzling array of new books, and they're all on sale from our web site. Explore, enjoy, buy some books for yourself, and some for your friends and family. Perhaps they'll provide those four Rs for you and yours.
I'm really pleased to announce that because of donations from readers like you, Coffee House has just completed our third fiscal year in a row in-the-black, which is helping us eliminate our deficit, so we can keep brewing good books for decades to come. Think about how much literature means to you, and please consider an end-of-year gift to Coffee House Press during this holiday season. It's a gift that will come back to you, in the pages of the new books we'll be able to publish, with your help.
May your days be many and merry, and may the light on your book be just bright enough.
—Allan Kornblum
Holiday Web Sale!! Take 30% off all Coffee House Press titles when you order through our web site until the end of the year. Happy Holidays!
State fairs are cornerstones of the American tradition and few are as beloved as the Minnesota State Fair. Filled with memorabilia from the Great Minnesota Get-Together and more than 100 recipes from 4-H groups, famous Minnesota companies, time-honored concessionaires, important food growing associations, and ribbon-winning contestants, this treasury of Minnesota's happiest memories will keep you looking forward to the fair all year long.
Under the tree or tucked into a stocking, language-lovers and children of all ages will fall in love with St. Alphabet, whose antics are guaranteed to capture the imagination. Satisfy your craving for literary hijinks and experience the joy of hearing this classic poem reinterpreted as you revel in discovering the hidden wit in each hand-colored illustration. If you're seeking the perfect gift to encourage the writer in your life, you can't beat St. Alphabet, who exclaims, as he dashes away in his sleigh, "Happy Alphabet to all, and to all a good write!"
Ron Padgett has reenergized modern poetry with exuberant and tender love poems, exceptionally lucid and touching elegies, and imaginative and action-packed homages to American culture and visual art. The title poem opens with the advice "Get some sleep" and playfully reminds us that "the only perfect things are a 300 game in bowling and a 27-batter, 27-out / game in baseball." From the silly to the profound and from the practical to the painfully obvious, this single poem tells us more about how to live and think than a library full of best-selling self-help books.
Q: Mies van der Rohe said, "God is in the details." Many of your poems focus keenly on the little things that often go unnoticed. Within the first few pages of your new book are English muffins, a child's spinning top, and a chrome Indian head hood ornament. Do you consciously attempt to weigh in on the grander concepts such as existence, love, and mortality through the minutiae of the moment?
A: No, I'm not interested in writing allegorical or symbolic work. I like details for what they are, not what they might stand for. If a grander theme emerges from the details by itself, fine, who am I to argue with a grander theme? Although I do have a penchant for details, I'm much more interested in the poem as a whole: whether or not it feels unified and complete, whether or not the words and the singing and dancing they do combine to create a satisfying flow of energy from start to finish.
Q: How did you decide on the title How to Be Perfect?
A: As you know, there's a poem of the same name in the book. I've always liked titles that begin with "How to." They promise so much. Years ago I wrote two small books that subvert that promissory tone: How to Be a Woodpecker and How to Be Modern Art. The title poem of this book came from someone who was wistfully drunk and who said to me, "Tell me how to be perfect." The ludicrousness of such a project intrigued me, just as the ludicrousness of this title pleased me. And it has a certain ring to it.
Since our last newsletter, Coffee House writers have received a number of new award citations. Garner, a novel by Kirstin Allio, was selected by Dana Spiotta for the National Book Awards' "5 Under 35" awards program celebrating young writers whose work is particularly promising and exciting. Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, a novel by Sam Savage has received many awards we've already told you about, but in the last few months the Spanish edition has hit the bestseller lists and the book was a finalist for the Society of Midland Authors Literary Competition. It also received the Wisconsin Library Association's Literary Award for Outstanding Achievement. Brian Evenson's chilling novel The Open Curtain, already an Edgar Award nominee, has also been announced as a finalist for the International Horror Guild Award, the Utah Book Award, and the Paterson Fiction Prize.
Our poetry has also received tremendous attention. Both Teahouse of the Almighty, poems by Patricia Smith and The Architecture of Language, poems by Quincy Troupe, (books that each received Paterson Poetry Prizes) were finalists for the Hurston / Wright Legacy Award—the first time this prestigious award has been awarded in the poetry category. During a ceremony at the National Press Club, Teahouse of the Almighty took home the honors. Light and Shade: New and Selected Poemsby Tom Clark and Erosion's Pull, poems by Maureen Owen were finalists for the Balcones Poetry Prize and Erosion's Pull was nominated for the Colorado Book Award. We congratulate our authors on these recent awards!
A profile of Coffee House Press Design and Production Manager, Linda Koutsky.
Q: How long have you worked for Coffee House, and what do you love most about your job as design and production manager?
A: I've had the pleasure of working at Coffee House for almost eight years! I had been making a lot of handmade books but was working for a more traditional graphic design firm when I applied for the job, almost on a whim. I thought it would be fun to work on "real" books. Now this is my longest place of employment! The books we publish here push my imagination and let me be creative in many different ways.
A: Everyone asks how we managed to work together as a mother/daughter team on three books. I always tell them that on the first book we butted heads a lot. On the second book I learned to pick and choose my fights. On the third book I just let Mom win! That's what a good daughter is supposed to do, right?! But I got to make the design decisions, and that's what I'm good at. My favorite spread in the book is pages 152-153. I love the old 1950s exhibits and everyone loves the life insurance company booth with the banner headline: "Geriatrics, Longer Life for People Past Forty!"
Q: It's been rumored that you have some pretty amazing collections that you've amassed over the years. Could you tell us about a few of them?
A: My mother had an antique shop when I was a kid so I started collecting early. But a couple years ago I moved to a smaller place and decided my love of minimalism and passion for collecting just couldn't coexist, so I had a big sale. One collection I did keep, though, is a bunch of old kids' watercolor paint tins and art supplies from the 1900s through the '50s. I'm still looking for one of those old Magic Marker brand markers with a small glass bottle for ink and a felt tip that came out the top. Anyone out there . . .
Q: Let's imagine you arrived at the office tomorrow to find that you had won a month-long vacation to the destination of your choice, paid for by a very generous, anonymous donor. Where would you go and what would you do?
A: Coffee House does have many generous donors, but this would be a great idea! Lately I've been getting into Nordic Walking and I just took a class from the world's expert, who lives in Austria. The sport is so popular in Europe that they have little inns in the countryside and you walk during the day then stop at a pub and stay overnight. I'd bring along a sketchbook and watercolors and I think that could keep me occupied for a month. Let me know if I should bring my hiking boots in tomorrow!
To make a tax-deductible donation to Coffee House Press or to browse our library, read reviews and interviews, and find out about events in your area, please visit www.coffeehousepress.org.
From all of us at Coffee House, have a happy and safe holiday season and thank you for your support!
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