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12/1/2006: Coffee House Press Newsletter - December 2006
A Note from the Publisher, Allan Kornblum
This Thanksgiving, I was thankful for many things—among them, the great body of work Gilbert Sorrentino left for us. Chris Fischbach speaks below of the privilege we all felt, to have had the opportunity to publish four of his books.
But in fact, every book we publish is a privilege, a pleasure, and above all, an invitation to discover new worlds, or see the everyday anew. This fall we published incredible novels by Laird Hunt and Brian Evenson, and amazing poetry by Quincy Troupe, Victor Hernández Cruz, Patricia Smith, and my old friend and teacher, Anselm Hollo. Each book boasts its own singular delights, and can be found on our web site, or at your favorite bookstore.
And now that the elections are over, and winter is a comin' in, you might want to learn the real story behind the "macaca," the racial slur that sank George Allen's Senate campaign in Virginia. Published just a few years ago, Screaming Monkeys: Critiques of Asian American Images edited by M. Evelina Galang, will answer all your questions and open your eyes to a part of our history that still hasn't made it into the textbooks.
The imaginative prose of Sorrentino, Hunt, and Evenson, the poetry we publish, anthologies like Screaming Monkeys, they cumulatively represent the kind of work that only comes from independent literary presses like Coffee House. We're proud to publish these great writers, and we're proud that their books wind up in bookstores, libraries, classrooms, and ultimately on the laps of readers.
But the price of coffee and printing keeps going up and book sales only cover about 40% of our costs. As the year comes to an end, please help us keep brewing new books with a generous gift. Your help really makes a difference—support from readers like you actually paid half our printing bills last year. You can just click here to make your donation.
I hope you enjoy the news, the books, and, above all, I wish a peaceful New Year for each and all.
--Allan Kornblum, Publisher
Holiday Web Sale!!
Enjoy 30% off all Coffee House Press titles when you order through our web site until the end of the year. Happy Holidays!
Featured Title: A Visit from St. Alphabet
Looking for the perfect holiday gift? Check out A Visit from St. Alphabet by Dave Morice. Brought back in a classic hardcover edition last year, this beautifully illustrated, pun-filled, alphabetical romp through the classic 'Twas the Night Before Christmas is sure to be a hit with children, grown-ups, writers, readers, and alphabet-lovers.
An influential and boldly innovative figure in postmodern American literature, novelist and poet Gilbert Sorrentino was a boyhood friend of the late Hubert Selby, Jr., a student and friend of William Carlos Williams, a two-time PEN/Faulkner award finalist, and the 2005 recipient of the Lannan Lifetime Literary Achievement Award. Once an editor at Grove Press, Sorrentino was Professor Emeritus at Stanford University where he taught writers who included Jeffrey Eugenides and Nicole Krauss. Within the last few years, he had returned to his native Brooklyn where he continued to write fiction of exacting beauty and masterful style.
Presenting Gilbert Sorrentino's most recent work to the world has been an honor that everyone at Coffee House Press holds close to their hearts, and we are thankful for the chance to have worked closely with him over the past few years. His work is absolutely some of the very best in American literature. Whether one is partial to experimental literature or not, reading Gilbert's prose at the level of the sentence, or the paragraph, makes it impossible to deny his mastery of the language and impossible to miss his cynical yet romantic wit, his biting satire, or the beautiful twists and turns of his prose. But for those who, like me, do enjoy formally innovative work, Gilbert's fiction is a superior example of an unrelenting devotion to discovery through experiment, and a need to keep our language and our literature alive and exciting by keeping our minds sharp and open to new ways of thinking about art and words.
This spirit embodies the work I seek out for Coffee House Press, and it's work that, like Gilbert's, is often ignored by mainstream publishers. Our work with Gilbert not only brought honor to our list, but it attracted many younger, formally adventurous writers as well, many of whom want to have the same publisher as their hero, Gilbert Sorrentino.
I will always cherish my time spent with Gilbert. As a young editor, I was always conscious of his role many years ago as an editor as well, and I tried to learn as much as I could from him. And as his editor here, I'll be the first to admit that there's not much "editing" that happens with a Gilbert Sorrentino novel: about 95% of what was there when it was first submitted would be there at the end. He knew what he wanted to say, and he wrote it. There was no sense arguing with him.
It will come as no surprise to people that his thoughts about the contemporary literary scene, publishing, and criticism were very dark and cynical. Some of our most memorable conversations were really monologues against such and such writer or book review. His favorite rant might have been a salvo against a writer he detested, saying they were the kind of writer that one would find in an airport bookstore! But Gilbert's diatribes were not just angry rants—they were nearly always done with a chuckle, not a sneer. For all his negativity, Gilbert had one of the softest hearts around. He could be a sappy romantic. You can find this in his books. Don't listen to those who say his work is depressing. Sure, it can be, but that's not why I read it. I read it for the bittersweet blend of hopelessness and romantic nostalgia: it's his signature, and a chord he's struck that will keep his work around for a long, long time.
As one of Gilbert Sorrentino's publishers, Coffee House Press stands with those literary giants of independent publishing, Grove, Sun & Moon (Green Integer), and Dalkey Archive. Without Dalkey's tireless efforts on behalf of Gilbert's legacy, a large portion of his work would have fallen out of print, and his audience would not be as devoted to him as it is today. I am very sad that Gilbert is gone, but grateful his work is still here, still available, and I am proud of our efforts with his last few books to help increase his visibility, recognition, and critical acclaim among new generations of bold writers and readers.
Meet Our Staff!
A Profile of Coffee House Press Publicist, Lauren Snyder
Q: How did you first become interested in a publishing career, and why did you pursue publicity in particular?
I've always loved books—I grew up in a house near to overflowing with them—and I knew that I wanted a life spent working with words and the artists who tame them.
My interest in publicity came as sort of a surprise to me—I thought I wanted to be an editor. During an internship at another press, I had the opportunity to work on a few marketing and publicity projects and I felt really energized by them. I liked interacting with people and working to get the word out about great books. And, voila!, a publicist was born.
Q: What aspects of your job as publicist at Coffee House Press are most rewarding for you?
When teachers, students, reviewers, or members of the community contact us to say that they're excited about a book or an author—that is extremely rewarding. Now that I've been at Coffee House for three years, I'm starting to work with authors on second projects. Watching their audience grow from one book to the next is something else that I find deeply rewarding.
Q: What do you love most about working with authors?
I love working with our authors because they're all so different and all very talented and interesting people. I enjoy hearing them talk about their work and their writing process, as well as what kinds of things inspire them. Knowing that they've struggled to say what's important to them—and knowing why it's important—continues to enrich me as a writer, as a reader, and as a person.
Q: Which Coffee House Press books have you most recently enjoyed reading? Books from other publishers?
I am bowled over by Gilbert Sorrentino's writing. Everything I've read has made me reassess my thoughts about fiction and narration in a way that has really opened me up to new ideas. Also, I just read Summit Avenue by Mary Sharratt and enjoyed her layering of myth and archetype within the text. I recently read and adored Laird Hunt's Indiana, Indiana and The Exquisite. As for non-Coffee House books, I just started Slaughterhouse Five, which I've never read, and so far I'm enjoying it.
Q: What are your interests outside of publishing?
Is there life outside publishing? Honestly, I enjoy reading, cooking, and getting together with friends for food, dancing, discussions, or games. I love to travel, which I'm fortunate enough to do both for work and for pleasure. And, when the weather is good, I love to enjoy the Minnesota outdoors. When it's not, I spend lots of time shopping for books (it's an addiction) and going to as many arts spots as I can. Luckily for me, the Twin Cities has them in abundance.
To make a tax-deductible donation to Coffee House Press or to check out more titles, review excerpts, author interviews, and 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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