there’s an intimacy that’s activated [or visibilized] when making books by hand together. there’s a warmth and a joy in that relationship … to the text, to the author, to your co-makers, to the book itself. we believe it’s worth our time to attend to that warmth and joy.
Our main goal is publishing exciting literary works made from parts. We really leave what exactly this means up to authors. We’ve often told people, “Send us your weird stuff.”
Our mission is to find new literature written in countries around the world and facilitate its translation into English as part of a larger aim to encourage cross-cultural and -linguistic exchange. Our aesthetic is experimental, wild, unkempt.
I have strong opinions about art and about publishing, and while it can sometimes be difficult to get people’s attention, I do believe that one can build a devoted, engaged community around a press, just as punk rock communities often coalesce around a particularly beloved venue.
We hope to create a press that supports Native artistry in all forms. We hope to bring quality work to Indigenous literature and create a world for Indigenous voices to thrive as genuinely and true to form.
Gordon Hill Press publishes mostly poetry, but also some literary criticism and some stylistically innovative fiction. We strive to include a wide diversity of writers and writing, but we have a particular emphasis on publishing writers living with disability.
We feel our operations need to be positioned within a sphere of revolt and radical will. Pure, pure love.
But expression (not only in myself outwards but by other people inwards) has always enabled me to find optimism. The name of the press embodies this sort of optimistic cynicism.
We believe a book provides a theater for the words, where the stage starts with the cover and moves inward through the physical narrative established by the pages—a journey through time and space.
Our aesthetic focus has always been on creating handmade, unique publications which, in their format, do justice to the writing published in them.
Our aesthetic builds on the idea of resonance, and poems that can offer moments of discovery with every new reading. Our mission is to be “committed to upholding the values that make poems timeless.”
Backbone is a niche press that focuses on writers of color and culture writing. We believe, in art, but certainly the literary arts, every voice is essential.
We believe in the fissures art can create in consciousness when, even if just for a moment, we experience a more vital way of operating in the world—and through that moment then seek out more extreme and enlightened modes of existence.
It can feel like a labour-intensive process, but I’ve found that there’s huge appreciation, from both the poets and the readers, when effort is made to give the words a beautiful home.