31/05/2024
HAPPY 205th BIRTHDAY to UNCLE WALT!
(Wood engraving by the great Lance Hidy, c.1970)
Black Sparrow Press
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Black Sparrow Press was founded in 1966 in Los Angeles by John and Barbara Martin. First, the 'insiders,' the ones who conform to accepted standards.
Since 2002, Black Sparrow Press has been an imprint of Godine, an independent publishing house in Boston. John Martin, the great collector of avant-garde books, visionary patron of Charles Bukowski, and founder, publisher, and for thirty-six years sole proprietor of Black Sparrow Press, once said:
"There have always been two streams in American literature. Some of these insiders are very good
writers . . . but their work is of interest only up to a point, [because] they completely satisfy readers' expectations of what literature should be. On the other hand, there has also been this second, parallel stream of 'outsiders'––mavericks, beginning with Walt Whitman. To my way of thinking, Leaves of Grass is the first great modern literary statement . . . and to this day, perhaps the greatest and most astounding." From 1966 through 2002, Martin sought out the great and astounding statements of America's literary outsiders, writers whose kinship is with the red blood of Whitman not the blue blood of Longfellow, with the dirty hands of Dreiser not the kid gloves of Edith Wharton. Writers who, on the whole, have looked west, toward the frontier and its promise of wildness, and away from the east, away from "civilization" and its received ideas of excellence and form. And Martin found them––in little magazines, in collectors' libraries, and among that band of bards and truth-tellers who emerged from the jazz cellars of the 1950s into the Day-Glo orange sunshine of the 1960s and '70s. The poet Robert Kelly has said that without Black Sparrow, much of the literature of the '60s would today exist only in memories––memories of the monologues of the post-Beat poets and the sweet smell of mimeographed chapbooks. The critic Neil Gordon, riffing on the same theme, said that Martin did nothing less than give permanence to the ephemeral, "providing the published texts of a generation of vital work that would otherwise have been lost"––lost to talk, lost to the browning of newsprint, lost to the crushing forces of the cultural mainstream. John Martin retired from publishing on July 1, 2002, but his outsider literary legacy will endure. Bukowski lives––indeed he and a handful of his old Black Sparrow stablemates (Paul Bowles, John Fante, and Joyce Carol Oates especially) not only live but now thrive on the "inside": times change, and tastes change, and small presses like Martin's are powerful compact agents of change. Best of all, the published books themselves still live––and are now available from Godine, Publisher.
*We reserve the right to remove any posts.
24/05/2024
REMEMBERING NEELI CHERKOVSKI
When Neeli Cherkovski died suddenly in March, I couldn’t stop thinking about all our phone calls over the years and the great adventure of working together on two of his books. I was dazed by the reality that there’d be no more phone calls from Neeli. Writing this piece became a needed catharsis.
I’m so grateful to ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine, the great literary journal of Neeli’s adopted hometown of San Francisco, for giving this piece a home.
[*Extra special thanks to Tammy Ackerman and Celia Johnson for reading early drafts and commenting, and to Kyle Harvey for allowing his stunning portrait of Neeli to be used with the piece.]
“I am the way I am / because nobody could convince me / to be otherwise” — From “Hello,” by Neeli Cherkovski The first time I ever read the name Neeli
09/05/2024
NOT-FOR-SALE
The red-spined edition of James Purdy’s ON THE REBOUND—a short collection of nine poems and one story published in 1970—is the only edition most readers know. It was published in an edition of 300 handbound hardcovers, all signed by the author. The ochre-spined edition was supposed to be one of twenty-six lettered copies…but, as this letter from Black Sparrow Press founder John Martin explains, because of a series of printing and binding errors, the lettered edition was never offered for sale.
02/05/2024
Heaps of hosannas to Black Sparrow Press author Nina MacLaughlin, whose chest-tighteningly stunning WINTER SOLSTICE has been longlisted for the Massachusetts Center for the Book's 2024 Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction. On to the shortlist! On to the win!
[*With summer solstice just over a month away, I’ve been rereading Nina’s first BSP book. 😎 ]
09/01/2023
We are deeply saddened to share the news of Naomi Replansky’s passing. She seemed, in so many ways, immortal. And in her poetry, she is.
“Poetry for me is a way of mastering the world.”—Naomi Replansky (May 23, 1918 – January 7, 2023)
Her verse examined social history through individual lives, including her own, in which she later found love. Yet for all the admiration she inspired, she was unheralded.
23/11/2022
The San Francisco Standard released a list of “Ten Books Every San Franciscan Should Read” earlier this year. In addition to titles such as The Maltese Falcon and The Joy Luck Club, the list included Black Sparrow Press’s FERLINGHETTI: A LIFE by Neeli Cherkovski. Much-deserved! Check out the full list at https://sfstandard.com/arts-culture/ten-books-every-san-franciscan-should-read/
From a Beat biography to a take on the 1960s, put these on your summer list.
31/10/2022
In the new Literary Hub series The Annotated Nightstand, poet and memoirist Kendra Allen spotlights Wanda Coleman’s Wicked Enchantment. Read the article at https://lithub.com/the-annotated-nightstand-what-kendra-allen-is-reading-now-and-next/
Kendra Allen is the kind of writer who can keep plates up and spinning. She’s a poet, essayist, and now, with her book Fruit Punch just out with Ecco, a memoirist. Her books have come out rapid fir…
04/08/2022
The Boston Globe marvels at Wanda Coleman's HEART FIRST INTO THIS RUIN: “These are poems of force and wisdom . . . they are not cynical, but they do tell it how it is.” https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/07/arts/poems-wanda-coleman-sidewalk-verses-return-cambridge-new-seaport-bookstore/?event=event12
03/08/2022
Book Beat is wild for the great Diane Wakoski’s DANCING ON THE GRAVE OF A SON OF A BITCH: “Here is a young woman, early 30s, single and bitter. Bitter at betrayal by men, past lovers—but rather than turn all that anger inward (she turns a fair amount of it toward her face and body) she rages against being treated as disposable, unworthy of commitment. Back in the day, an impassioned plea for being treated with honesty, truth, and respect passed for “radical politics,” much as it still does today.”
I arrogantly recommend...by Tom Bowden is a monthly column of small press and books-in-translation reviews by our friend, bibliophile, and retired pavement inspector Tom Bowden, who tells us, 'This platform allows me to exponentially increase the number of people reached who have no use for such thi...
02/08/2022
Vermont poet, teacher, and Black Sparrow Press author Kerrin McCadden (AMERICAN WAKE) is the recipient of the 2022 Herb Lockwood Prize in the Arts! The prize—which carries with it a $10,000 cash award—"aims to reward the pinnacle of arts leadership in Vermont by honoring artists who produce significant work in the areas of visual arts, music, writing, drama, dance, film, and fine woodworking while also having a beneficent influence on the Vermont community.” PHOTO McCadden flanked by author Stephen P. Kiernan (who delivered a tribute to McCadden at the event) and Todd R. Lockwood, founder of the Herb Lockwood Prize. (Photo by Andy Duback.) Read more about McCadden and the prize: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/poet-kerrin-mccadden-receives-ninth-annual-herb-lockwood-prize/Content?oid=36078305
22/06/2022
To celebrate the publication of Wanda Coleman’s Heart First Into This Ruin: The Complete American Sonnets, the great Poets & Writers is featuring audio of Mahogany L. Browne reading from her introduction to the collection, as well as from Wanda’s “American Sonnet 4” and “American Sonnet 3.” Illustration by Terrance Hayes. https://www.pw.org/content/heart_first_into_this_ruin_the_complete_american_sonnets_by_wanda_coleman
01/06/2022
Get a print copy of Godine's Spring-Summer Reader's Catalog, including titles from Black Sparrow Press, by emailing [email protected] to request a copy or peruse online at https://online.fliphtml5.com/qfqbh/mcmg/ =1
27/05/2022
Ferlinghetti’s hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, has weighed in on FERLINGHETTI: A LIFE and it’s a rave: “Cherkovski documents Ferlinghetti’s life in thoughtful prose . . . No one mulling this gentle record will fail to be moved.” https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/books/review-generosity-and-genius-of-beloved-s-f-poet-lawrence-ferlinghetti-shines-in-biography
23/05/2022
In a recent Los Angeles Times piece entitled “How Los Angeles Transformed American Literature,” the critic David L. Ulin writes: “Wanda Coleman remains among the most essential writers Los Angeles has produced.” We couldn’t agree more! Read the article: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2022-04-14/how-los-angeles-transformed-american-literature. And visit godine.com to get copies of both of Coleman's latest collections, Wicked Enchantment and Heart First Into This Ruin.
21/05/2022
Curious about the new expanded edition of the first biography ever published of poet, publisher, bookseller, and activist Lawrence Ferlinghetti (originally released in 1979) by Neeli Cherkovski? The Brooklyn Rail has just published an exclusive peek at the book’s new forward! Read it here: https://brooklynrail.org/2022/05/poetry/From-the-City-of-Angels-to-the-City-of-Poets
20/05/2022
CUTTINGS FROM THE TANGLE scribe Richard Buckner has been hunched over his keyboard pecking out a perfect weekly newsletter on Substack that gives readers, he promises, “an inner peace that normally only comes after eating mac-n-cheese.” While some posts are free, we suggest signing up for a paid subscription so you don’t miss a damn thing! https://richardbuckner.substack.com/
excerpts of visions. Click to read EXTRACTIONS, by Richard Buckner, a Substack publication with hundreds of readers.
18/05/2022
EVENT ALERT | MAY 20 at 7:00PM (PT) IN-PERSON: Join Neeli Cherkovski in person at The Beat Museum in San Francisco for the launch of FERLINGHETTI: A LIFE. Don’t miss the chance to hear a world-class raconteur share stories about the man who published the Beats. Get the event details: https://godine.com/event/neeli-cherkovski-in-person/
12/05/2022
Godine's (and Black Sparrow Press's) Spring-Summer Reader's Catalog is out and includes three wonderful new titles: an award-winning translation of The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire, Diane Wakoski's Dancing on the Grave of a Son of a Bitch: The Complete Motorcycle Betrayal Poems, and Wanda Coleman's Heart First into this Ruin: The Complete American Sonnets. Request a print copy by emailing [email protected] or visit https://online.fliphtml5.com/qfqbh/mcmg/ =1
09/05/2022
Wanda Coleman love has leapt from L.A. and America all the way across the proverbial pond to the UK! The Telegraph recently raved: “Wicked Enchantment is emphatic, explosive . . . a lesson on reimagining the place and usefulness of anger in art and in life.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/wicked-enchantment-wanda-coleman-review-poems-spitfire-passion/
The first UK collection for the late American poet introduces British readers to a thrilling, sardonic voice
29/04/2022
America Magazine - The Jesuit Review gets right at the heart of our new FERLINGHETTI: A LIFE: “This recently released expanded edition includes a new foreword, epilogue and afterword, each of them alight with moving, intimate stories.” Alight, indeed! Don’t miss this nonacademic by “a poet who set out to celebrate another poet.” Photo: Lawrence Ferlinghetti in his City Lights bookstore in the early 1960s courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Read the full review: https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2022/04/21/review-lawrence-ferlinghetti-cherkovski-books-242844
22/04/2022
Book Beat calls Wanda Coleman's HEART FIRST INTO THIS RUIN “An essential collection of American poetry.” Read the full review here: https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/2022/04/01/i-arrogantly-recommend-by-tom-bowden-26/
18/04/2022
In a ⭐ed review, Publishers Weekly calls Wanda Coleman’s forthcoming HEART FIRST INTO THE RUIN “essential.” They go on to write that the collection “dizzies with imagination and Coleman’s ever-present wit . . . an indispensable look at one of the most important and surprising voices in American poetry.” Coming in June! Read the full review: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781574232530
15/04/2022
DIANE WAKOSKI? YES, PLEASE! Our friends at Anhinga Press are hosting a reading of Wakoski’s poetry this weekend, Saturday, April 16 at 8 PM (ET). Lovely guest readers will read some of Wakoski’s works, including the title poem from her brand-new collection, DANCING ON THE GRAVE OF A SON OF A BITCH! Amongst the readers is Elizabeth A.I. Powell, whose gorgeous introduction graces that new collection.
Event info:
http://www.anhingapress.org/
https://www.facebook.com/events/491404009355594
14/04/2022
Thanks to the The Wall Street Journal for featuring FERLINGHETTI: A Life by Neeli Cherkovski and noting the uniqueness of the man as: “A figure who was both a poet and a businessman.” Read the article or listen here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/5-tales-of-top-shelf-book-people-reviews-rare-used-antiquarian-publishers-11649329633
13/04/2022
The Book Beat says of Wanda Coleman’s forthcoming HEART FIRST INTO THIS RUIN: “Coleman tries to tailor each poem’s meter...she does very well, covering family, erotic love, work, chronic poverty, racism, and the damned knowledge that she is better than what she receives from American society.” Read the full review: https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/2022/04/01/i-arrogantly-recommend-by-tom-bowden-26/
Author photo by Susan Carpendale.
12/04/2022
BREAKING **AWARDS** NEWS Kerrin McCadden’s stunning poetry collection “American Wake” has been named a finalist for the 2021 Vermont Book Award! Winners will be announced live on April 30. Read the full announcement here: https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2022-04-01/2021-vermont-book-award-finalists-announced
[*Fun Fact: McCadden won the inaugural Vermont Book Award in 2015.]
05/04/2022
HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY to Diane Wakoski's Dancing on the Grave of a Son of a Bitch: The Complete Motorcycle Betrayal Poems with an introduction by introduction by Elizabeth A. I. Powell. The liberating power of anger has rarely felt so good and healing as in this expanded edition of a landmark in feminist poetry. Now available at https://godine.com/book/dancing-on-the-grave-of-a-son-of-a-bitch/
13/03/2022
In a surprise that likely would have left Wanda herself bemused, Reader’s Digest has named Wanda Coleman to a list of “5 Black Women Poets You Should Know.” We certainly agree with their assessment: “Fearlessness…makes her legacy unquestioned and extremely significant.
HEART FIRST INTO THIS RUIN: THE COMPLETE AMERICAN SONNETS with an introduction by Mahogany L. Browne, coming in June!
Read the review here https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/inspire/life/5-black-women-poets-you-should-know"
10/03/2022
"Diane Wakoski Rides Again!" POETRY has published a rollicking, in-depth essay by Daniel Nester about the legendary poet in advance of her new book from Black Sparrow Press: DANCING ON THE GRAVE OF A SON A BITCH. Pre-order now from your favorite local bookseller or online at Bookshop.org. Read the full essay here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/157490/diane-wakoski-rides-again
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WE HAVE GREAT BOOKS ready to ship when you order from Black Sparrow Press, an imprint of Godine. Our awesome team in our New Hampshire warehouse is ready to fill your order posthaste! Go directly to our online catalog here: https://online.fliphtml5.com/qfqbh/ifmf/#p=1
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