Thea Press

08/08/2025

Have you ever wished you could pray the psalms in a feminine, feminist voice?

M. Kate Allen has created a translation of the book of psalms that offers this. Those who love the psalms will hear echoes of familiar refrains retold in breathtaking turns of phrase. This translation is arranged into morning prayer and evening prayer so that, following the book, you can pray all the psalms over the course of a single month.

Thean Psalter by M. Kate Allen, published by Thea Press, is available for purchase on Amazon. You can get a taste of the psalms (along with Kate's own hand-painted mandalas) every Thean Thursday on Kate's Facebook author page: facebook.com/mkateallen .

08/07/2025

Is the world feeling more and more like a dystopia to you?

Add Rebecca Freeman's Alt-Ctrl to your TBR list for a beautiful, heart-pounding dive into a story of resistance.

From the back cover: "In a post-climate collapse world, the only way to survive is to be lucky enough to live in one of the domed cities, run by international corporation PlanetRescue. As a high level engineer working for PlanetRescue's cyber security division WorldSec, Finn has unique insight into the Collapse and the dangers of the Badlands outside of the dome. But she soon finds out that there is more to history than what's she's learnt, and that PlanetRescue is not the force for good they claim to be. Revolution is brewing from within the City and outside in the Badlands, and it seems that Finn has an integral role to play in it."

Alt-Ctrl by Rebecca Freeman, published by Thea Press, is available from booksellers everywhere.

Learn more about Rebecca Freeman at https://www.theapress.org/rebecca-freeman.html .

06/03/2025

A call to action from our own M. Kate Allen.

Do you find yourself wondering what you can do in the face of censorship, book bans, word bans, and other forms of first amendment infringement?

Read a book. Read a book that aligns with you. Read a book that feels utterly alien to you.

Reading a book engages the power of your imagination with the word-built world of an author. Reading allows you to experience bad guys safely. Reading allows you to experience being the bad guy; it allows you to experience how others think of you as the bad guy, and why. Reading allows you to enter worlds that would otherwise be inaccessible to you, without any interference from any other human.

Reading gives you a chance to notice how you respond to experiences and ideas without ever saying a word. It can function as a mirror, raising your awareness of who you are and who you are not. It can teach you to recognize where your values come in conflict with everyday life.

To read a book is to step neatly outside the onslaught of other people's opinions and to tend to the garden of your own.

Resist tyranny. Read.

-M. Kate Allen

14/09/2024

In this collection of poems, Keeley Bruner offers divine sips of the flavors of motherhood. She calls on her experience as the mother of three and as a post-partum doula to transport the reader into sense-rich mothering moments of love, fear, joy, doubt, and serenity. Any mother, experienced or new, will find herself nodding in recognition at the intimate revelations contained in this book.

Available now from booksellers everywhere.

07/09/2024

Thea Press interviewed Keeley Bruner about the release of her poetry book, Poured Out.

~~~

When did you first begin writing Poured Out, and when did you know you wanted to make your poems into a collection?

Some of the poems in the collection were written as far back as 2018, when I began really giving attention to my personal creative practice. I also wrote a few even before that time. But the majority of the poems are from two events: the first was going through a creative journal developed by my dear friend Maria Plata. There are sixteen weekly prompts, and I composed many poems using these. Then, later that year I experienced a deluge of mindspace when potty-training our youngest concluded! It happened to coincide roughly with my birthday, which I have since come to know also leads to an increase in my creative energy. So as I gathered all of these together, what amounted to about 50 poems, I wanted to put them together in some way to memorialize this unique time of mothering young children and writing in between naptimes and after-school activities and such.

What surprised you as you wrote this collection?

There were definitely times that I was surprised at the pace of output--for a short while I wrote roughly a poem a day, and they all seemed pretty decent (of course editing was necessary, but they were good starts)! Then there would be weeks where I just couldn't find the time to put anything down on paper, because of the actual living of the life which inspired so many of the poems.

Who are some of your mothering influences?

Goodness, so many! I think most of us who mother have to acknowledge the ways our own mothers interacted with us growing up, so without a doubt my own mother has been a profound influence. It almost feels unnecessary to say! Fortunately she has always been a thoughtful, deliberate, and all-in type of mother, who has never left room for doubt of her love and support, and she continues to mother me in this way. Other influences are certainly authors of books I have read, whether they are on childhood brain development or breastfeeding or positive discipline--it's sort of hard to sort out the folks that have informed each piece of my mothering framework and toolbox. Also, it should be said that I have been influenced by friends in my life; whether their children are older or younger doesn't always matter, though it is helpful to have the experience of others to help lead the way. I especially think of my sisters in this regard. I think one of my favorite things to observe in mothers are those moments of kindness or connection that occur with their children, that they probably don't even realize they are creating or fostering. I have seen more of these than I can count and sort of collect them, like seashells.

How is this book connected with your work as a post-partum doula?

So, it will be obvious in the collection that several poems have been influenced by my interactions as a postpartum doula. I find this time of life so full of meaning and import, and for a while it was hard to come away from working with a family without a poem, or at least an idea for one. Such a formative, creative time when our brains and bodies are being asked to do so much, and the reward is so small yet so vital. I find it really beautiful, despite the challenges.

Keeley Bruner is a mom of three, a postpartum doula, and a volunteer with 4th Trimester Arizona, doing quarterly MoonMuse gatherings to explore creativity in motherhood as well as working with families to write personal lullabies through the Lullaby Project, in conjunction with Carnegie Hall. She loves tea, ice cream, writing, playing music, and going for walks, and she always has a few answers to the question, "What have you been reading lately?" She enjoys encouraging and supporting the people in her life as they seek to discover and develop their own creative sparks, and is always grateful for a chance to develop a few of her own. Visit moonmusedoula.com to learn more and get in touch.

Today is also National Buy a Book Day! You can purchase Poured Out here (https://www.changinghands.com/book/9781956604115) or wherever books are sold.

Photo credit: Jason Bruner.

In this collection of poems, Keeley Bruner offers divine sips of the flavors of motherhood. She calls on her experience as the mother of three and as a post-partum doula to transport the reader into sense-rich mothering moments of love, fear, joy, doubt, and serenity. Any mother, experienced or new,...

29/03/2024

In honor of Small Press Month, Thea Press interviewed M. Kate Allen. Kate is the award-winning author of the Thean Psalter, the Sticky Ones series, Memory Stands Still, Playing Gauche, and more.
~~~
What inspired you to start writing?

I received a purple diary with a lock and key from Sears when I was ten years old. That diary prompted me to consider that writing might be an interesting thing to do. Later, in eighth grade, I had the opportunity to write a short story for my language arts class, and I spent a chunk of my music class covertly scribbling a story about hidden treasure and pirates. In high school, I took creative writing and journalistic writing and began to win awards for my writing. I ventured away from writing for pleasure as I pursued higher education, and when that bit of my journey concluded many years later, I returned to writing what I wanted to write.

What does your writing process look like?

My writing process often involves sitting down at my black wooden desk, lighting a candle, arranging my legs like a pretzel on my desk chair, and doing a brain dump in my online journal. Once I get all the surface-level thoughts flowing, my words usually reveal what I'm most interested in working on writing-wise. I regularly share new ideas I'm having with trusted friends, and their feedback prompts me to look at my ideas from different angles.

Of your various writings, what is one of your favorites? Why?

One of my favorite pieces of writing is my first book in the Sticky Ones series, Crystal Winters and the Haunted Mansion. It has many of my favorite story elements: a bold protagonist, a haunted mansion, strange characters, dusty rooms, an unusual mystery, and delicious food.

What are your thoughts on the use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) during the creative process?

I used an AI bot once to ask questions for writing research and didn't find it much more useful than doing an ordinary internet search. As far as utilizing AI to do the actual work of writing a book, story, poem, or an essay for me, I have not tried that and I don't think I'll ever want to (and if I did, I would feel a sense of responsibility to declare it).

Tell us about one or more of your favorite writers and how they've impacted you. I remember being introduced to The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King in the early 2000s.

As soon as Mary Russell offered her assessment of what Sherlock Holmes was observing in the opening scene, my worldview cracked. I found myself breaking free of a container I hadn't realized I was stuck in. The writers who most inspire me are those who help me enter a story through the portals of place and myth. In no particular order, Lawrence Thornton, Rudolfo Anaya, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Alice Walker, Juliet Blackwell, Sarah Addison Allen, Neil Gaiman, David Whyte, Mary Oliver, Robert Pirsig, Danielle Dulsky, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Terry Pratchett, Sarah J. Maas, Starhawk, and Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés are a few who transport me (and there are many more).

What has writing taught you about the world and yourself?

I've learned from writing that I'm more than my thoughts or feelings in a given moment. Likewise, the people in my life are more than my thoughts or feelings about them. Recognizing this has helped me recognize the limits of my vision and taught me to keep looking for what I don't yet see. This seems like a vital ingredient in the recipe for healing the world. I've also learned that the horror genre is particularly suited to healing precisely because it bears witness to humanity's deepest wounds and reveals to us how we wound/are wounded.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Read and write whatever moves and/or pleases you. Give yourself permission to stop and start as often as you want. Ritualize your creative process in whatever way delights and soothes you. Indulge in every subject that interests you without asking for permission first. Practice saying "no" to anything that you'd rather not do--without explanation. Seek out the gold nuggets in critical feedback and let the rest go. When you're ready to market your writing, make a one-year plan that leaves plenty of room for you to have a life, stick to the plan in whatever way works best for you, and celebrate each milestone with trusted family and friends. At the end of the year, review how things went, gather up lessons for moving forward, and start again.
​

Hailing from Canton, Ohio, award-winning author M. Kate Allen has made her way to Cleveland, Berlin, central Minnesota, the San Francisco Bay Area, and beyond in search of unusual story seeds that she can nurture into full bloom. She is a fan of places where history and memory are well-tended, and she especially enjoys reading/writing about places as characters. These days her home is in Tempe, Arizona, where she craves the monsoon scent of creosote and the springtime scent of orange blossoms. When she's not writing books, she can often be found discussing the meaning of life with her daughters, eating her spouse's unrivaled culinary creations, sitting in circle with wild-hearted friends, or reading a book.

Contact: [email protected]



(Photo credit: M. Kate Allen)

22/03/2024

In honor of Small Press Month, Thea Press interviewed Rebecca Freeman. Rebecca is the author of Alt-Ctrl.
~~~
What inspired you to start writing?

I've always loved listening to and telling stories... when I was five or six, I used to sit at the front of our tiny rural schoolbus and tell stories of my own making to our lovely bus driver. When I could finally read books myself it was such a gift! Now I didn't have to wait for anyone else to do it--I was an autonomous reader, and it was life-changing! So learning to read was another catalyst to making up my own stories. And I was always jotting down new ideas, writing about new characters. Creative writing was my favourite subject at school, from primary school through to graduation. And a new story idea is still exciting for me.

What does your writing process look like?

Due to time constraints nowadays, I often spend quite a while with the story in my head before I start writing it. I might jot down some lines or thoughts when I first get the idea, but otherwise, it percolates for some weeks or months. I used to just start writing and hope the story went somewhere, but when I hit middle age, I felt as though life suddenly became finite, and so now I plot out my stories in some detail, as it gives me more direction and I waste less time simply writing something that I might have to delete later. (Of course, there is still a good chance that there will be discarded words, scenes and chapters even with a good plan, but it's hopefully less likely). I write the plot by hand but type my drafts (again, to save time) and then when I'm stuck on the screen, I'll print out chapters or a full draft and make notes and edits by hand. I am not a fast writer! Even short stories will take me months--I may get a first draft done in a matter of hours or days but then I need a long time to tinker and think about it.

Of your various writings, what is one of your favorites? Why?

Gosh, that's hard to answer. I think maybe the title poem, 'The Pretend Parent' from my poetry chapbook? Because it seemed to resonate strongly with a heap of people and it says so much about how much I struggled with the concept of 'parent' and what it's supposed to mean.

Sometimes it's not so much a whole story or piece of writing, but a line that stays with me, one of those lines where it feels as though it just dropped into your head and you're surprised you managed to think of it at all. When I'm describing natural environments I feel like I need to do my best to do them justice, and sometimes I think I pull that off quite well.

What are your thoughts on the use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) during the creative process?

It's a very tricky area. On the one hand, we already use other intelligences to help us with our work--anyone who's had a beta reader or editor is getting help to make their writing better, and as an editor, I very much believe in this process! It's about getting a new perspective to understand how your story will appear to another reader, rather than just how it sounds in the head of the one who created it.

But all that feedback comes with an enormous cultural context, and that matters. I feel as though using AI to write or edit your work means it's being analysed or created in a vacuum, which means that it lacks depth, connection and meaning. Plus part of the writing process is truly having to push through those moments where you're just not feeling it, and then coming out the other side, having persisted, with new work to show for it. Writing is a practice and like any artform, a craft. If you let something else do all the hard work for you, you just won't get better.

Tell us about one or more of your favorite writers and how they've impacted you.

So many writers have influenced me, from Enid Blyton (casual racism and classist assumptions aside) to Anne Spencer Parry to Antoine de Saint Exupery to Haruki Murakami. What I take from all their work is the possibility of beauty in simplicity and magic, magic, magic.

What has writing taught you about the world and yourself?

I think it's taught me that stories are how human beings communicate, and as I've got older, it's the way I make sense of the world. There is such power in storytelling--and we have to be aware of that. It can be used for good and evil, so it's important to think critically about who's telling us what, and why.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Anyone can write--most people can jot down the beginning of a good story. But to be good at it, you have to keep going. Give it the space and time it needs. Accept it as part of you. Be proud of it. And don't feel as though being published is the only measure of success... it's as important (if not more so!) to work at it, strive for improvement, challenge yourself to do better, as it is to see your name in print.

Bec works full-time as an editor. She lives in a household consisting of her partner, four children, and the many animals who offer them companionship and eggs. In her spare time, she's been working on a creative PhD, which is in its final stages (or perhaps its death throes, she says). And when not writing and editing, she likes to cook, garden, hike, and read; she also enjoys chatting with her children about politics, the environment, religion, and their favorite fruits.

Contact: https://rebeccafreeman.com.au/​ or instagram.com/words_by_rebecca



(Photo credit: A. Freeman)

15/03/2024

In honor of Small Press Month, Thea Press interviewed Jason Bruner. Jason is co-author and photographer of Dreaming Along the Laurel.
~~~
What inspired you to start taking photos?

When we moved to the metro-Phoenix area, our first daughter had just been born. The rhythm we developed with her (and continued with our other two children) was for me to put her in a baby carrier and go for long walks in the early morning. I hadn't been someone who spent much time walking through urban spaces before, and going at that pace helped me to pay attention to mundane details that are often blurred if you are using motorized transportation. And walking the same streets for several years then allowed me to see the subtle changes that come with the seasons, new residents, and migratory birds. While the impulse to get a decent camera stemmed from wanting to be able to take better pictures of our kids, it quickly became a way to think visually about my context and who I was in relation to it.

What does your photography process look like?

That can vary, depending on what I want to accomplish. For street photography, where I might go to a part of the city I don't know well and take pictures of what's there without intervening, I find that the process needs to feel more like jazz: that you take what's there and make what you can on its own terms, joining in where it feels like it fits. On my more enjoyable days, this feels like I'm riding the flow of a stream, or just letting a melody carry me. If I'm photographing people, it's also important to be open and improvisational -- a photograph is evidence of a relationship and the question is what kind of relationship is it in that moment? If I plan on having a longer documentary presence, then I'll often not start with a camera, but with a conversation -- or multiple conversations -- because a camera can also create distance, a sense of performance, or intimidation -- and those are often things I want to either downplay or use intentionally, and that's hard to do without trust being established first. Still, most of the time, I view taking photographs in a similar way that I approached athletic events: a lot of the thought and effort are in the prep work, but in the actual moment (of either a race or of taking pictures), you want that prior thought and training to not be something you consciously think about, and trust that you are prepared enough to intuitively do what you need to do.

Of your various photos, what is one of your favorites? Why?

I really like the one that is on the cover of Dreaming Along the Laurel. It feels like it captures the magically fuzzy boundaries of someone who's not quite grown up, and how that world is full of these pockets where you might get drawn into playful wonder.

What are your thoughts on the use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) during the creative process?

I've knowingly asked AI chatbots two questions on two separate occasions. I got a weird, sinking feeling in my stomach on both occasions and haven't touched it since. I generally feel that I would have been more comfortable with the world had I lived before the internet.

Tell us about one or more of your favorite photographers and how they've impacted you.

There are so many. The way Teju Cole takes photos that feel like haikus, or storied moments. My friend, Amy Elizabeth, takes the most wonderfully creative self portraits. And I deeply admire Jim Mangan's ability to contextualize people within landscapes. Still, W. Eugene Smith is probably the photographer I continuously return to. He was an American pioneer of the mid-20th century photo essay, which he first developed in a beautiful series called "Country Doctor" for Life magazine in the late 1940s. He eventually moved to Pittsburgh to undertake a project that would be a visual portrait of the entirety of the life of a city, spending 3 years taking some 15,000 photos that he also developed and printed himself. He tried to publish a version of it, but considered it a failure, and never exhibited the collection. Thankfully, others have compiled larger collections from those photographs, and I hold these as a remarkable feat of skill, artistry, and extraordinary personal commitment.

What has photography taught you about the world and yourself?

There is beauty -- capaciously defined -- all around us. There are things to draw your curiosity everywhere. It has been a tool for me to pay attention, and to be open to the world in a way that I'm not always inclined to be. Photography has made me pay attention to shape, color, proximity, and tiny details in a way that I deeply value, which can open up a string of delights. With a camera (and especially a film camera), I find that I'm more willing to talk to strangers who seem interesting but who I might shy away from otherwise. Those interactions have led to new friendships and meaningful exchanges. It's a tool to pursue curiosity in myself and with others, and there's no limit to where that leads.

What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?

Don't pay attention to Instagram. Learn to use whatever equipment and gear you have (even if it's just a phone or a disposable film camera), rather than thinking fancy equipment will necessarily lead to better pictures. As often as you can, let those constraints push your creativity and your skill.
​

Jason lives in Tempe with his wife, Keeley, and their three kids. He's worked at ASU on the religious studies faculty since 2013, and he's published academic and creative books, articles, poems, and visual art in that time, including Dreaming Along the Laurel (Thea Press) and Body of the Earth (Benschop Books), both of which he co-authored with Keeley. He also enjoys woodworking.

Contact: [email protected]



(Photo credit: Jason Bruner)

08/03/2024

In honor of Small Press Month, Thea Press interviewed Keeley Bruner. Keeley is co-author of Dreaming Along the Laurel and author of Poured Out, which is due to be released later this year.
~~~
What inspired you to start writing?

In truth, I've always liked writing--I was one of those little kids that would make books about my family, or my house, or different stories that came to mind. My first concerted effort was a book series about a magic pumpkin, which I wrote over the span of a few prepubescent years. As I got older, much like my reading habits, my writing was mainly for school projects and I really did very little on my own initiative until graduating college. I journaled periodically until I began doing morning pages through The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, and since then I've aimed to make it a daily practice just to keep the juices flowing. In terms of my projects with Thea Press, they are primarily poetry about motherhood, which is such a profoundly challenging, disorienting, mind-bending, rewarding experience in so many ways. The best way I could think to capture cupfulls from its firehose was to write.

What does your writing process look like?

There are times where I give focused effort to a project, which may be poetry or prose, and I find that the hour after the kids' bedtime works decently well for making some amount of progress. I try not to be in a hurry. If I have ideas outside of that time frame, I have a Google doc where I keep fragments I can return to later. In general, I find there to be no lack of material, just because my life is so eventful at the moment, with three young children. I do have to be more creative about actually getting the ideas outside of my head!

Of your various writings, what is one of your favorites? Why?

There is a poem called "God" in Poured Out, the forthcoming poetry collection I have with Thea Press. It's at the very end, because I felt that it really marked where I was emotionally and spiritually at the time I put the collection together. I wrote it while on retreat at the Franciscan Renewal Center, a weekend that felt full of natural beauty and synchronicity, and also primarily silence, which I rarely experience and find quite valuable at this juncture of my life. For me, it almost serves as a sort of manifesto, naming the sacredness all around me at any given time, even when I am unaware.

What are your thoughts on the use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) during the creative process?

Oh, that's a road I am totally unwilling to go down! I spent a month writing a draft of a novel, and it trips me out to think I could most certainly have given a sentence prompt and word count goal and generated something instantly. I doubt how much these tools can truly enrich the human experience, but would be willing to listen to someone's argument to that effect. For me, I think I'll keep doing it the hard way, because the process is oftentimes the reward.

Tell us about one or more of your favorite writers and how they've impacted you.

There are so many! But for poetry, I would say one of my most direct influences is Kate Baer, a mom of four who famously wrote her first chapbook in snatches of time at Panera. Her work resonates so much with so many of the experiences, thoughts, and struggles I have as a woman, as a wife, as a mother, and I felt inspired to share my own because she took the time and energy to write. So, a great hope of mine is that folks who read Poured Out will be encouraged to do the same.

What has writing taught you about the world and yourself?

I think one of the main lessons, and I know this is a cliche--in fact I know my daughter's teacher has this on the wall in their classroom--is to be myself, because everyone else is already taken. I can compare myself to other writers all day long and be too afraid to get a sentence down, or I can acknowledge that my style is not for everyone and just go with what feels authentic to my soul. One guiding principle I have--and this works well because I am an avid reader--is to write what I would want to read, which may not exist yet. So I think as I lean into my individual creativity, and those sparks of interest which only my mind can join together, that's a sign of success. And then taking it further, I can appreciate that in other writers, musicians, photographers, etc. It's true that each of us has something unique to offer.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

I think it's the same advice I may have for someone who wants to learn an instrument or any other skill--just do it! You have to practice. And you have to have that experience where you read something you wrote and think it's amazing, and you have to experience that feeling of failure to capture exactly what you wanted. And then, you have to have that experience of revisiting work you did three years ago and realizing that you have gotten better--that you have learned how to express your thoughts more skillfully, more delicately, more concisely, whatever you are aiming for. Because when you have that experience, you'll trust the process and know you're going to get better and better.

Keeley is a mother of three children, a partner to Jason, a lover of cats, babies, naps, and baked goods. She enjoys playing music, especially with others, and writing, especially so she can share it with people in her life.

Contact: moonmusedoula.com



(Photo credit: Jason Bruner)