Bookmarked:
a short list of small press recommendations
Wish lists, gift guides, gift buying, and the scramble most people do around the holidays. Woof. It’s not my pace or motivation; I like giving gifts all seasons for no reason or saving things for months to have the perfect birthday gift. I love the feeling when I find the perfect thing for someone or want to buy something from an artist; I want to support and save it for the perfect person—a lid for every pot vibe.
On the flip side, I’ve been told I’m hard to buy presents for, which is neither here nor there, but figuring out how to articulate my obscure interests is always difficult. A few themes that rise to the top are deep research projects focused on something or someone who has been forgotten, left behind, or misrepresented. I like collections and people who share them creatively, for example, Alex Lucas written.names zines or Breanne Trammell’s Kool Cigs project. I also like hyperlocal (not just to me) histories, speculative history, historical nonfiction, and the outlying theme of dystopic survival; more on these another time. So it’s pretty all over the place, kinda like my taste in art and creative output.
Anyhow, I thought I’d recommend a random short list of small press publications (a great way to spend money this month, if at all) that spoke to me this year; maybe something will resonate with you, be added to a wish list, or be a perfect gift for a deep weirdo in your life for the holidays or bookmark for later, pun intended.
Pegacorn Press. Check out these newer sculptural pieces: Replication Meditation by Caroline Kern and Collision Center II by Mike Stoltz. I strongly encourage you to look at the website for images and details because they are wildly beautiful. Both are a steal for $32 each.
Pegacorn Press + my remnants of a manicure from October. Sming Sming Books. I just scooped Dispersal of a Feeling: blodnotes on choreography & Illness by Indira Allegra ($18). This is one of two books by Allegra Sming Sming is releasing this year. For the archive nerds who love beautiful books, I also highly recommend, and can’t believe it’s not sold out already, Long Kwento ($48) by Maia Cruz Palileo.
Combos Press. The gorgeous anthology Queer Earth Food #3 ($28) just came out, and Squelch A Memoir of Food, Love, and Uncertainty by Nina Katz ($18), is the perfect pocket-size to slide into a stocking if you do that sort of thing.
Interior spread of Queer Earth Food issue #3 SICK magazine. Beautifully designed, this magazine explores illness and disability through collaborative voices. I’m an issue behind, but #6 is out now ($12-$70). I have enjoyed every issue I’ve gotten my hands on.
Issues of SICK magazine Thick Press. An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping ($25-$45) is the most stunning book in form and content I’ve seen in a long time. It is best to visit their site to grasp its beauty, which has over 200 contributors. Don’t sleep on this one.
Sto Len. Sto Len is not a press but a person who makes incredible art and has published some books that have become part of my all-time favorites. If you or a loved one is interested in NYC, archives, trash, city planning, gardens, public space, environmentalism, and sign painting, I could go on and on… check out these three special books: Gardens On Parade ($25), VISUAL ANNUAL REPORT ($35), Sign Language ($25). If you can, get all 3. I can’t believe they aren’t sold out either.
Sto Len’s available books Vernal Pool is a new press run by artist Corrine Teed, a magical human who is a masterful printmaker and editor of this beautiful 10 x 10” book, strange mutualisms ($85), that has a silkscreened cover and Risograph printed interior with work from over two dozen amazing visual artists and writers. I highly suggest you check out the pictures and list of contributing folks.
If you have someone in your life you are struggling to find a gift for, I’d be happy to try to make some recommendations, leave a comment or send me a message. It’s a way to connect people to good things, and one of the only things I miss about having a retail space (past life experiences).
In other new recommendation news, here are three things I listened to this week that I really enjoyed:
The missing chapter: Filling in the blanks of the Bay Area’s Native American history on East Bay Yesterday.
Lucy Lippard’s Life on the Frontlines of Art on Hyperallergic.
The Morgan Library’s quest to honor a matriarch in archiving on NPR
And these two books I had on hold at the library came through at the same time, which is not always ideal. I’ll take it as a personal challenge, but I may set myself up for disappointment in getting them done by the due dates. I feel confident they are both worth reading if the topics interest you.
No Meat Required The Cultural History & Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating by Alicia Kennedy.
Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Finally, I should mention that I did the most thoughtful author interview with Maddy Court as a part of her author interview series about my work with As Ever, Miriam. Court is the genius behind many things, including the choose your own adventure adjacent zines Choose Your Own Dykeventure ($15), which I recommend for the gay in your life if they don’t already have it.
Good luck out there in these wild times. Check in with your friends for no reason. Send love letters. Texts. Pass notes at work.
i love this list. do you know how to get in touch w thick press??? i can't find any submissions or contact info on their website ...