INCOMING/UPCOMING

Friends!

I have two exciting announcements to share!

First, i am beyond honored to be a part of Yellow Arrow Publishing’s Literary Night here in Baltimore on August 2nd! It’s part of the Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk and will feature a ton of amazing writers, readers, and presses.
Akinoga will be at Snake Hill, a hip, laid-back watering hole with a sausage-centric menu, a cool microbrew list, and craft cocktails, from 5 until 9, so i hope y’all come by and see me/get some good dang food and drinks.

Second, i am SUPER EXCITED to announce that akinoga press will be publishing the first volume of Jack Slocomb’s debut poetry collection, Native Tongue, this October, with volume two following next spring!
His poetry is wonderful and intimate, and i’m so happy i can make a home for it. Just like all of the books i’ve published so far with akinoga, working with Native Tongue has resulted in so many interesting firsts for the press. It’s thrilling to know that despite all the ground i’ve already covered, there’s still so much more out there to learn and discover.
Buuuuut i’ll save that for the Spotlight i’ll be making for the book soon!

Hope to see y’all August 2nd!

–mz

early 2019 updates!!!

Friends!

I have some things to share!!!

First up, i would like to send massive amounts of thanks to Marc di Saverio (author of Sanatorium Songs, Palimpsest Press 2015) for writing this wonderful blurb for Stanford Cheung’s STRUCTURES FROM THE STILL!

“The lyrical "clarity and sage-like terseness of Cheung's subtly explosive lines would make the Imagist Pound himself take full notice of this young, practiced, fully-arrived debut poet of the future.”

Find more blurbs and info about (and even an excerpt from) STRUCTURES FROM THE STILL here!


Second, i started a new sidecast of so…poetry? called so…poetry? reviews, in which i review books, podcast-style! They are envisioned to be companions to the interview/conversations of so…poetry?, and i am currently two episodes deep (Jane: a murder by Maggie Smith and After the Quake by Haruki Murakami).
I expect the review sidecast to continue for a good looooong while, so keep an eye out for them; they usually drop early in the month.


–mz

purchasing hiccup

Friends!

It was brought to my attention last night that there was a problem with purchasing from the new store i set up. To everyone who attempted to buy a book (or some) in the last couple of weeks or so and could not, i sincerely apologize. It was 100% my fault for not setting up the shipping options correctly.

BUT!, i have fixed the issue, so y'all can commence the purchasing!

 

–mz

THERE AND BACK AGAIN: A TORONTO BOOK-LAUNCH STORY

FRIENDS!

This past weekend was a whirlwind of an experience. As you know, Friday the 10th marked the release of Stanford Cheung's first full-length poetry collection, STRUCTURES FROM THE STILL. And, as you may have guessed, Stanford lives in Toronto. And, as you have no doubt intuited, i do not. So, early Friday morning, i packed up my car with books, snacks, and a friend (Maria, i will road-trip with you anytime!), and hoofed it up to the i think birthplace of my pops (it's either Toronto or Montreal, i can never remember).
On the drive up, i made note of a few interesting things:

  • rural Pennsylvania/New York feels like most of the other rural US i've visited, just with more hills
  • my car's defrost will default to AC-level cold air even when the AC is off
  • my cell plan covers international roaming
  • bear roadkill and cryptid roadkill look almost indistinguishable
  • Toronto itself felt like an unusual, albeit viable, pastiche of US cities (of note: Seattle, Miami, and a dash of 80s era New Orleans). Montreal also felt like this, which makes me wonder if all Canadian cities do.

Almost as soon as we got to the city, it was time for the launch. If you ever visit Toronto, i highly, HIGHLY recommend a visit to knife | fork | book. The store is situated in a corner of a sizable belly-dance studio and is resplendent with wood floors, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and heaps of large, inviting, and nestle-able chairs.
And Kirby, the founder/owner of knife | fork| book as well as a poet and publisher, is someone you ABSOLUTELY need to meet and forge a friendship with. He is a consummate curator of space and one of the major hubs of and beacons for the Toronto poetry scene.

As for the launch, what can be said? The intimate group that braved the incredibly pleasant summer evening to be a part of the evening were treated to a powerhouse reading: JC Bouchard primed us and Stanford caught us in a wholly new, collective dreamscape. It was hand's down one of the best readings i have ever been to.

I posted a few videos on my instagram, but they don't do the evening justice.
And, after the reading and talkback, the after-mingling and book sales, the launch was over. We all went our separate ways: to home, to the Night Market, to dinner, to an airbnb. . .
It's fitting, i think, that this launch happened in the middle of August. The best image i can muster for the event is a breathtaking summer sunset: the mountainous clouds dyed the soft yet magnetic tones of the vanishing sun, the sky itself stacked and striated with colors that have no right to exists so well together, to blend so seamlessly into each other, but somehow do, somehow gradient this miraculous way every evening, and then they're gone, then everything is gentle and blue and at peace.

It was a everything befitting of Stanford's book, and so much more than anything i could have hoped for.

STRUCTURES FROM THE STILL is out now and can be purchased here.
Kirby's beautiful photos from and write-up of the event can be found here.

 

–mz

BOOKS ON BOOKS

Friends!

I am so incredibly excited to announce the imminent launch of akinoga press' next book/first full-length collection of poetry: STRUCTURES FROM THE STILL by Stanford Cheung.

I have been working with Stanford off and on for years and i am so thrilled to finally be publishing his poetry. I've never read anything quite like it, and yet, on some deep dream-level, i have encountered his poetry everywhere.

Head on over to the spotlight page to read some advance praise of and an excerpt from the collection, and then head over to the akinoga press store and preorder yourself a copy!

STRUCTURES FROM THE STILL will be launching on August 10 at Knife Fork Book in Kensington Market in Toronto, so you're around/out that way, please join us for a night of poetry and book releasing!
More details/a facebook event link will follow!

 

–mz

spring and summer 2018 releases

Hello, friends!

It is with unimaginable excitement and gratitude that i can now announce the first batch of akinoga's 2018 publishing slate!!!:

spring — TO TRACY LIKE / TO LIKE / LIKE by Tracy Dimond

summer — Structures from the Still by Stanford Cheung

Tracy Dimond is a powerhouse of a poet and publisher: she co-curates Ink Press Productions; is the author of three chapbooks: I WANT YOUR TAN (Ink Press 2015), Grind My Bones Into Glitter, Then Swim Through The Shimmer (NAP 2014), and Sorry I Wrote So Many Sad Poems Today (Ink Press 2013); and was a 2016 Baker Artist Award finalist.

TO TRACY LIKE / TO LIKE / LIKE, her first single-poem chapbook, is set to be published in the March-April corridor.

Stanford Cheung is an exceptional poet and pianist from Toronto. His poetry has appeared in Nomadic Press, Ricepaper Magazine, and X-Peri. He is the author of three chapbooks: Comfort of Malice (Inspiritus, 2018), Kite Extension (Words(on)Pages, 2017), and Any Seam or Needlework (The Operating System, 2016). 

Structures from the Still, his first full-length collection, will be published in the late-August corridor.

Be sure to check out the SPOTLIGHT page for more details as the launch dates get closer.
And if you happen to bump into Tracy at AWP this year, she may just have a mock-up or two of her book on hand...

boooooooook news!

Hello, friends!

It's that time again! That's right: tis the season for autumnal literary festivals!
I am honored to announce that akinoga press will have a presence at the Baltimore Book Festival (september 22-24) AND the Frostburg Indie Lit Festival (october 13-14).

This will be my second year at the BBF and my first at the Indie Lit Fest, and i could not be more excited for either. I should be at both for their respective duration (aside from a brief absence to sit on a panel at the Indie Lit Fest), so if you're in the area, PLEASE STOP BY, be it for chapbooks, shop talk, or general conversing.

I will be in the red rectangle for the BBF:

BBF17_Map5_program.jpg

and when i get a map of the layout of the Indie Lit Fest/find out where my table will be, i'll make a new post about it.

Hope to see y'all there!

 

–mz

TWO BIG OL' PIECES OF NEWS

hello, friends! i apologize that it's been a bit since i posted any updates. to make up for it, have two AMAZING PIECES OF NEWS!

AMAZING PIECE OF NEWS NUMBER 1 — AKINOGA PRESS WILL BE SELLING BOOKS AT AWP2017!!!!!!!!!!
i know! i'm as shocked as you probably are! this is an unbelievable opportunity and i am so deeply grateful to Dayana Stetco it's kind of ridiculous. I had Dayana for a few wonderful classes in undergrad (i passed out in one of them; ask me about it when you see me at AWP) and she was gracious enough to offer me space on her exhibitor's table to sell my wares.

SO, when you get to the book fair, look for table 739, which is here:

Screen Shot 2017-01-29 at 10.50.14 AM.png

and i will be somewhere behind it trying to not hyperventilate because I'M SELLING MY BOOKS AT AWP!!!!!1

AMAZING PIECE OF NEWS NUMBER 2 — AKINOGA PRESS WILL BE PUBLISHING IN PLACE OF THIS IN PROBABLY LESS THAN A MONTH!
yep, that's right: in all of this radio silence, i worked up another book for y'all! It is written by Dayana Stetco (yep, the SAME ONE) and Shannon Miller, and is:

a hybrid of illuminated facebook posts, emails, real and imaginary exchanges, and brief meditations on the nature of theatre, nostalgia, unhappiness, and inevitable encounters — a conversation in the shape of a tango, an ending, a beginning

i am so excited for y'all to read this book. i love it. i love everything about it, and hopefully you will, too. if you JUST CAN'T WAIT, i can help in two ways.

1) i can point you in the direction of THIS READING, thursday, feb. 9th, at the george washington university textile museum. the reading is off-site and runs from 4-6. Dayana will be taking the stage at some point and will FOR SURE be giving all who attend a sneak peak of what In Place of This has in store

and 2) i can point you in the direction of this, oh briefest taste of excerpt

there will be a pre-order signup/email sheet at the table, so please, COME ON BY AND PRE-ORDER ONE OF THESE BOOKS!
it's worth it.

– mz

more news!

FRIENDS! MORE NEWS!

firstly, i have the location! akinoga press, along with Mason Jar Press, will be at booth P 09 on Light St (between the Visitor's Center and the Science Center). PLAN YOUR ROUTES ACCORDINGLY!

secondly, i am thrilled to announce that akinoga press will be publishing its FIRST-EVER ANTHOLOGY!!! head over the the on the other hand page for all the deets. submissions open THIS FRIDAY!!!

-mz