Indie Lit Fair, Vol. One
The Indie Lit Fair, presented by the Community of Literary Magazine and Presses (CLMP) and the PEN World Voices Festival, has been a highlight of the Festival for the past four years. This year, we are delighted to present a virtual edition in a series of weekly installments highlighting the work of poetry presses, fiction and creative nonfiction publishers, and literary magazines. Join us in supporting independent publishing, an industry that has been hit with particular force by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Welcome to the Indie Lit Fair! We’re thrilled to showcase the breadth of independent magazines and presses our country has to offer. Collectively, they form the bedrock of the literary ecosystem, fostering an environment where writers and their work can flourish. From magazines that highlight voices from local communities, to presses that present books from other countries to U.S. readers, to publishers that focus on specific subjects and genres, their success is marked by the diverse array of voices they bring forth into the culture at large. So browse below and take advantage of the exclusive promotional offers they’re extending to the PEN World Voices community!”
—Mary Gannon, Executive Director, The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses
Broken Pencil
Since 1995, Broken Pencil has been a mega-zine dedicated exclusively to exploring independent creative action. Published four times a year, each issue of Broken Pencil features reviews of hundreds of zines and small press books, plus comics, excerpts from the best of the underground press, interviews, original fiction, and commentary on all aspects of the indie arts. From the hilarious to the perverse, Broken Pencil challenges conformity and demands attention.
Promotion: Use coupon code PEN20 to get 20 percent off a subscription or single issue order.
Website: brokenpencil.com
Contra Mundum Press
Contra Mundum Press (CMP) is an award-winning independent publishing house that has published translations from Sumerian, French, Hungarian, Italian, German, Turkish, and Farsi; several bi- and multilingual books from a variety of genres; as well as two world-premiere editions of Pessoa. The primary aim of CMP is to publish translations of writers who in their use of form and style are à rebours, or who deviate significantly from more programmatic and spurious forms of experimentation. As a purveyor of lone and often exiled or forgotten voices, CMP serves as a home to world culture, welcoming the voices—and so, the lives and experiences—of “foreigners.” In publishing translations from as many different languages as we have, CMP not only welcomes strangers into its house, but presents them to the English-reading public as our honored guests.
Promotion: 20 percent discount on all CMP 2020 titles: A City Full of Voices: Essays on the Work of Robert Kelly, Outlaw: Author Armed & Dangerous by Rédoine Faïd, It’s Raining in Moscow by Zsuzsa Selyem, I Appeared to the Madonna by Carmelo Bene, Microliths by Paul Celan, Theater Symptoms by Robert Musil, and Chapter On Love by Miklös Szentkuthy.
Website: contramundum.net
Electric Literature
Electric Literature is a nonprofit dedicated to making literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. We are committed to publishing work that is intelligent and unpretentious, and to breaking down barriers to reach new audiences. Since 2009, our website has grown one of the largest audiences for literary writing, with 3.5 million readers in 2019.
Promotion: Take 20 percent off the “[sic]”and “stet” enamel pins in the Electric Lit shop by entering the discount code INDIELIT at checkout. Show everyone you’re like this on purpose and plan to stay that way!
Website: electricliterature.com
The Feminist Press
The Feminist Press publishes books that ignite movements and social transformation. Founded in 1970, we are proud to celebrate our legacy as the longest-running feminist publisher in the world during our 50th anniversary. Working to create a world where everyone recognizes themselves in a book, we lift up insurgent and marginalized voices from around the world to build a more just future.
Promotion: Take 20 percent off all books on our website with the discount code VIRTUAL20, applied at checkout.
Website: feministpress.org
great weather for MEDIA
great weather for MEDIA focuses on the unpredictable through solo poet collections, plus anthologies of poetry and short prose. Latest books include Tricks of Light, the breathtaking new collection from Thaddeus Rutkowski; and Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea, an exhilarating collection of contemporary poetry and fiction from established and emerging writers across the United States and beyond. Based in New York City, great weather for MEDIA showcases writers worldwide. Award-winning authors include Steve Dalachinsky, Michelle Whittaker, and Thaddeus Rutkowski.
Website: greatweatherformedia.com
The Haight Ashbury Literary Journal
The Haight Ashbury Literary Journal publishes poetry and fiction, featuring voices that are often of those who have been marginalized, oppressed, or abused. The Haight Ashbury Literary Journal strives to bring literary arts to the general public; to the San Francisco community of writers; and to people of varying ages, genders, ethnicities, and sexual preferences. The journal is produced as a tabloid to maintain an accessible price for low-income people. Volume 34, Number One features the poetry of Elaine Gerard, an Indigenous writer and artist. 45 other writers are included; Volume 35, Number One features the poetry of K. R. Morrison and 50 other writers, including ruth weiss and Kim Shuck.
Promotion: Each issue, typically $5, is on sale for $4 with free postage. Order by emailing [email protected].
Kaya Press
Founded in 1994, Kaya Press is a group of dedicated writers, artists, readers, and lovers of books working together to publish the most challenging, thoughtful, and provocative literature being produced throughout the Asian and Pacific Island diasporas. Kaya’s diverse list of titles includes experimental poetry, noir fiction, film memoir, avant-garde art, performance pieces, new and innovative fiction, “lost” novels, and everything in between. Some of Kaya’s summer reads include So Many Olympic Exertions (2017) by Anelise Chen, Last of Her Name (2019) by Mimi Lok, and Rolling the R’s: 20th Anniversary Edition (2016) by R. Zamora Linmark. We believe that it’s impossible to generate power without first finding one’s center, and that our API diasporic focus is a starting point, not an ending point. We believe that people’s lives can be changed by literature that pushes us past our expectations and comfort zones, and we believe in the contagious potential of creativity combined with the means of production.
Website: kaya.com
Laertes Books
We strive to publish keenly human documents: literature that catches the fullness of our experience and situation in the world, from Cavafy’s solitary notes at the start of the 20th century that bear on homosexual lack of agency (together with the poems that came to birth in the same period), to a play set during the war in Kosovo and the NATO bombings; from the poetry of Pascoli on the brink of the 20th century embedded in rustic life and the natural world, to the work of engaged poets, playwrights, and prose writers who grapple in distant places with the crises of our time. We seek to hold a lamp to difficult human circumstances, obscure moments of history, and dimensions of life on earth that seem to be escaping us.
Promotion: Free shipping for Giovanni Pascoli: O Little One and Selected Poems, and our two newest poetry chapbooks: Memories Pretend to Sleep by Julia Gjika and Emergency Exit by Xhevdet Bajraj. (Select “PEN World Voices Shipping.”)
Website: laertesbooks.org
Literaturhaus
HAUS RED by Literaturhaus chronicles the art and business of independent book publishing. This seasonal newsletter recounts the story of a featured title, tracing its path from the writing and editing processes to production, and juxtaposing it with a nexus of titles and themes, to offer readers and writers alike an intimate, singular view into the worlds of independent book publishing.
Literaturhaus publications explore the role and potential of art, the conversations it provokes, and its function in placing humans in the universe, in relation to each other and to our environs.
Promotion: All digital editions are free for a limited time!
Website: literaturha.us/shop and bookshop.org/shop/literaturha
Lucky Jefferson
Founded in 2018, Lucky Jefferson is a literary journal and trove that confronts the challenges poets face as they seek publication and exposure to new readers. Readers can expect literature that highlights refreshing contemporary perspectives and promotes cultural diversity while fostering inclusive creativity. Lucky Jefferson isn’t your typical literary journal—we generate constructive and interactive conversations around poetry, art, and publishing and rethink the way journals are produced and shared with readers and writers.
Promotion: Free shipping on orders $7+
Website: luckyjefferson.com
No, Dear Magazine
No, Dear aims to bring together the voices of New York City poets who might not otherwise be in dialogue: both emerging and established poets from diverse backgrounds who are living and writing in New York City’s five boroughs. In collaboration with Small Anchor Press, No Dear also publishes first chapbooks by NYC poets.
Promotion: Buy Duhita Cori Krege’s isn’t devotion (2019) and Meher Manda’s Busted Models (2019), and get No Dear’s “Border” issue free! Checkout code: dearest.
Website: nodearmagazine.com/chapbooks
One Story
One Story, Inc. celebrates the art form of the short story and the authors who write them by creating a vibrant community of readers and writers of literary short fiction. Our award-winning magazine, One Story, features one short story in each issue and arrives in the homes of over 8,000 subscribers each month like a letter from a friend.
Promotion: As part of the Indie Lit Fair, we’re offering 10-issue subscriptions for $10 with code PENWORLD. You can also renew an existing subscription or give a subscription to a friend using this promotion.
Rain Taxi
In a world increasingly saturated with unfiltered content, Rain Taxi champions aesthetically adventurous literature. We serve as a catalyst in the literary community, creating meaningful connections among readers, writers, and publishers. Rain Taxi explores challenging work from diverse voices in multiple genres and formats, elevating the review as an art form and publishing criticism that is intellectually challenging and illuminating.
Promotion: Become a member with a gift of just $25 and receive a year’s worth of Rain Taxi (including our special 100th issue!) delivered directly to your door, plus so much more!
Website: raintaxi.com
The 3rd Thing
The 3rd Thing is a small, independent press dedicated to publishing necessary alternatives to what is already out there in abundance. We produce a suite of four to six projects a year that represent our interdisciplinary, intersectional priorities in terms of form, content, and perspective. We think of these projects as a cohort—together representing a range of perspectives and approaches to writing—and contributing to our larger endeavor to create not just beautiful books, but also culture. The four books of the 2020 cohort are necessary alternatives in a time when we need new stories and new ways of telling them—a time when we need to remember what has almost been lost and imagine how to go on together into a future that can sustain us all.
A book is more than a beautiful object. It travels through time and space and connects us to one another. To write a book, to publish a book, to read a book is to create culture.
Promotion: We are happy to offer Indie Lit Fair participants and visitors a 20 percent discount on any of our 2020 cohort titles. Shop our online catalogue and use the coupon code 2020IndieLitFair on checkout to receive 20 percent off any 2020 books in your cart. One use only, coupon expires August 31, 2020.
Website: The3rdThing.press
Transit Books
Transit Books is a nonprofit publisher of international and American literature, based in Oakland, California. Founded in 2015, Transit Books is committed to the discovery and promotion of enduring works that carry readers across borders and communities. We publish a carefully curated list (six to eight titles per year) of award-winning literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, essay, and prose that falls somewhere in between. Transit authors have received or been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Booker International Prize, the National Translation Award, the Windham-Campbell Prize, and more.
Promotion: 20 percent off all transit titles—including The Tree and the Vine by Dola de Jong and The Other Name by Jon Fosse—with discount code LITFAIR through June 30.
Website: transitbooks.org/books
About the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP)
CLMP ensures a vibrant, diverse literary landscape by helping mission-driven independent literary magazines and presses thrive. We provide publishers with funding and technical assistance; facilitate peer-to-peer learning and group action; serve as a dependable, essential hub for best practices, resources, and nurturing community support; and build bridges to connect publishers with other groups of literary stakeholders, including readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, educators, presenting organizations, and funders. Along with directly serving 400+ member-publishers located in almost every state in the country, CLMP administers the Lit Mag Adoption program, which provides to educators and students discounted literary magazine subscriptions for use in the classroom; an annual Indie Lit Fair, featuring magazines and presses at the PEN World Voices Festival; the Literary Writers Conference, a two-day professional development event for writers held every December in New York City; and the annual Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature, which celebrates magazines and books that make a significant contribution to our literary culture. To learn more about CLMP, visit clmp.org.