from the Bay to Boise, Tucson to Boise, Boise to Vegas to Tucson to Mexico City to Tucson, Boston, Manchester, Buffalo, the Great Lakes Great Escapes tour hitting Kansas City, Toledo, Michigan City, Gary, & a series of shows that incorporated Chicago, but lack entertaining documentation since the gigs we did were impromptu pop-ups
2017 Chapbook Series
Check our online store, as 2017's chapbooks are being snatched up quick, & we're already dwindling on copies available. Scroll down to see links for our own soft by Katie Clark + Loathe Love Lathe by Aeon Ginsberg + every time I park my car I feel like I'm doing something wrong by Joseph Parker Okay.
As always, they're available for sliding-scale donations <3
12/29/17 UPDATE: & now this year's chaps are also available as free PDFs to download & read! Scroll down to grab a copy if you're unable to pay for the print version. Much love for the support y'all threw us throughout 2017. If you dig the words of this year's authors, tossing that love towards a review on Goodreads (links below) is much appreciated. Looking forward to the words to come, cheers!
Thank you for your support! As our third chapbook contest took off, we were excited to see 129 submissions hit our inbox within the usual 48hr window. This page is our central hub to share updates in-regards to this year's contest / publishing production, but Christopher Morgan has also started a N! Tavern series exploring under the hood details of how we're running this.
Like last year, winners debut have the option to represent themselves & N! on stage at any shows we attend this year & next. Following their debut, the books will be distributed online + taken across country with our traveling bookstore, Books & Shovels.
We hit gatherings in Tucson + New Orleans + Brooklyn + San Francisco Lit Crawl + This Lil Lit Fest + the NYC Poetry Festival. Thru our travels & sales, we use a 'pay-what-you-can' rate to better provide an accessible amp for our authors + to avoid clipping potentially excluding price-tags to lit's throat.
& huge shout out to Craig Mullins of Bottlecap Press joining up with us again to print--& that love's extended to Hattie McLean + Heather Danforth + Kritsa Esse for working the cover art <3
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Winners
Nostrovia! is thrilled to announce our three winners for the 2017 Chapbook Contest (!) :
Our Own Soft
by Katie Clark
the truth is i’ve burnt the sheets in all of my poems but i never could bring myself to light the match or throw them away
katie clark is twenty years old and from the south. currently, katie studies anthropology and creative writing in the pioneer valley. they have worked with as220 and vagabond city lit in order to take part in conversations around what it means to make/be/participate in an artistic community.
"Katie Clark's collection is a fierce journey into gender and sexual identity. They say, "I wake up with your body my body" and "I was a boy until I wasn't a boy." These lines are absolutely what we need right now. The collection is self-conscious about its own body and explores what it means to fall deeply into the abyss of others' bodies when you are barely living in your own."
–Joanna Valente, Marys of the Sea (The Operating System)
"the poems of our own soft refuse to protect us from sharp edges as we unravel their secrets in the low light of unsleep. to move forward we rely on remembered litanies, associating to make ripples. imperfect perfect summer / orange at the edges / water / water / what clothes / which trees to bother climbing / what do you see when you try to see yourself / what do you see when looking back over your shoulder? is this nostalgia or something else invented to stand in its place? either way, it feels sun-warm: a snake coiled on a rock that may strike or may stay still as death. Clark writes, “it doesn’t always happen in the order that it happened,” then throws the past in the air like confetti / like releasing a hive of bees to hunt for what is sweet, stinging as they seek the honey out."
–Emily O'Neill, Pelican (YesYes Books)
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katie reading a poem from their n!p chap in the rain(!):
Loathe/Love/Lathe
by Aeon Ginsberg
...I dream for the queer future most of all that exists...
Aeon Ginsberg (they/them) is a writer, performer, barista, and bartender from Baltimore City, MD. They are a Taurus sun, Aries rising. Other works include “Until The Cows Come Home” published by Elation Press (2016), and publications with various journals, magazines, and anthologies.
"As a poet, Aeon Ginsberg is resourceful with language and imagery, finding metaphor and anecdote where the reader had previously thought language had already dredged all it could out of that instance; as a vocally transgender poet, Aeon Ginsberg is a poignantly necessary voice. There is often a lot of talk in literary communities about what makes a "trans poem" a "trans poem," and while the majority of Aeon's poems mention they are trans somewhere within the text, there is never a sense of force or plea; rather, while Aeon's gender is influential in all aspects of their work, it does not define their work. Aeon's work is instead profoundly influenced by the daunting task of humanizing and unraveling trauma, from abusive relationships to harassment by customers at their food-service job, and throughout their narrative, Aeon never lies to their audience or sugarcoats the circumstance. Instead, Aeon presents their truth unflinchingly, letting the audience know they've got some heavy shit to talk about, but it's our choice if we want to listen. And goddamn, I am positive y'all will want to listen."
–Linette Reeman, writer, performer, Aries
"Loathe/Love/Lathe is a phenomenal book written by an even more magnificent poet. Aeon Ginsberg brings to every poem a rawness that only they are capable of bringing. Exploring topics such as bodies, gender, safety, and the self (whatever the "self" is), Ginsberg provides not only understanding but an honest gentleness that is so necessary. No other book of poetry that I have had the privilege of reading does justice to the lived realities of young queer Americans in the same way Loathe/Love/Lathe does. Having read this book a few times over now, each time being left without words yet with an intense desire to hold every person I've ever loved, I truly recommend this work."
–Erin Taylor, writer, interviews for Maudlin House, Sagittarius
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Aeon READING AN EXCERPT FROM THEIR N!P CHAP(!):
Everytime I Park My Car I Feel Like I Am Doing Something Wrong
by Joseph Parker Okay
legally, companies and factories have more of a right to pollute and poison the air than the rest of us do of breathing clean and safe air and if that doesn’t make you angry then literally what the fuck is wrong with you
joseph parker okay lives in tucson. he’s the author of my phone is about to die and i hope it takes me with it and also the founder of spy kids review and 2fast2house.
find more of his work at gumroad.com/josephparkerokay. he tweets @verysoftlake
"This chapbook has a story where an armadillo is the most revered animal in the world. I found that relatable because I revere armadillos very much. It also has a story that is very pro-snake, which I support. You will probably have fun reading this thing. And one of my favorite parts is the story titles, so if you're busy you can just read the titles and have fun that way, too"
–Steve Roggenbuck
"This book is the response to the reality we are all trying to end. Imagine you didn't sleep for 8 days and then you told someone you love them. This is that moment."
–Audrey Honeydrone
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Joseph READING AN EXCERPT FROM His N!P CHAP(!):
Finalists
Be sure to check our Featured Finalist page to read a piece from each of these chapbooks! We have a lot of love for everyone here <3
- Katie Clark - our own soft
- Eric Cline - the moth and when it calls
- Aeon Ginsberg - Loathe/Love/Lathe
- Anna Lewinmeister - As If
- Joseph Parker Okay - every time i park my car i feel like i’m doing something wrong
- Timothy Otte - feathermucker
- Danielle Perry - oh you libra
- Mason Shreve - Y’all
- T. Stores - Cemetery Walk
- Rachelle Toarmino - RACHELLE, BABY