The Host Dispatch: A Literary Podcast

In this episode, it was a thrill to speak with Katherine Packert Burke about her captivating debut novel, Still Life (Norton, 2024). "Katherine Packert Burke's Still Life is everything you want from a Künstlerroman: smart, sexy, funny, sly, and exceptionally queer. With biting insights and heartbreaking attention, this debut captures the daunting thrill of becoming an artist while becoming yourself." — Isle McElroy, author of People Collide   This was such a fun, tender and insightful conversation with an exceptionally talented writer. We are honored to share this episode with you! Here are some titles Katherine recommends that are in conversation with or inspired the writing of Still Life: The Friend by Sigrid Nunez The Idiot by Elif Batuman Little Rabbit by Alyssa Songsiridej Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters Imogen by Nevada Bonnie And Katherine was so generous to give us an additional list of the trans authors she recommends as well! :: LOTE by Shola von Reinhold Gossip Girl Fanfic Novella by Charlie Markbreiter  My Volcano and Bad Houses by John Elizabeth Stintzi  and the writings of: Alison Rumfitt, Jackie Ess, Gretchen Felker-Martin, torrin a. greathouse, and Isle McElroy

We're thrilled to announce that we are currently open for submissions! In this episode, we discuss what's new about this year's open reading period, our tips and tricks for submitting your work, and what our vision for Host's 2025 publishing program holds! We're looking for poetry and fiction (short stories or novellas) full-length manuscripts submissions between September 13th, 2024 through October 15th, 2024. Please review the finer details of our general guidelines on our submissions page. Submissions are open to any US-based poet or fiction writer. Though we love and have historically published works in translation, all submissions for this period must be original work written in English. Our reading fee is $15, however a limited number of free entries will be available for writers for whom the reading fee presents a financial hardship. Please contact us at editors@hostpublications.com. We encourage to all who submit that familiarize themselves with our most recent publications. You may purchase our titles on our website or through our distributor.  Submissions will be reviewed and participants will be notified by February 1st, 2024. We can't wait to read your poetry and short fiction manuscripts! As always, thanks for listening

In this episode, we discuss the works by women in translation that have been blowing our socks off this month. We talk about literary celebrities in the small press world, how their books have opened our minds, and taught us something new about literature. The books we discussed in this episode are: Tentacle by Rita Indiana Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon 

In this episode, we had the immense honor to chat with mónica teresa ortiz, author of book of provocations, the inaugural winner of the Joe W. Bratcher Prize for Poetry. mónica teresa ortiz (they / them) is a poet, memory worker, and critic born, raised, and based in Texas. In book of provocations, mónica teresa ortiz posits that the most important role of the poet is that of “provocateur, to prod the audience, to interpret a visible and invisible world, to unveil secrets through the communication of language, sound, and meaning.” Tender and radical, these poems offer an unflinching look into the present, which they see with a brutal clarity.   With the Joe W. Bratcher Prize, Host Publications aims to amplify the kind of work that Joe was most passionate about—poetry that pushes the boundaries of form, art and culture, poetry that is urgent in its subject matter, poetry with a heart that beats for change. In this conversation, we talk about the origins of mónica's radical poetry, and how their work has evolved since we published their chapbook autobiography of a semiromantic anarchist in 2019. Some of the recommended works mónica cites in this episode are: Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galleano The works of Kwame Nkrumah  The works of Aime Cesaire The Great Camouflage by Suzanne Cesaire The works of Khaled Mattawa  

In this episode, we discuss the importance not only of amplifying queer rights, but the ways in which queer activism can work to advocate for the liberation of all, with Pride month events this year donating proceeds to efforts for Palestinian liberation and relief funds. One such event in Austin this year is Sunbird Fest, an arts and education festival organized by Austin community members in solidarity with Palestine happening June 20-23, all proceeds will go toward humanitarian relief in Gaza. More information including the complete list of fundraisers, how they are vetted, and how Sunbird Festival is handling proceeds here. Considering themes of liberation, we take a close look at the work of three queer poets whose work we admire, Host's very own m. mick powell (author of threesome in the last Toyota Celica & other circus tricks,) Destiny Hemphill, and Cedar Sigo. 

This episode dives head first into the age old question: how the hell do you end a poem? Investigating the endings of three poems by poets we admire, we discuss the various strategies poets use to make a grand (or subtle, or repetitive, or mysterious) exit.  In this episode, we use this amazing list of 50 ways to end a poem, curated by the poet Emily Skaja, as a kind of map to guide us along the way.    The poems we discuss in this episode are: "Romanticism 101" by Dean Young "Person" and "Listening to Billie Holiday" by Blanca Varela "Upon Practicing a Second Language" by Ae Hee Lee

To kick off season 5 (!!) we has the chance to chat with the winner of the Spring 2024 Host Publications Chapbook Prize, Stephanie Niu about her incredible chapbook, Survived By: an Atlas of Disappearance.  Stephanie is a Chinese-American poet, digital humanities scholar, and ecology enthusiast from Marietta, Georgia. She is the author of She Has Dreamt Again of Water, winner of the 2021 Diode Editions Chapbook Contest, and the editor of Our Island, Our Future: A Zine of Youth Poetry from Christmas Island. Her poems have appeared in Copper Nickel, Missouri Review, Georgia Review, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship for community archiving research on Christmas Island's immigration and labor history. Stephanie regales us with stories from Christmas Island, the remote Australian territory that is woven through many of the poems in Survived By, animating the extinct, endangered, and recovering species of the island through visual poems that chronicle the extinction crisis. We talk about the possible links between the poetic and scientific practices, what poetry as "atlas" might mean, how her poems try attempt to understand the scale and scope of ecological crisis through a human sensibility, how engaging with other art forms, studies, and obsessions can fuel our poetry, and much more.  Some things we discussed in this episode: "What is it Like to Be a Bat?" scientific paper by Thomas Nagel  Dear Memory by Victoria Chang Shell hall in the American Museum of Natural History  

In this episode, we had the immense pleasure of talking with our forthcoming poet and author of the chapbook threesome in the last Toyota Celica & other circus tricks m. mick powell! We talked about everything from digital collage and it's relationship to mick's poetry practice, to the way the organization of a book of poems can be inspired by the way an album is composed. mick's brilliance and depth as a poet is undeniable, and their warmth as a conversationalist made for an uplifting discussion about poetry and art making!    m. mick powell (she/they) is a queer Black Cape Verdean femme, a poet, an artist, and an Aries. Their poems have been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology and a Pushcart Prize, and appear in Muzzle, Frontier Poetry, Up the Staircase Quarterly, and elsewhere. A 2023 Tin House Resident and professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies, mick enjoys chasing waterfalls and being in love. Keep up with her at mickpowellpoet.com and on IG @mickmakesmagic.art   Here are some links to books and other media discussed in this episode:  Mick's Interview with Working on Gallery Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals by Saidiyah Hartman Anything by Morgan Parker Janelle Monáe's album Age of Pleasure  I Will Destroy You - British black comedy-drama limited series created, written, co-directed, and executive produced by Michaela Coel

Hello Wildlings! In this episode, Claire and Annar discuss the idea of the primal in poetry, how and why we might tap into our most raw and instinctive urges in the making of a poem, to explore "the unknown capacities of the mind and heart" (Dean Young). In a sprawling but intimate conversation about fueling the fire of imagination, empathy and a spirit of desire unhindered by doubt, this episode dives in head first, discussing the work of these brilliant poets: The Art of Recklessness by Dean Young Solar Throat Slashed by Aimé Césaire  Alphabet in the Park by Adélia Prado

In this episode, Annar and Claire celebrate one of their favorite literary months, Women in Translation Month, by turning to the work of a couple of the podcast's favorite poets - Yi Lu and Alejandra Pizarnik. Discussing themes of loss, eco-poetry, drama and surrealism, these two poets were a perfect pairing for the celebration of women in translation.  The books featured on this episode are: Yi Lu's Sea Summit (formerly featured on the Earth Day episode with Host Poet Julie Howd!) Alejandra Pizarnik's The Last Innocence / The Lost Adventures 

In this episode, the second in our Adventures in Cover Design series, Managing Editor and cover designer extraordinaire, Annar Veröld, gives us her personal masterclass in all things color! We talk about everything from the ways to use the Pantone wheel to create the perfect color combinations, to the prehistoric origins of Barbie Pink (yup, you heard that right!)  Here are the color design resources that Annar recommends from this episode: Werner's Nomenclature of Colours Dictionary of Color Combinations, Vol. 1 The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair Ithell Colquhoun's Taro as Colour (check out this beautiful article Annar wrote about this deck!)

This episode asks the age old question: What the Hell is an Em Dash? As the first punctuation mark Annar and Claire cover in the WTH series, it is a fan favorite among contemporary writers, as evidenced by this tweet from author Alexander Chee: “Em-dash is the ‘just belt it and go' of punctuation. Thus my devotion to it.” There's even a (particularly nerdy) Distracted Boyfriend Meme circulating the web.  So what distinguishes an em dash from other dashes? Why do poets in particular have such a fondness for it? Why is she so flirty and fun? In this episode, the Host team gets to the bottom of these questions and find: more questions, of course! But also, lot's of great insight into how writers have come to affectionately use this hip punctuation mark.  These are the books discussed in this episode: Final Harvest by Emily Dickinson Sho by Douglas Kearney  To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness by Robin Coste Lewis  

In this episode, we had the abundant pleasure of talking with the Spring 2023 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Bianca Alyssa Pérez! In this conversation supercharged with Bianca's charm, we talked about  all things Gemini Gospel, from the inspiration behind the cover art to the poems themselves, full of spirit, grief and healing. We know you'll be charmed, too, by this lovely conversation with Bianca!   If you're listening before April 8th, 2023 and you live near Austin, Texas, please join us for the in-person book launch for Gemini Gospel at the Host Office! We'll have cake, a photo booth and a reading by Bianca from her stunning new chapbook.  And if you're near San Antonio, please join us for the second launch party at Poetic Republic Coffee Co. on April 29th!

For this episode, Claire and Annar each brought "something old" and "something new" - a mashup of very old and very contemporary poems to learn a little more about what poetry can do, what it has always done, and how it speaks remarkably clearly to us through the centuries.  Annar's Mashup: "Darkness" by Lord Byron and three poems from the book Blood Snow by dg nanouk okpik.  Claire's Mashup: "Field-Song" by Anachreon, (from Stone Garland: Six Poets from the Greek Lyric Tradition edited by Dan Beachy-Quick) and "Serenade behind a Floating Stage" by Shangyang Fang (from his book Burying the Mountain)  

In this episode, Claire and Annar get into the nitty gritty of where, how and what to submit when sending your writing out for publication, whether it be to a literary magazine, a chapbook prize, or to a press for full-length manuscripts.  Focusing on the practical details, we offer lists, tips and insights into the the daunting task of sending work out to be considered for publication, and dive into some philosophical questions like, "What, of your work, needs to be out in the world?" "What are you saying with this work?" "What is the dialogue that you want to have with this publication?" We talk about some of our personal submission strategies, how we cope with rejection and keep our spirits alive to send the next batch of poems out into the world, feeling supported and hopeful.  If you're listening before March 17th, 2023 (St. Patty's Day!) Host Publications is open for submissions! If you've got a chapbook manuscript ready to go, please send it our way! 

Welcome to Season 4 of The Host Dispatch!!  We're kicking this season off with another pressing question: "What the Hell is Dada?" Annar and Claire dive into the absurdity, revolution, play, and anti-art of the Dada movement, sharing some of their favorite writings from the likes of Tristan Tzara, Til Brugman, and Mina Loy. Here's our curated Dada Reading List, including books we discuss in this episode: Seven Dada Manifestos and Lampistries by Tristan Tzara  The Dada Market Anthology edited by Willard Bohn Dada: Themes and Movements (Phaidon), Rudolf Kuenzli The Lost Lunar Baedeker: Poems by Mina Loy Three New York Dadas and The Blind Man: Marcel Duchamp, Henri-Pierre Roché, Beatrice Wood  The Dada Spirit by Emmanuelle De L'Ecotais 

In this episode, we had the immense delight of chatting with the Fall 2022 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Sophia Stid! We discuss her prize-winning chapbook, But For I Am a Woman a gorgeous collection of poetry which explores the intersection of personal autonomy and deep spiritual connection through the writings and life of Julian of Norwich (ca. 1342 – 1416), a mystic who was the first woman known to write a book in the English language.  Sophia illuminates for us what drew her to this communion with Julian of Norwich, where she draws inspiration from (spoiler alert: the writings of Christian mystics + classic mystery novels are both involved!), how she approached writing the poems in But For I Am a Woman, and so much more.  Here are some of the books and other media discussed in this episode: Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich Reassemblage (documentary film) by Trinh T. Minh-ha The Works of Dorothy Sayers A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa Sensational Books Exhibit at Bodliean Libraries We hope you enjoy this conversation among friends, and as always, thanks for listening. 

In this episode, we reminisce about all the good times we shared with our publisher, friend, and ultimate fan of Spooky Season, Joe Bratcher.  Carrying on the tradition, we discussed two spooky reads that we've been enjoying this year: A Phantom Lover by Vernon Lee (Creature Publishing) Three Streets by Yoko Tawada (New Directions)

In this new minisode series, Managing Editor and cover designer extraordinaire, Annar Veröld, divulges all of her secrets to making the most striking book covers for Host Publications. In this first episode of the series, we focus on what it means to be inspired, and how to carry that inspiration through to the finish line.  Some of the design resources Annar recommends in this episode are:  Rijks Museum Archives  Taro As Color Deck by Ithell Colquhoun  Tantra Song - Tantric Painting from Rajasthan by Frank Andre Jamme

We offer this episode in loving memory of our publisher, mentor, and dear friend, Joe Bratcher III, who loved literature and was a champion of translated works, especially those written and translated by women. We celebrate Women in Translation Month this year in his honor.    In this episode, we discuss: Shapeshifter by Alice Paalen Rahon Extracting the Stone of Madness by Alejandra Pizarnik Please visit our website where currently, all of our works by women in translation are 50% off! 

This Pride Month, we are celebrating by making donations to the following organizations that support the LGBTQIA+ community:  The Okra Project - a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People wherever we can reach them. Out Youth - Out Youth serves Central Texas LGBTQIA+ youth and their allies with programs and services to ensure these promising young people develop into happy, healthy, successful adults. In this episode, Claire and Annar discuss some of the queer poets they've been reading lately, with a focus on up-and-coming LGBTQ+ poets with debut collections, including a couple of Host Chapbook Prize Winners!  The books discussed in this episode are:  autobiography of a semiromantic anarchist by mónica teresa ortiz Mistaken for Loud Comets by lily someson Punks by John Keene Wound from the Mouth of a Wound by torrin a. greathouse Burying the Mountain by Shangyang Fang

In this episode, Host editors Annar and Claire go back to the basics of poetry, to investigate one of the seemingly simplest yet most elusive poetic elements: the line break.    The poems discussed in this episode come from the following books: Ariel by Sylvia Plath Mistaken for Loud Comets by lily someson Little Girl Blue: Poems by Sequoia Maner  

In this episode, Annar and Joe had the chance to sit down with Fernando A. Flores, author of Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas, the short story collection that revived Host Publications as we know it after taking a brief hiatus.   We always like to say that Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas is a psychedelic romp through the Rio Grande Valley music scene. It is collection of 10 punk rock fairy-tales about artists and misfits trying to make noise and live forever in the unforgiving landscape of the Rio Grande Valley.   Fernando A. Flores is a writer who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, near McAllen, Texas. In addition to Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas, he is the author of Tears of the Truffle Pig, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and the forthcoming short story collection, Velleyesque, out May 3rd, 2022.

In this episode, Host editors Claire and Annar, and publisher Joe celebrate National Poetry Month by reading a few poems they've been returning to again and again to find inspiration this month.    The poems discussed in this episode are: "Poetry" by John Keene "Sailing to Byzantium" by W. B. Yeats "Black Star Line" by Henry Dumas "Reading Darwish in Vermont" by Zaina Alsous  

In this episode, Claire and Annar interview the Spring 2022 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Maryan Nagy Captan.  Maryan is a poet, screenwriter and educator living in Austin, Texas. She is a 2021 graduate of the Michener Center for Writers and attended the Disquiet International Literary Conference in 2017 and 2019. Her first book, Copy/Body, was published in 2017 by Empty Set Press and, her second book, Sixteen Rabbits, was the Spring 2022 winner of the Host Publications Chapbook Prize and is now available from Host Publications. With Maryan, Claire and Annar discuss the poems in Sixteen Rabbits, how Maryan came to poetry as an art form, what it means to be an experimental writer, and much more.  If you're listening to this episode before March 5th, 2022, please join us in celebrating Maryan at the virtual chapbook launch for Sixteen Rabbits via the Malvern Books YouTube channel.  Facebook Event Page: here Malvern Books YouTube: here

Hello, and welcome to *Season 3* of The Host Dispatch! What an honor it is to share the first episode of Season 3 of The Host Dispatch with you, in conversation with poet, educator, community organizer and founder of TORCH Literary Arts, Amanda Johnston. Amanda has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter. She has received fellowships, grants, and awards from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, Tasajillo, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Watermill Center, and the Austin International Poetry Festival. She is a former Board President of Cave Canem Foundation, a member of the Affrilachian Poets, cofounder of Black Poets Speak Out, and founder of Torch Literary Arts. TORCH Literary Arts is a nonprofit organization established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women based in Austin, Texas. Amanda is doing so much for Black women writers, but she also has such a beautiful vision for the future of this newly minted non-profit, including retreats, writing workshops, and more! So keep an eye out for more great things coming soon from TORCH by visiting their website, torchliteraryarts.org, following them on socials @TORCHliteraryarts and if you want to support, please consider joining us in making a donation!

This year, the Host team is celebrating the holidays with the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflöd, which translates to "great book flood," in which loved ones exchange books on Christmas Eve, curl up by the fireplace and sip on hot cocoa while reading their new books each year.   The books we gifted each other in this episode are: Other Peoples's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night by Morgan Parker Touch Me Not: A Rare Compendium of the Whole Magical Art edited by Hereward Tilton Echo Tree: The Collected Short Fiction of Henry Dumas

In this episode, Claire and Annar interview Cecily Sailer, a freelance writer writing coach, and the founder of Typewriter Tarot. Growing up an only child in a quiet home, she fell in love at an early age with ghost stories, hidden realities, and anything mysterious and inexplicable. In 2017, she finally picked up a Tarot deck and quickly discovered the power of Tarot as a tool for self-examination, guidance, and connection. She created Typewriter Tarot to offer guidance and inspiration for creative spirits.  In Cecily's own words, “Tarot has shown me new truths about myself, new opportunities I might have missed, new invitations to create my life in more meaningful and authentic ways. I created Typewriter Tarot because I wanted to share that with others.” This business is a passion project for Cecily, and for it she invents new offerings and classes, writes Tarot poems called Mystic Messages, creates meditations and designs rituals for her Patreon members. Check out her YouTube series Cosmic Rescue, which features creative people talking about a creative problem that they explore using Tarot.  Cecily is a strong proponent of social and climate justice movements, a big believer in reparations (in many forms), and a supporter of land-back, land-rematriation, and water protection movements. 10 percent of Typewriter Tarot's monthly revenue — sometimes more —is donated to social and climate justice efforts.  If you're interested in receiving typewriter tarot content, consider joining the Patreon Membership program. More information can be found at typewritertarot.com, or follow them on Instagram @typewritertarot !

Happy Spooky Season! In this episode, The Host Team dives into a spooky short story anthology titled The Women of Weird Tales, the second book in the series "Monster, She Wrote" by Valancourt Books, which resurrects fiction written by women who were pioneers in the speculative and horror genres. The Women of Weird Tales includes thirteen fantastic tales originally published between 1925 and 1949, written by four of Weird Tales magazine's most prolific female contributors: Everil Worrell, Eli Colter, Mary Elizabeth Counselman and Greye La Spina.  We loved this spooky collection, and can't wait to read more books from "Monster, She Wrote" series by Valancourt Books!  Hope you're having a spooky October, and as always, thanks for listening!

We are beyond excited to share this incredible conversation with the Fall 2021 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Sequoia Maner! Sequoia is an Assistant Professor of African American Literature at Spelman College. She is a co-editor of the critical-creative book Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era (Routledge, 2020) and at work on a forthcoming book regarding Kendrick Lamar's album To Pimp a Butterfly for the 33 1/3 series (Bloomsbury). Her writing has been published in Auburn Avenue, The Feminist Wire, Meridians, Obsidian, The Langston Hughes Review, and other venues.  In this conversation with Sequoia, we sat back and let her expound on so many thought-provoking topics, including the importance of interiority to the life of the poet and for little blue girls everywhere, the life of Harriet Jacobs and honoring one's lineage, the music of Tupac and Prince, and so much more!  

This year, we've put together the first official Host Publications Women In Translation Month Reading List, which includes many of our all-time favorite WIT titles, some new faves, a few books that are on our "to-read" lists, and even some books translated by women.  In this episode, we discuss our beloved WIT reading list, before diving into three amazing books we wanted to highlight: A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, with translations by the author (Biblioasis) Our Lady of The Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Melanie Mauthner (Archipelago Books) Yi Sang: Selected Works with translations by Don Mee Choi and Sawako Nakayasu (Wave Books)

The Austin Youth Poet Laureate program has landed in Austin! We here at Host Publications are thrilled to partner with the Library Foundation and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program led by Urban Word, with additional support from the Austin Public Library, Creative Learning Initiative, and Learn All The Time.  In this episode, we discuss the details of this exciting new program for young writers in Austin, and all of the benefits that it offers them, for their writing, their confidence, and for their engagement with their communities.  We had the opportunity to speak with the inaugural Teaching Artists who ran the application workshops this year, to hear about their experiences in the workshops and to get a better sense of what this program will offer young writers in Austin.    We spoke with Bianca Perez: (she/her) Bianca was born and raised in Mission, Texas – a small southern town bordering Mexico. She is currently an MFA Poetry candidate at Texas State University. Her poems have been published in The New York Quarterly, Re-side Magazine, Magma Poetry UK, ReclamationATX, Psst! Press' The Sappho Diaries, and East French Press. Forthcoming in The Ice Colony Anthology. She is also the co-host of a horror podcast with writer Stephanie Grossman. Her poetry centers on her Latin culture, spirituality, family, and womanhood. We also spoke with Steven Espada Dawson: (he/him) is a writer from East Los Angeles, currently working out of Austin. The son of a Mexican immigrant, he holds an MFA in poetry from Purdue University. He has served as poetry editor for Sycamore Review and Copper Nickel. Winner of the Barriss and Iola Mills Award and the Kneale Award, his poems have appeared recently or are forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, Best New Poets 2020, Colorado Review, Copper Nickel, Gulf Coast, Hobart, Kenyon Review Online, Split Lip Magazine, and Waxwing, among other journals.   We want to encourage any and all interested folks to apply for the Youth Poet Laureate position this year by Sunday, August 15, 2021, at 11:59pm, or to take the Application Workshops next year for a fully immersive creative experience. Head on over to the Library Foundation's website for more information on how to apply, and follow Library Foundation ATX and Host Publications on social media for updates on deadlines, the inaugural winner, readings and the forthcoming chapbook! 

In this episode, the Host team deconstructs and reimagines the idea of a "Beach Read," offering three unlikely candidates for this year's summer reading list that don't quite fit in with the mass-marketing schemes of the "Beach Read" convention:    Wild Milk by Sabrina Orah Mark The Hour of The Star by Clarice Lispector and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

In this episode, Claire and Annar chat with poet and writer extraordinaire, Julie Poole. This episode airs on June 1st, 2021, which is the publication date for Julie's first full-length collection of poetry, Bright Specimen, published by fellow small Texas press, Deep Vellum.  We had an enchanting conversation with Julie about her poems in Bright Specimen, which were inspired by her exploration of the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center at The University of Texas at Austin, the largest herbaria in the Southwestern United States. Julie takes us on a journey into the herbarium, describing what it was like to discover that space, and how it became a sanctuary for her where her poems began to blossom and multiply into this beautiful book.  Working at a small desk in the back of the building in the tower that was a sniper's outpost in the 1966 UT mass shooting, Julie writes in her afterword that "Nature is the path forward; all of the lessons of unity are there.”  To read more about Julie and her writing, including her incredible essays published in places like HuffPost, Publisher's Weekly and The Texas Observer, visit her website https://www.juliepoolejp.com Julie Poole was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She received a BA from Columbia University and an MFA in poetry from The University of Texas at Austin. Her first book of poems, Bright Specimen, was inspired by the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center at The University of Texas at Austin and will be published by Deep Vellum on June 1st, 2021. She has received fellowship support from the James A. Michener Center, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and Yaddo. In 2017, she was a finalist for the Keene Prize for Literature. Her poems and essays have appeared in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, CutBank, Denver Quarterly, Poet Lore, Cold Mountain Review, HuffPost, and elsewhere. Her arts and culture writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Publishers Weekly, Sightlines, The Texas Observer, and Texas Monthly. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her growing collection of found butterflies.

Welcome to the 1 Year Anniversary Episode of the Host Dispatch!    In this episode, we are celebrating the 1 year anniversary of The Host Dispatch with so much joy in our hearts! We are grateful for the opportunity to connect more deeply with each other, with poetry, great literature, and with you, our dear listeners.

In this episode, we had the pleasure of talking again with poet, Julie Howd.  Julie defines her term "Eco-Surrealism" in this episode, and we discuss the intersection of avant-garde poetry and the ever-pressing fight for the health of our planet.  In this context, we discuss the work of Argentinian poet, Silvina Ocampo, specifically her selected poems published by NYRB. Julie's Eco-Surrealist Recommended Reading List: Whale and Vapor by Kim Kyung Ju The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa Whale in the Woods by Blueberry Elizabeth Morningsnow Sea Summit by Yi Lu Ill Nature: Rants and Reflections on Humanity and Other Animals by Joy Williams Beasts of Burden by Sanaura Taylor Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop Culture, Feminism and Black Veganism from Two Sisters by Aph Ko and Syl Ko The Random House Book of Twentieth Century French Poetry edited by Paul Auster   Quantum weirdness and surrealism Ball, P. Quantum weirdness and surrealism. Nature 453, 983–984 (2008)   Book, Film and Exhibit References in this Episode:   Las Dîners de Gala by Salvador Dalí The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley  How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan Exhibit: "Garden City Mega City" Film: Queen of Diamonds by Nina Menkes   Ways to Get Involved for Earth Day In Austin:  Check out Austin's Zero Waste Resource Recovery Program The Trail Foundation - Weekly Volunteer Opportunities: Ecological Restoration and Trash Clean-up Join the Citizens' Climate Lobby Austin Chapter to build relationships with elected officials, the media and your local community Donate to the Austin Bat Refuge to help conserve the Austin bat population, vital to our local ecosystem Volunteer or Donate to Austin Wildlife Refuge (You can also support them by buying merch from their online store!) Volunteer or Intern with Environment Texas to protect Texas natural areas from development, to improve enforcement of our clean air laws, and to bring more wind and solar energy to Texas   Nationally: Donate to the Rainforest Foundation or check out their list of 10 Things You Can Do to Save the Rainforest Donate to the National Park Foundation Donate to World Animal Protection Donate to 350.org to stand up to the fossil fuel industry to stop all new coal, oil and gas projects and build a clean energy future for all Join the Good Food Institute community or Donate to their cause to accelerate alternative protein innovation Check out the Coral Restoration Foundation and all the amazing ways to get involved, including hands-on Dive Programs  Donate or Volunteer with Sea Shepherd Global to help conserve and protect our oceans **Julie's disclaimer: "These guys might be pirates"    Julie Howd is a poet and educator from Massachusetts. She is the author of Threshold (Host Publications, 2020), winner of the Host Publications Chapbook prize, and Talking from the Knees Up (dancing girl press, 2018). She holds an MFA from the University of Texas, Austin, and has received fellowships from the Juniper Summer Writing Institute and the James A. Michener Center. Her work can be found in Sixth Finch, The Spectacle, Deluge, and elsewhere. She lives in Amherst, MA.    

In this episode, Host editors Claire and Annar, and publisher Joe celebrate National Poetry Month by reading a few poems and discussing how they serve as examples of how each of us as individuals find access, or entry points into poems, and why we love poetry.  The poems we discussed in this episode are: “Diving Into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich from Diving Into the Wreck  “Poem for an Antique Korean Fishing Bobber” by Dobby Gibson from Little Glass Planet (Graywolf Press) “Girls Respond Quickly to a Call from Up High” by Sawako Nakayasu from Some Girls Walk Into the Country They Are From (Wave Books) For the entire month of April, we are offering 20% off all poetry titles through our website, www.hostpublications.com, and as a special bonus: we're also handpicking a complimentary Host 88 poetry title with every order we fulfill, all month long! Thanks for celebrating poetry with us, and as always, thanks for listening. 

Just a quick PSA announcing that the submissions window for the Host Publications Chapbook Prize will be closing at 11:59pm CST on Monday, March 15th!  Submissions guidelines and more information about the prize can be found on our website. We can't wait to read your work!

Welcome to Congress of the Spirits: a poetry ritual and performance. We wanted to create a sacred space in the airwaves for us to commune in, focusing on nourishing our depleted spirits with poetry that stimulates the imagination and crosses over into the dreamworld in which we can imagine a better future.  Before this magical reading, Claire and Annar offer a short meditative ritual to enter the virtual and imaginative space of the performance, where we can all share in the experience of poetry.  For the ritual: If you have these things (or some of these things) on hand, please gather: a scented item that brings you comfort, a scrap of paper and a writing utensil, and a candle. If not, you just need your imagination. Our Magical Readers: lily someson is a poet and essayist from Chicago. She has obtained a B.A. in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago and is a winner of the 2020 Eileen Lannan poetry prize with the Academy of American Poets, as well as the Spring 2021 Host Publications Chapbook Prize for her chapbook, mistaken for loud comets. She has been published or is forthcoming in Court Green, Queeriosity, and Columbia Poetry Review among others. She is currently a first-year Poetry MFA student at Vanderbilt University and an assistant poetry editor of the Nashville Review. On Ritual, lily says: Some of her favorite rituals include grocery shopping, antiquing, postcard collecting, and visiting Lake Michigan on warm summer mornings.   Taisia Kitaiskaia is the author of four books: The Nightgown and Other Poems; Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers, a collaboration with artist Katy Horan and an NPR Best Book of 2017; and Ask Baba Yaga: Otherworldly Advice for Everyday Troubles as well as its follow-up, Poetic Remedies for Troubled Times: From Ask Baba Yaga. She is the recipient of fellowships from the James A. Michener Center for Writers and The Corporation of Yaddo.  On Ritual, Taisia says: "I have a small wooden fairy door against a big bald cypress in the yard. On special occasions, I'll leave a note or talisman behind the door.   Heather Christle is the author of four poetry collections, most recently Heliopause. Her first work of nonfiction, The Crying Book, was published in 2019, with translations now appearing in many languages throughout Europe and Asia. She teaches creative writing at Emory University. Heather says: My favorite ritual is taking a nap, which I do every day. I do not mean to sound flippant; I cannot imagine how I could maintain waking consciousness and awareness of the world without that intervening rest.   Claude Cardona is a queer poet from San Antonio. Her chapbook What Remains is a collection of poems about longing and loving as a Chicana in Texas. Cardona is also the co-editor of Infrarrealista Review, a publication for Texan writers.  Claude's rituals include: burning letters full of wishes under the full moon, leaving offerings on her altar, and always offering her friends 3 card tarot readings. Faylita Hicks is an activist, writer, and interdisciplinary artist. They are the former Editor-in-Chief of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review and the author of HoodWitch (Acre Books, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry. They have been awarded fellowships and residencies from Tin House, Lambda Literary, Jack Jones Literary Arts, Broadway Advocacy, and the Right of Return USA. Their work is featured or forthcoming in Adroit, American Poetry Review, the Cincinnati Review, Ecotone, HuffPost, Longreads, Palette Poetry, Poetry Magazine, The Rumpus, Slate, Texas Observer, VIDA Review, Yale Review, and others. Faylita talks about ritual at the end of their reading, but they say this: “I chose these poems because they have little bits of my rituals inside of them.”   Dorothea Lasky is the author of six books of poetry and prose, including Animal (Wave Books). She teaches poetry at Columbia University School of the Arts and lives in New York City. Dorothea Says: My favorite ritual involves taking endless naps and walks, and then spraying new mixes of scents everywhere before writing. This ritual is my greatest luxury and hasn't happened in so many years, but I am hoping it will again one day soon.  

In this episode, we celebrate Black History Month with a reading and discussion of the anthology African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song edited by Kevin Young, Poetry Editor of The New Yorker. This incredible anthology is described as "A literary landmark: the biggest, most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the present," and in it we found familiar voices that we know and love, as well as new poets, and some whose work is hard to find or long out of print. This is a perfect start to reading African American poetry, and we highly recommend getting yourself a copy!  Though there are so many great poets in this anthology, here are those we highlighted in this episode:  Claude McKay  June Jordan Tyhimba Jess Jericho Brown Tracy K. Smith Morgan Parker For further listening, we recommend a recent episode of The New Yorker Poetry podcast called "Radical Imagination: Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson and Terrance Hayes on Poetry in Our Times" We also recommend two AWP events, for which poets we highlighted in this episode will be panelists:  Sunday, March 7th 1:30-2:30pm Central Time Sn119. Poem About My Rights: June Jordan Speaks, Sponsored by Copper Canyon Press. (Michael Wiegers, Rio Cortez, Jericho Brown, Monica Sok) “I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name / My name is my own my own my own.” A panel of poets and editors will read and discuss iconic works by June Jordan, including the electric, revolutionary “Poem About My Rights.” In her too-short career, Jordan boldly, lyrically, and overtly called out the harms caused by anti-Black police violence, sexual abuse, and heterosexism, lighting a way forward for other writers. Each poet will offer one poem of their own to honor Jordan's literary influence. Wednesday March 3rd, 3:00-4:00pm Central Time W136. The Futures of Documentary and Investigative Poetries. (Solmaz Sharif, Erika Meitner, Tyehimba Jess, Philip Metres, Layli Long Soldier) Investigative or documentary poetry situates itself at the nexus between literary production and journalism, where the mythic and factual, the visionary and political, and past and future all meet. From doing recovery projects to performing rituals of healing to inventing forms, panelists will share work (their own and others') and discuss challenges in docupoetic writing and its futures: the ethics of positionality, appropriation, fictionalizing, collaboration, and political engagement. Thank you for joining us in honoring the lives and writing of Black poets, past and present, and as always, thanks for listening!     

Welcome to Season 2 of the Host Dispatch! We're so thrilled to kick off Season 2 conversing with the warm and magical poet, lily someson. lily is the Spring 2021 Host Publications Chapbook Prize winner for her chapbook called mistaken for loud comets, forthcoming in February 2021. lily someson (she/they) is a poet and essayist from Chicago. She has obtained a B.A. in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago and is a winner of the 2020 Eileen Lannan poetry prize with the Academy of American Poets. She has read at the Poetry Foundation's Open Door Reading Series and has also been published/is forthcoming in Court Green, Queeriosity (Young Chicago Authors), and Columbia Poetry Review among others. She is currently a first-year Poetry MFA student at Vanderbilt University and an assistant poetry editor of the Nashville Review. mistaken for loud comets is a collection of poems that peers deeply into experiences around incarceration, queerness, and the Black body in America. This is deeply personal work, and there is a tender heart at the center of this chapbook that made us fall in love with it at first sight. The pre-order link is live on our website, hostpublications.com, and the first 100 pre-orders will receive a fun party pack of accompaniments to Lily's work.  On February 27th, tune in at 7pm to the Malvern Books' YouTube channel for the book launch for mistaken for loud comets and join us for a special reading by lily someson followed by a Q&A.

We are delighted to announce that the Host Publications Chapbook Prize will be open for submissions from January 20th-March 15th. Two selected manuscripts will be published, one in the Fall of 2021 and one in the Spring 2022. Prize winners will be announced May 15th.  ABOUT THE HOST PUBLICATIONS CHAPBOOK PRIZE The Host Publications Chapbook prize awards a womxn writer $1000 + 20 author copies, dedicated, extensive editorial work from our skilled editors, a book launch at Malvern Books (pandemic permitting) and energetic promotion from our staff.   Our chapbooks are perfect-bound, feature striking cover designs, each receive an ISBN, and are distributed nationally. We treat our chapbooks just like full-length titles in terms of aesthetics, production, marketing, and editorial love and care. Submissions are open to any US-based womxn poet writing in English, regardless of publication history. We strive to elevate voices of marginalized groups who have been historically silenced. Writers of color, LGBTQ+ writers, disabled writers, immigrant writers: you are all welcome and wanted here.  We are not looking for any particular kind of poetry, but are open to all kinds of poetry with the exception of translated works. Please familiarize yourself with what we've published so far by checking out our former prize winners: mónica teresa ortiz, Stephanie Goehring, Julie Howd, Claudia Delfina Cardona and lily someson.  Our reading fee is $10. You may submit additional manuscripts for an additional reading fee for each. A limited number of free entries are available for poets for whom the reading fee presents a hardship. (email us at submissions.hostpublications [at] gmail.com for details.)   SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Once the submission fee is purchased, you will see a download PDF link (and be emailed a link as well). The PDF will review our submission guidelines and under "FORM LINK" you will see a clickable link to our application. Submit a manuscript of 30-40 pages (in .docx and .pdf formats), set in 12-point font in Times New Roman or equivalent. Each poem should begin on its own page. We do not accept hard copy submissions.  While individual poems may have appeared in journals, magazines, etc., the manuscript as a whole must be previously unpublished.  Reading fee of $10. You may submit additional manuscripts for an additional reading fee for each. A limited number of free entries are available for poets for whom the reading fee presents a hardship. (email us at submissions.hostpublications@gmail.com for details.)   Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please let us know if it is a simultaneous submission, and notify us immediately if the work is accepted elsewhere. If we accept your piece, please withdraw it from consideration elsewhere. Note: By submitting, you agree to let us send you the occasional email newsletter with relevant announcements. You may opt out at any time.    

In this episode, we discuss the age-old tradition of reading ghost stories on Christmas! Here are the books we discuss in this episode: The Green Room by Walter de la Mare Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk by Frank Cowper The Diary of Mr. Poynter by M. R. James The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol This is the last episode of Season 1, and we want to thank you for listening from the bottom of our hearts.  For season two of The Host Dispatch, we want to connect more with our community and to get your voices in the mix! We plan to read listener stories, poems and experiences on air. To that end, I'd like to put out a call for submissions for the beginning of season 2: "2020 has been such a difficult year for so many of us, in ways we never could have imagined. There has been so much suffering and loss due to the pandemic, so much social upheaval in pursuit of justice for black lives, and the bipoc community, and the conversation won't end here. As a community of book lovers, I feel we've learned that books are not only an escape from reality, but can be tools we use to cope with and better understand our reality. I know I've learned just how powerful a book can be in helping to change the minds and hearts of those who are willing to listen. To that end, we want to hear from you: Tell us What book has helped you cope this year? What book feels like the most important book for the year 2020? What should we be reading to carry us into the new year, to face whatever challenges may come in 2021? We want to hear about your experience with these books, and to create a powerful reading list to share with our listeners and our community to kick off 2021 in the best way possible! All genres welcome!"

In this minisode, Host editors Annar and Claire offer ways in which to pay respect to native people during the ever-problematic Thanksgiving holiday and its frightening capitalist cousin, Black Friday, which has been deemed Native American Heritage Day. This is a time to honor indigenous cultures, and to educate ourselves about the history of this land, and the challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which we can be of service to their communities. Annar offers three easy ways to get involved in Native American Heritage Month: Get Educated - https://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov - https://www.nps.gov/index.htm Donate - https://collegefund.org - https://www.firstpeoplesfund.org - https://www.navajohopisolidarity.org Practice Land Acknowledgment - https://nativegov.org/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/   Claire and Annar also discuss a new poetry collection, When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry edited by US poet Laureate, Joy Harjo.  

In this episode, Host editors Claire and Annar converse with the delightful poet, Julie Howd. Julie is a poet and educator from Massachusetts. She is the author of Threshold winner of the Spring 2020 Host Publications Chapbook prize. Julie's poetry is a delightful force, and the poet has come to consider herself an “eco-surrealist” writing poetry that is deeply in tune with the threats facing our natural world, our sanity, and our joy. In this conversation, Julie and the Host team discuss some of the poems in Threshold, what kinds of toast they've been making these days, how many blankets are appropriate to use when working from home, where poetry comes from, and a bevy of other hilarities and affairs facing the life of the artist in the year 2020. Julie's chapbook, Threshold, will be the next selection for the Host Chapbook Club, for the Dec. 10th meeting. You can buy a copy here and sign up for the Chapbook Club here.  Here are links to some of the books, music, TV shows and more discussed in this episode: Threshold Chapbook Club Event Octave of Light - Compositions by David Ibbett for the Museum of Science in Boston's Multiverse Series Weighted blanket that feels like a real blanket The Musical Brain by César Aira Jack Spicer's Vancouver Lectures Hoa Nguyen Maria Bamford, Lady Dynamite Toast recipe to pair with Threshold 

In this episode, the Host Publications team chats about the scary books they've been reading get into the spirit of Halloween from home this year. They discuss the new HBO Series Lovecraft Country, the Horror genre and subgenres, & what makes a book scary.  The books discussed in this episode are: Dracula by Bram Stoker R E D by Chase Berggrun Rogomelec by Leonor Fini (“ROGUE – MELL- IC”) The Great Nocturnal: Tales of Dread by Jean Ray & The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft   Stay tuned after the episode for some special bonus content, where Annar and Claire talk about vampire movies, and our personal favorite Halloween costumes. 

In this episode, Host Editors Annar Veröld and Claire Bowman chat with Claudia Delfina Cardona, winner of the Fall 2020 Host Publications Chapbook Prize. Claudia is a talented poet born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. Claudia is the co-founder of Chifladazine, a zine that highlights creative work by Latinas and Latinxs, and co-founder of Infrarrealista Review, a literary journal for Texan writers. You can find out more about Claudia and her work on her website, https://claudiadelfinacardona.com and follow her in Instagram @mexistentialism. In this episode, Claudia tells us about her collection What Remains, the experiences that inspired those poems, her philosophies as an artist, poets who have influenced her, and much more. If you are listening to this episode before October 10th, 2020: We will be virtually hosting the book launch for What Remains on Saturday, October 10th  at 7PM. It is free and open to all. Please join us in celebrating this beautiful book, with a reading and virtual party you won't want to miss. You can find more information about the reading on our website hostpublications.com, on Instagram @hostpublications, or at Malvernbooks.com  

In this episode, Host editors Annar and Claire are joined by friend of the podcast, Kate Kelly. Kate is an incredible poet, editor and educator, and currently serves as the Programs Manager for The Library Foundation in Austin, Texas. In this episode, she introduces the lineup for this year's Mayor's Book Club Read Local campaign, featuring a list of over fifty books written by Austin authors this year. In 2020, the expansion of the Mayor's Book Club to include all books published by Austin authors promotes Austin's rich literary scene and, in particular, many Austin authors whose titles might not have gotten the attention they deserve due to COVID-19. Kate provides recommendations and insight into the Mayor's Book Club Read Local authors, books, workshops and book talks, as well as some key tips for how to be a happy, organized and mayor-quality human in these unprecedented times. You can check out the programming for The Mayor's Book Club at austinlibrary.org where you can sign up for all virtual events for free. To can see what else Kate is up to, including links to some of her published work, check out her website or follow her on Instagram @katekellytho

In this very special episode, we were honored to interview the charming and inimitable poet, Taisia Kitaiskaia. Taisia Kitaiskaia is a Russian-American poet and writer, and a dear friend of the podcast. In this interview, we discuss her forthcoming book of poems THE NIGHTGOWN AND OTHER POEMS (Deep Vellum, 2020), among other things, including: toads, luxury quarantine snacks, munchkin icon Danny DeVito, and ham sandwiches. Taisia is also the author of LITERARY WITCHES, a collaboration with artist Katy Horan celebrating magical women writers; a divination deck, THE LITERARY WITCHES ORACLE; and two books of experimental advice from a witch of Slavic folklore, ASK BABA YAGA: OTHERWORLDLY ADVICE FOR EVERYDAY TROUBLES and its forthcoming sequent, POETIC REMEDIES FOR TROUBLED TIMES FROM ASK BABA YAGA. Please check out all of her books and other projects, like her incredible illustrations, on her website.

In this episode, we're excited to share our Women in Translation roundtable discussion with the founder of Host Publications, Joe Bratcher! Women in Translation Month was launched in 2014, a creation of literary blogger Meytal Radzinski as a response to her observation that only around 30% of books published in translation were by women. At Host Publications, we celebrate women in translation all year round, but August is a special time of year to elevate those writers and share some of our favorites with you! The Host 88 titles we discussed in this episode are: Voices from the Bitter Core by URSULA KRECHEL translated by Amy Kepple Strawser Women and Clothes by BRIGITTE KRONAUER trans. By Jutta Ittner Reason Enough by Ida Vitale trans. By Sarah Pollack Ambers Aglow: An Anthology of Contemporary Polish Women's Poetry trans. By Regina Grol These titles can be found on our website, hostpublications.com We also discussed: I Remember Nightfall by Marosa di Giorgio trans. by Jeannine Pitas The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa trans. by Sawako Nakayasu We recommend shopping these titles on Bookshop.org, where a portion of all sales goes to supporting small, locally owned bookstores across the nation.

In this episode, Host editors Annar and Claire welcome their first guest to the podcast: mónica teresa ortiz. mónica is the author of Muted Blood and was the first recipient of the Host Publications Chapbook Prize for her book autobiography of a semiromantic anarchist. Her work is revolutionary and heartfelt, and mónica is a generous and wise soul. We recommend checking out some of the books she mentions in this episode:  The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance by Audre Lorde Open Veins of Latin America and We Say No by Eduardo Galeano The works of Alma Guillermoprieto Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz