10 Reasons Why CALYX Loved Being at AWP This Year

10. Because of organizations like VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and fierce women like Amy King who came ultra-prepared to the Women’s Caucus ready to get the crowd both excited and pissed. Check out their website to see current information about the what journals and presses are woman-friendly, and which are woefully not (um, The New Yorker and The New Republic, I’m looking at you).

9.Because of this awesome lady DJ at The Black Cat, uniting the people with funky-fresh beats. This is what I’m talking about!

8. Because there’s feminist presses and publishers there. A big high-five to organizations like Kore Press, Argos Books, Akashic Books, and The Feminist Press for doing the important work of keeping women’s voices in print (oh, and, ahem, of course, CALYX).

7. Because there’s feminist writers there, silly. I had the chance to meet so many fearless women writers today of all ages and backgrounds who aren’t afraid to say, “Yes, I’m a writer. Yes, I’m a feminist. Yes, this matters.”

6. Because of Jhumpa Lahiri. Need I say more?

5. and Kay Ryan.

4. and Pam Houston.

3. Because feminists love Washington D.C. Where else can you find that many statues of Eleanor Rosevelt??

2. Because people get just as excited as you are when you say “We’re celebrating our 35th year as a journal!”

1. Because it’s rewarding and energizing and delightful to see the up-and-coming men and women feminists of the writing world wandering through the bookfair. Each person there is a reminder that books matter, art matters, creativity matters.

Thanks for a great conference everyone! See you next year–

-Rebecca Olson

Assistant Editor for CALYX Press

Staff Pick of the Month: Crow Mercies

Crow Mercies

We at CALYX Books are so excited to say that Crow Mercies by Penelope Scambly Schott, winner of the first Sarah Lantz Memorial Poetry Prize, is now available as the Staff Pick of the Month!

Penelope Scambly Schott leads readers through a surreal world in which imagined visitors, realities, bodies, and animals create a ripe emotional landscape. Her depictions of love, family, sex, and death through vivid images of spiders, orchids, bear-husbands, and more will startle and delight the imagination. Upon reviewing Crow Mercies, Claire Keyes notes, “Schott’s inventiveness makes the preposterous seem both real and poignant.”

Crows, Schott observes, are smart and relentless, and they practice a measured mercy. Likewise, the poems in Crow Mercies survey large territories, sometimes with an overview and sometimes close-at-claw. In her review, blogger Stefanie Hollmichel of somanybooksblog.com writes, “Schott also has a strong, firm, voice and an accessible style that invites the reader in to share an intimate moment.” This unique style allows the poet to use her provocative poetry to survey the long course of women’s history as she studies her dying mother.

Penelope Scambly Schott has published three poetry narratives, five chapbooks, and four poetry collections, including Six Lips (2009). She is the recipient of the Hopwood Award, a Lannan Foundation Fellowship, a Poetry Society of America prize, and four fellowships from the New Jersey Council on the Arts. Her recent collection, A Is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth, received the 2008 Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Schott has a PhD in Medieval literature from City University of New York.

If you missed your chance to preorder and save on this fabulous collection, you still have time! As the Staff Pick of the Month, you will receive 20% off and free shipping!

Look for more blogs about our favorite poems from the collection all this month!

Happy reading

Kelsey Connell, Assistant Director

Feminism Friday: A Little CALYX History

The Fall CALYX Glitterati is celebrating Frida Kahlo’s art and Dia de los muertos (October 21^st, Corvallis Arts Center), and as I was looking through old files searching for extra copies of the artist Frida Kahlo’s color plates that we published in the International Anthology I was digging through dusty files in the back room. This resulted in an impromptu lesson to staff and interns on the history of publication layout. I actually don’t remember the exact date we switched to laying out publications completely on the computer. But as I pulled out the complicated cover layouts—hand done in the days before art was handled from computer images—the layers of plastic and instructions for each layer of color were a surprise for the younger staff and interns—particularly the mathematical computations that had to be done for each piece of art. Most surprising was recognizing my handwriting on some of the covers, having forgotten I often had to lay out covers myself.

Kelsey (Assistant Director) and Meghan (intern) with Women and Aging publication layout

Life is so much easier with computerized cover design. As we finalized the cover art and design for the new book Crow Mercies (by Penelope Schott), Cheryl McLean (of Imprint Service who does our production and design) sent 4 variations on 3 different pieces of art for our final consideration. Our Senior Editor watched Cheryl do the magical design and said some of the variations took place in minutes. What a difference from the days we did all those mathematical computations, cut out the red gelatin borders, and wrote instructions to the printer on each page of the layout.

Different alternatives for the cover of Crow Mercies

~Margarita Donnelly, Director

Pick of the Month: Margarita’s Thoughts

While talking to Margarita about the Staff Pick of the Month, we discovered we were both drawn to the same poem from The Woman of Too Many Days. I wrote about what the poem (“In Front of the Library”) meant to me in this post. However, Margarita drew a connection between the piece and the current economic state. To me, it further proved the ability of poetry (and the written word) to touch different people in different ways. We bring our own feelings and experiences to a piece as we read it, gleaning from it meaning that connects to our life experiences, our personalities, heck even the mood we happen to be in. Each piece is a gift, but it is up to the reader to determine what she (or he) receives from it on a personal level. Art is beautiful in that way, isn’t it?

~Kelsey Connell, Assitant Director

Without further ado, here is what Margarita Donnelly, our Director, had to say about the book:

In these hard times the poems of Mary Cuffe in The Woman of Too Many Days are very appropriate. As our Public Library in Corvallis (and many more across the country) cuts back due to lack of funding. I particularly like the poem “In Front of the Library.” The homeless people:

“They come in for more than a warm place to sleep.

They hope one of those books will take them in”

~Margarita Donnelly, Director

Remember can receive 10% off  Staff Pick: The Woman of Too Many Days and FREE shipping by clicking here to order!

Staff Pick of the Month

For this month, we’ve chosen The Woman of Too Many Days as our Staff Pick of the Month. This poetry book by Mary I. Cuffe truly touched the editors who worked on it at that time. One even said: “When I finished reading, I was almost crying. Not sad—catharsis, joy.”

One of my favorite poems from the collection is called “In Front of the Library.” Having a mom who is a school librarian definitely started a library addiction at a young age. So maybe it is because I’ve grown up loving libraries and all they have to offer. Escape, adventure, experiences far beyond our own imagination. This poem made me reflect on what the library can mean for the community and what books can mean for those who feel the weight of  too many days (and all of us for that matter). Books have the power to remove us from our everyday life and transport us into a different world. With books we are always among friends. Each book has something new to teach us and a new character to introduce. For these reasons, the lines that most struck me are the following:

You see a lot of pigeon people in the library, she says.

It’s one place they can go where the city

don’t turn em out.

They come in for more than a warm place to sleep.

They hope one of those books will take em in.

But that only happens to a few.

That portion is just one of many lines that will echo with you throughout the day. Making you wonder about the “many days” of those around you.

Of course as always, the pick of the month is 10% off with free shipping. You can order your copy here.

~Kelsey Connell, Assistant Director

Feminism Friday: Learn from the Past, Don’t Leave it Behind

For Feminism Friday, there is an issue that has been on my mind, and that I will begin to discuss here. If you have thoughts to share, comment. In honor of Feminism Friday, I’d like to start a dialog about the idea of “outdated” feminism.

Why do so many feel it necessary to separate themselves from first, second, and even third wave feminism? It is as if a stigma has been created that many feel they must “shake off” or “move past” in order to accomplish the feminist ideals of today. While I can see a little of where this comes from, my experience leads me to find fault with this logic.

As one of the new staff members of CALYX, I find it more and more necessary to learn and listen to the women on staff who have been through it all. Traveled all over the world? Check. Became the first press to publish Frida Kahlo in color in the United States. Yeup. Raised families while striving to change the way we see art and literature by women one journal/book at a time working? Oh yes. Dined with a movie star and his wife? Definitely. (If only you could hear Margarita, our director, tell that story.) Published over 3,5oo female artists and authors in an effort to equalize the disparities between men and women? Double check.

As I explore the rich history of the 34 year old press I am honored to be a part of, I can’t help but wonder why some folks (mind you, this isn’t saying everyone feels this way) don’t take more advantage of learning from the feminists of the past. Is fear of fanny packs and shoulders pads 80s feminism really stopping us from learning from feminist women? (Not necessarily just employing rhetorical devices here. Go ahead and answer.) Maybe the goal of those who equate a negative stigma to this portion of feminist history is to simply show our goals have evolved.  However, to me, it is only after embracing the lessons from the past that feminism can move forward. After all, the past waves of feminism laid the groundwork for the goals and ideals of feminism today. If we can’t learn from the past, how can we legitimately look toward a better future?

The struggle for equality is not over. Many of you might remember last year, when controversy over this list led to outrage from women and men people everywhere? Small presses like CALYX continually work to change this. We publish art and literature by women that other larger presses may not consider because our purpose is to celebrate women’s voices. CALYX is a press that will always value its history, even while working toward making the future a place where women’s art and literature is on as many darn top ten lists as possible valued as highly as it should be.

Thanks for reading these thoughts, even as they are just in the fledgling stages.

-Kelsey Connell, Assistant Director

Joining the CALYX Team

Kelsey

Hey there. My name is Kelsey Connell, and I just joined the wonderful group of women here at CALYX, Inc as the new Assistant Director. I am excited to begin my journey with CALYX and am already learning so much. It is inspiring to become a part of a literary journal with 34 years of rich history publishing fresh female voices. As a recent graduate of the University of Oregon’s English program, I have spent a lot of time studying and thinking about literature and working with literary magazines. I am thrilled to become a part of an organization that publishes the astounding authorial voices of our time and brings them to you, our fabulous readers.

As usual, it seems there is a lot going on at CALYX to be excited about. We just began accepting submissions for the Lois Cranston Memorial prize and it is so great to see that pile grow. Not to mention, there are just so many reasons to submit! For my part, I will be taking over where Kathy left off, assisting on the business side at CALYX. My training has just begun and I can’t wait to keep learning from everyone who is a part of the press!

Mollie, Kelsey, and Jan

Happy reading and writing,

-Kelsey

New Voices from CALYX

Hi –
This is Cathy, the new assistant director at CALYX Press. I’ve just joined as half-time staff member, and we staff – after watching the fun the interns are having on this blog – have decided to jump in with some blogs of our own!

It’s a whirlwind here right now: the next issue is just wrapping up copy-editing, the Lois Cranston Memorial Prize has been chosen, and announcements are going out to the world; we just finished a fun gala – our Glitterati – which was my introduction to the CALYX board and volunteers, a great bunch! As the assistant on the business side, my focus is the website and ad sales and subscriptions and shipping… and quite a bit more I haven’t learned yet. It’s quite an education! I’ve been a writer and artist for years, but being part of the “other side” of the small press equation is quite an eye opener! The sheer amount of work that is involved in getting an issue out to press is amazing. I know that I’m going to have a different attitude toward each of the journals and small press books that come to my house from now on.

I’ll write more later, but now I have to get to stamping about a hundred envelopes!