We have infinite gratitude for T Kira Madden, her authors—Justine Champine, Dennis Norris II, Karissa Chen, and Rowan Hisayo Buchanan—and the many readers of this series. We're impressed with these authors, the great work they've shared with us, and the wonderful things they are continuing to put out in the world. They made putting this chapbook series out a pleasure.
All of our series have been labors of love—bringing artwork together for the covers, working with the authors to get the words just right, ordering supplies from the printers and craft stores, assembling the books (scoring, punching holes, sewing, and folding), packaging them up, and many, many trips to the post office. It has been immensely rewarding to see these handcrafted creations land in the hands of appreciative readers. The most recent pic comes from Lauren Hilger. Keep posting these!
Courtesy of Lauren Hilger
When we started the press, we opted to go the chapbook route because they gave us an opportunity to work out our publishing processes on a smaller, more intimate scale. Because we used guest curators, we've been introduced to a large number of truly gifted writers from around the world. It is not hyperbole to say that we would have loved to have published more full-length projects from the group over the last few years. Authors like Dan Bevacqua—an author whose work provided one of the original reasons for starting the press—announced his book deal with Simon & Shuster last month. We're thrilled for him and not even a little surprised by the news.
If anything, we want to redouble our efforts so we can convince all of our authors that there's no better home for their work than Awst Press. With that in mind, T Kira's will be the last guest-curated series. We are focusing all of our energies and resources now on moving forward with larger projects.
We'll still have handmade chapbooks available to purchase for a while, but they'll gradually be shifted over to e-books as we sell out of our existing stock. Providing them digitally will make them available to faraway readers who have yet to hear about these great little books. Watch our social media announcements as these become available!
As for this series, we've finally caught up on orders. If you've already ordered from this series, much thanks and please post about what you love about it. If you haven't ordered yet, now is a good time to do so.
Thanks again for supporting us and our authors!