Introducing Kathryn Polk

We are thrilled to introduce Kathryn Polk, the artist for our next series. 

In our initial discussions about design possibilities, Amy Gentry said up front that Kathryn  was her "dream artist", having written about her here. We are very fortunate (and grateful) to be able to use her artwork. These talented women—Kathryn, Amy, and LK James—are working their magic on the covers now and they're looking gorgeous. We'll debut them very soon!

BIO: Kathryn Polk was born in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee where she studied Fine Art at the Memphis Art Academy (now The Memphis College of Art) and Memphis State University (now The University of Memphis). Polk moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1983 with her husband Andrew Polk, a fellow lithographer.  

Polk’s lithographs can be found in permanent print collections throughout the world such as China, New Zealand, Korea, Wales, France and Argentina as well as museums though out the United States.

Kathryn Polk continues to live and work in Tucson where she is currently co-owner of L VIS Press, a lithography print studio.  She teaches lithography workshops that promote a less toxic way to run a studio.

Follow her at her website.

It's Been A Great Year!

Last year at this time, we were getting organized—setting up a website, launching Facebook and Twitter pages, and deciding what exactly Awst Press would be about—and then tweaking the concept until we were ready to start our first series in February. We're proud of the authors and curators from this inaugural year and we are excited for the possibilities moving forward. To celebrate, we've decided to offer both a series of essays, as well as pieces from four of our earlier authors. Interspersed in all of this will be announcements for our next curated series. 

Starting Monday, we will have an essay by Diane Lefer. On Tuesday, we will post David Olimpio's Variations on a Theme. On Wednesday, we'll announce the artist for the covers of the next curator series. On Thursday, we'll post Susanna Childress's Retroactive Empathy: A Haunting. On Friday, we'll post an essay from Donald Quist. Great things happening all week!

Thank you for supporting our authors by purchasing chapbooks and staying connected to us. We're wrapping up six months of very diverse work and we're going to add a little more to it with our essay series. It'll be a little serious around here for a moment, but we think it's worth it. Tune in Monday to start reading the first one. Or, stick around later this morning for our first book announcement at 9:00 CST and/or our next curator lineup at 10:00 CST.