WHAT? THE KISS OFF SALE! 30% OFF SPD's BEST-SELLERS OF 2010

SPD's BEST-SELLERS 2010

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The Fast by Hannah Weiner

The Fast Hannah Weiner $6 | paper | 43 pp. United Artists Books ISBN: 9780935992243 Literary Nonfiction. This is the first of four early journals, written in 1970 (THE FAST); in 1971, (COUNTRY GIRL); in 1972, (PICTURES AND EARLY WORDS); in 1973, (BIG WORDS). These journals depict the development of the clairvoyance from feeling and seeing auras, to seeing pictures, and finally the slow development of seeing words which first appeared singly, then later in short phrases. The culmination of this seeing of words resulted in the CLAIRVOYANT JOURNAL, written in 1974, and published by Angel Hair Books, now known as United Artists Books, in 1978, and in many books that followed. REVIEWS, PURCHASE »

(If you don't want to buy it from SPD, click here.)

Huffington Post on Poets

It's still not every day that poetry shows up on the Huffington Post (although, pleasantly enough, they're paying it increasing attention over there).  Recently HuffPo asked 22 contemporary poets a simple yet ridiculously contentious question: who is the single most important contemporary poet?   While nearly all the respondents expressed some resistance and/or amusement toward the question, nevertheless SPD authors were picked outright in at least five cases, and mentioned often in other responses.  A number of SPD authors were also among the respondents.  

SPD Authors Selected as Most Important Contemporary Poet:

Larry Eigner (chosen by Charles Bernstein)
CA Conrad (chosen by Eileen Myles)
Ron Padgett (chosen by Bill Zavatsky)
Benjamin Alire Saenz (chosen by Rigoberto Gonzales)
Charles Simic (chosen by Jay Parini)


Respondents With SPD Titles:

Bill Zavatsky
Jean Valentine
Clayton Eshleman
Rigoberto Gonzales
H.L. Hix
Charles Bernstein
Juan Felipe Herrera
Forrest Gander
Kevin Prufer
Michael McClure
Eileen Myles

SPD's YEAR-END OPEN HOUSE  ALL PHOTOS BY MARC LECARD

19 Poets Recommend 19+ Titles

Given the extreme volume of new books we receive at SPD, we try to keep an ear out for smart, relatively objective recommendations that can help our customers find new treasures.  Ron Slate, on his blog, recently posted recommendations from 19 different poets that are detailed, passionate, and richly-argued.  Even though the majority are not SPD titles, there are many SPD books among them.  Check it out!

(credit to Ron Silliman's blog for linking to this first)

Open House Photos (Dec 6, 2010)

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who attended the SPD holiday Open House on December 6th!  The place was packed, the hunts were awesome, and the spirit of poetry & fiction was spread throughout the land...

 

 (The signage beckoned...)

 

(...the books sang their siren song...)

 (...& the people came...)

(above, Rick D'Elia reads)

(...musical interlude from the A.P. Carter of our time, Julian Brolaski...)

(The superstar readers, l to r: Julian Brolaski, Erik Schneider, Miranda Mellis, Dora Malech, Rick D'Elia, Meg Day)

 (...braving the cold, a capacity-number of shoppers hunted for deals...)

(...headquarters for the highly successful SPD scavenger hunts...)

More photos to come, thank you beautiful east bay literati!!!

(All photos by Marc Lecard)

SPD's Poetry Best-Sellers: Week of November 7, 2010

On the damp gray walk to work this morning from the train, I got the tweet from Poetry Foundation that they'd posted their best-sellers for the week of November 7-14, 2010.

So I thought it would be interesting and fun and very Friday to pull and publish SPD's poetry best-sellers for the same week. So here they are:

1. Greensward by Cole Swensen (Ugly Duckling Presse)
2. Pink Elephant by Rachel McKibbens (Cypher Books)
3. obedience by kari edwards (Factory School)
4. Cop Kisser by Steven Zultanski (Book Thug)
5. In the Eyes of a Dog by Kevin Pilkington (NYQ Books)
6. Dirty August by Edip Cansever (Talisman House)
7. Slaughtering the Buddha by Gordon Osing (Spuyten Duyvil)
8. Questions/Places/Voices/Seasons by Norman Fischer (Singing Horse Press)
9. Ocean Avenue by Malena Mörling (New Issues Poetry & Prose)
10. The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers by Bhanu Kapil (Kelsey Street Press)
11. Hughson's Tavern by Fred Moten (Leon Works)
12. Tourist at a Miracle by Mark Statman (Hanging Loose Press)
13. Scary, No Scary by Zachary Schomburg (Black Ocean)
14. Figures for a Darkroom Voice by Noah E. Gordon and Joshua Marie Wilkinson (Tarpaulin Sky Press)
15. Gone Away by Mervyn Taylor (Junction Press)
16. In Flagrante Delicto by Jerry Mirskin (MAMMOTH books)
17. Chora by Sandra Doller (Ahsahta Press)
18. Sky Booths in the Breath Somewhere: The Ashbery Erasure Poems by David Dodd Lee (BlazeVOX Books)
19. FAQ: by Ben Doller (Ahsahta Press)
20. Brief Under Water by Cyrus Console (Burning Deck)
21. Like Wind Loves a Window by Andrea Baker (Slope Editions)
22. The Tangled Line by Tod Marshall (Canarium Books)
23. The New Life by Richard Tillinghast (Copper Beech Press)
24. The French Exit by Elisa Gabbert (Birds, LLC)
25. Felonies of Illusion by Mark Wallace (Edge Books)
26. Pad by Steven Zultanski (Make Now Press)
27. As It Turned Out by Dmitri Golynko (Ugly Duckling Presse)
28. Debts and Obligations by Alicia Cohen (O Books)
29. Dubious Angels: Poems After Paul Klee by Keith Ratzlaff (Anhinga Press)
30. Oriflamme by Sandra Miller (Ahsahta Press)