Sephyrus Press

A new year poem by Lorraine Settanni

2011-01-05T11:49:00.001-08:00

Mourning Dove

Lorraine Settanni 1/1/11

I was glad to see it go

It seemed to linger

Trapped in pain and discomfort

I swept away all remnants

Of its attendance

Before the appointed departure

I didn’t see it leave

Only relished the calm and quiet

And awoke renewed and replenished

A Dove greeted me

Dawn of the New Year

To signal the end of Mourning

“When the mourning dove appears there will be messages and opportunities for growth”

(http://www.spiritwalkministry.com)

E-Book

2010-11-29T12:42:00.000-08:00

No Fresh Cut Flowers

an Afterlife Anthology
$9.99 E-Book & Soundtrack

Save some trees and money by purchasing the electronic version of the book. After payment, you will get immediate download access to the soundtrack and book files. Instant gratification :)

Lots of love this holiday season,
Rachel

Pictures from the Book Release Party

2010-11-27T19:28:00.000-08:00

The release party was a huge success. Byron Danziger and Nick Doniger read their poems to a captivated crowd and everyone had a fantastic night. To the left, my sister Jen, me, book designer Tina Mingolello and Brian Lipofsky who took charge in reading submissions. Thank you to all who came and to all who appeared in spirit.

Photo Illustrations from No Fresh Cut Flowers are available

2010-11-23T21:15:00.001-08:00

Illustrating a book of poetry through photography was one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done. In the beginning of the project I had expected to make drawings for each poem but when that started feeling forced, I switched to photographs. A few of them had already been taken but most of them were inspired by the poems. Thanks to the folks at The Owl Shop in New Haven I even had my first on-location photo shoot with a model. Those photos, which feature Sarah Sartarelli, were inspired by Ariel Chance's poem "Black Ice." Here are a few of the photographs from the book, though all of them can be viewed at my Print Shop.

Imagekind is having a Thanksgiving Day sale and offering 25% off everything- enter code GIVETHANKS at checkout. This offer is valid until midnight 11/25. Thanks in advance if you buy anything <3

Photo Illustration from No Fresh Cut Flowers by Rachel Andrews

Photo Illustration from No Fresh Cut Flowers by Rachel Andrews

Photo Illustration from No Fresh Cut Flowers by Rachel Andrews

Photo Illustration from No Fresh Cut Flowers by Rachel Andrews

Featured Poet: Greta Bolger

2010-11-23T18:25:00.000-08:00

Greta Bolger's poem "The Vodou Afterlife" is published in No Fresh Cut Flowers, an Afterlife Anthology. I asked her what inspired the poem and this is what she said:

"This poem came about at the intersection of my passions and obsessions: the often unbelievable cruelty of life, the total unknowability of death, and our fundamental need to believe that there is someone who cares about us out there somewhere. When, in early 2010, I heard the coverage of Haiti's earthquake on NPR (another passion), I was inspired to do further research into the beliefs of Vodouisants in Haiti and to imagine how desperately they must pray for relief from the calamities that continue to beset their country, how abandoned they must feel in this life, and how ready to welcome the next. Though most of us will never experience anything remotely as horrific as the people of Haiti have, I hope the poem conveys compassion for the inevitable physical and spiritual suffering of this life and hope for a better deal in the afterlife."

The Vodou Afterlife

If we believed, as NPR says the Haitians do,
in 16 reincarnations, half as men,
half as women, with a year and a day
in "the water" between each,
we could live for 800 years,

give or take, with a different body
each time, so that even when earthquakes
come, and hurricanes, and heart attacks,
even when help is hard to come by,
there is always next time, another chance

to hear what the rocks say, sense how the trees feel,
to learn again what the animals know.
Vodouisants are smart enough to know
that their big guy god, Bondye, is far distant
from creation, and cannot be held accountable,

so they send their prayers to the loa,
lesser spirits, like Papa Legba,
the guardian of the crossroads,
Erzulie Freda, the spirit of love, Simbi,
the spirit of rain and magicians,

Guede, the guardian of death.
They don't stick pins, not anymore, but
make fake people out of discarded shoes
and nail them on trees near the cemetery,
messengers to the otherworld, to say hello,

maybe, or help us out with these hurricanes,
or send us some rain in this unbreathable heat,
or give us strong magic, or to scream enough
with the crossroads already, we're already dead.
Send water, Erzulie Freda. Send shovels.

Greta's contributor's note for No Fresh Cut Flowers is located on the Poet's page of this blog. To order a copy of the book, go here.

No Fresh Cut Flowers, An Afterlife Anthology now on Amazon

2010-11-10T11:10:00.001-08:00

Click on the cover picture for the link

The book is available now on Amazon.com. Wooohoo! I've heard great things from the poets involved and also those who have purchased the book already. The soundtrack, which is included with the book, has also had some excellent feedback. I hope you love it! For more info about the contributors, their bios are available on the poet and musician pages.

No Fresh Cut Flowers, An Afterlife Anthology Book Release Party

2010-09-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

Come and celebrate the release of No Fresh Cut Flowers, An Afterlife Anthology with Sephyrus Press!

The book, edited by Rachel Andrews, contains poems from over 25 poets and is deliciously rich with thought provoking views of the afterlife, color photographs and comes with a full length soundtrack.

Meet some of the poets, enjoy a latte or some wine and eat some scrumptious food with us at this exciting event.

Can't wait to see you there!

The event is being held at Cafe Atlantique, 33 River Street, Milford, CT, on October 23th at 7pm. For more information please email Rachel -at- Sephyrus.com.

Postcard

2010-09-25T17:05:00.001-07:00

An evening you don't want to miss if you live near NYC (it's also Free)

2010-05-04T19:09:00.001-07:00

A Tribute to Daniel Halpern

Poet:

Daniel Halpern

Featured Poets:

Daniel Halpern, John Ashbery, Russell Banks, Anthony Bourdain, Janie Fink, Richard Ford, Jorie Graham, Robert Hass, Campbell McGrath, and Joyce Carol Oates.

May 6, 2010, 7 p.m.
Rosenthal Pavilion, Kimmel Center, NYU, 60 Washington Square South, New York, NY

Free

Join us for an evening honoring the work of poet, professor, and founder of Ecco Press, Daniel Halpern. The tribute will feature readings and presentations by John Ashbery, Russell Banks, Anthony Bourdain, Janie Fink, Richard Ford, Jorie Graham, Robert Hass, Campbell McGrath, Joyce Carol Oates, and other special guests.
Daniel Halpern is the author of seven collections of poems, including Something Shining (Knopf, 2001); Selected Poems (1996); and Traveling on Credit, his first book of poety. He has translated and edited numerous works and anthologies, and in 1970, he worked with Paul Bowles to establish and co-edit the international literary journal Antaeus. Halpern is the founder and editorial director of Ecco Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. He has received numerous honors, including, among others, fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He resides in the New York area with his family.
John Ashbery's collections include Planisphere: New Poems (Ecco, 2009); Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems (2008); A Wave (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1984), which won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (Penguin, 1975), which received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the National Book Award; and Some Trees (Yale University Press, 1956), which was selected by W. H. Auden for the Yale Younger Poets Series.
Russell Banks has written numerous novels, including TThe Reserve (2008), Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, The Sweet Hereafter, and Affliction, the latter two collections were adapted for the screen. His honors include the Ingram Merrill Award, the John Dos Passos Award, the Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and he has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Banks is the founder and President of Cities of Refuge North America.
Anthony Bourdain is an author and a chef. He is the author of nine books, including No Reservations: Around The World on an Empty Stomach (Bloomsbury USA, 2007); The Nasty Bits (2006); and Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook (2004).
Janie Fink was educated at the University of Virginia and Columbia University, where she studied with Halpern. She is the author of Bubble Opera (Carrot Press, 2007), and her poetry has appeared in various journals, including Antaeus, Margie, Poetry East, and Virginia Quarterly Review. Her essays and reviews have appeared in The Journal and Verse. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and daughter.
Jorie Graham is the author of numerous collections of poetry, most recently Sea Change (Ecco, 2008), Never (2002), Swarm (2000), and The Dream of the Unified Field: Selected Poems 1974-1994, which won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She has been the recipient of numerous honors, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship and the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, among others. She is currently the Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University.
Robert Hass's books of poetry include The Apple Trees at Olema (Ecco/HarperCollins, April 2010), Time and Materials (2007), which won the 2007 National Book Award; Sun Under Wood: New Poems (1996); Human Wishes (1989); Praise (1979); and Field Guide (Yale University Press, 1973), which was selected by Stanley Kunitz for the Yale Younger Poets Series. Hass served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997, and he currently teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.
Richard Ford is the author of several novels, including Canada (forthcoming from Ecco/HarperCollins); The Lay of the Land (2006); Independence Day (Knopf, 1995); which was the first novel to receive the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; Wildlife (1990); and The Sportswriter. He has also written several short story collections, including Vintage Ford (2002) and Rock Springs (1987), among others. Since 2008, Ford has been Adjunct Professor at the Oscar Wilde Centre with the School of English at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Campbell McGrath's poetry collections include Shannon: A Poem of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2009), Seven Notebooks(2008), Pax Atomica (2005), Florida Poems (2003), and Spring Comes to Chicago (1996), among others. He has been the recipient of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, a Pushcart Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Witter-Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, and a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award," among others. He teaches at Florida International University in Miami.
Joyce Carol Oates's numerous works include We Were the Mulvaneys (2004); Blonde (2000), which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize; The Falls , which won the 2005 Prix Femina Etranger; and The Gravedigger's Daughter (2007), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and among others. Oates has been the recipient of several honors, including the National Book Award, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, and two O. Henry Awards. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and she is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University.

Sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Society of America, the New York University Creative Writing Program, and HarperCollins Publishers

Info:

212-274-0343, ext 10
academy@poets.org
http://www.poets.org/events

Thank you!

2010-02-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

Submissions have closed for the Afterlife Anthology and I want to thank all of you who sent in poems. It's been wonderful reading your work and learning more about you. You can expect a response in about two weeks. Thanks again!
Rachel

One week left to submit!

2010-01-26T00:57:00.000-08:00

The afterlife anthology closes to submissions one week from today. So far there has been an amazing response and I am looking forward to adding to the pile. So if you are interested in sending your poems, please follow this link. I wish you the best in all your creative endeavors!

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T11:31:00.001-08:00

Updates

2009-12-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

It's snowing all around Connecticut right now so I hope everyone is driving safely. I've heard that the NYCIP Small Press Book Fair is being held in March 2010 instead of this month (which is when it usually happens) so just a heads up for all you living in the tri-state area. March!! Woohoo. Also, Sephyrus Press is still taking submissions for the Afterlife Anthology. It's really coming together but there is still time to submit. Happy Holidays :)

Zine - What have you to say... vol. 1

2009-10-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

"What have you to say? Nothing at all." A strange mix of art/poetry/aliens and random wierdness. The best kind! The original artwork is done with pastels, charcoal, pencil and marker. And the whole thing put together is more of a collage.

This issue is 10 pages (12 including covers). The binding is hand-stitched with green tatting thread. It is printed in full color. It comes to you in a clear cellophane bag for protection. The back cover is signed and dated. Dimensions are 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Shipped in a flat envelope. :)

This can be purchased here or by emailing rachel@sephyrus.com.

Reader comment:
"A very unusual art/word zine! It's full of pretty colors and conversations that sounds like the ones that go on in your head...it will catch you off guard! A+"

Sephyrus Press Seeks Poems About the Afterlife for an Anthology

2009-08-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

We are curious about people's view of the afterlife and are seeking poems pertaining to that topic. The poem(s) can be your view of what happens, a theoretical scene or whatever you want.

All styles are accepted. Prose poetry should be kept to 750 words or less.

How many can you submit? As many as you'd like.

The book will be available in a trade paperback edition. A limited number of hand-bound copies will also be made.

The book will be sparingly illustrated.

Payment will be a copy of the book and a special sephyrusian present.

Deadline for submissions is February 1st 2010 but is subject to change.

Questions, comments, submissions please send to rachel@sephyrus.com in a word file (.doc, .rtf or odt.)

Thanks!

For those of you who use Duotrope's Digest to track submissions, here is a link to our listing.

62 Things (an e-book)

2009-08-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

I made an e-book. You can check it out here: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/62-things/7551401

It is $3.33 and contains 62 things.

It's a collage.

Thanks.

Sephyrus Press in 'da house

Sephyrus Press made it to The New Yorker (even if only in passing)

2008-12-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

December 9, 2008
Literary Smackdown Revisited
The Literary Trivia Smackdown 2.0, which pitted PEN vs. Lit Bloggers, was the ultimate event at the Twenty-first Annual Indie and Small Press Book Fair this past weekend. And a lively literary contest it was, nimbly emceed by the ironically tuxedoed and erudite author Tim W. Brown. PEN won, 16-13, I think, but I’m not entirely sure; making our way around nearly a hundred and fifty literature-strewn tables of indie presses—whose names reminded me at times of a flock of unruly reindeer: Archipelago, Dream Weaver, Fractious, Leapfrog, Luminus, Olympia, Persea, Rainbow Star, Sephyrus, Whirlwind, Windspur, just to name a few—was so dizzying in its multiplicity that a New Yorker colleague and I had to pop across the street to a Greek taverna for fortification.

The questions came hard and fast, and were of such graduate-school caliber—the name of Don DeLillo’s only play or Washington Irving’s house or the author of the first slave narrative—that not even the lifelines to audience and adjudicator helped the impressive contestants. We were, all in all, relieved that the Book Bench bloggers hadn’t been asked to participate. Nonetheless, there was one question neither team got that my less-addled colleague did: what writer was the inspiration for the Brandy Alexander? The Lit Bloggers suggested Alexander Pope; PEN parried with Alexandre Dumas (or perhaps it was the other way around). The answer: the New Yorker writer and Round Tablist Alexander Woollcott.

Except that, on sober reflection, this seems to be just another apocryphal urban legend, signifying sound and fury, at least if the Brandy Alexander entry on Wikepedia (which may prove to be the future of publishing) is to be believed. Therein we are told:“Drama critic/celebrity Alexander Woollcott was very fond of this drink, and he encouraged the assumption that it was named after him. (The actual origin of the drink’s name is unknown.)”

In the literary smackdown’s wake, another colleague and I ventured a couple of blocks west to do some literary slurping, I mean sleuthing, at the Algonquin. For those at home interested in keeping up with literary tradition, here is a recipe for the immortally named concoction, whomever the hell it’s named after:

May we suggest a revised question for Literary Trivia Smackdown 3.0: what chocolatey cocktail is one of the main characters in Chuck Palahniuk’s novel “Invisible Monsters” named after?

Posted by Vicky RaabIn
The Book Bench
| Literary Smackdown

Hittin' The Book Fair - Check it!!

2008-11-29T21:52:00.000-08:00

Come see Sappho Does Hay(na)ku in the Co-op room at the Indie Book Fair. I'll be there checking out the books and the free workshops and readings. Should be a great time! Anyone wishing to carpool (train-style) can email me.

Book News

2008-11-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

Sappho Does Hay(na)ku now has a review posted on its amazon page.

The book will also appear on the Co-op table at the 21st Annual New York City Independent Publisher and Small Press Book Fair. It runs the weekend of December 6 & 7 in midtown Manhattan. Check it out and hope to see you there!

Sappho Does Hay(na)ku

2008-09-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Sappho Does Hay(na)ku, by Scott Keeney is now available on Amazon.com. Each book is signed by the author and is beautifully hand-bound. The first release from Sephyrus Press and a better choice could not have been made!

Sappho Does Hay(na)ku Hand-bound Edition

2008-08-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Sephyrus.com will be offering the Sappho Does Hay(na)ku, by Scott Keeney, hand-bound paperback edition in September. Scott writes poetry in many forms which can be read on his blog nobodyintherain and by following the links to his other blogbooks. His non-egoic pursuit in writing has excited me to publish one of his compilations. Sappho is a collection of 77 poems that deal in love, lust and sarcasm. For a better review than this check out Bill Keckler's blog, Joe Brainard's Pyjamas. Thanks Scott, for sharing yourself with us.