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The CLMP Newswire
A Biweekly Email News Dispatch on Independent Literary Publishing
A Project of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (http://www.clmp.org)

Table of Contents for February 1, 2002 (Volume 2, Number 2)

• Community, Identity: Asian-American Literary Journals Continue to Evolve
• Manhattan Review Turns 21
• In Brief
• Newswire Listings

COMMUNITY, IDENTITY: ASIAN-AMERICAN LITERARY JOURNALS CONTINUE TO EVOLVE

David Maruyama, one-time Co-Editor of the now defunct literary magazine Dis*orient, views the magazine's closure as a cautionary tale about literary publishing and the Asian-American community. The Los Angeles-based journal closed shop, he says, because of lack of funds and time, but also because of lack of support among the Asian-American community. Maruyama's claim comes as no surprise to the Asian American Writer's Workshop (http://www.aaww.org).In fact, the New York City nonprofit organization began with a mision to help address the need for community support in Asian-American letters.

The workshop has done much for Asian-American literary arts. For one, it started The Asian Pacific American Journal to "celebrate poets and novelists in the Asian American community," says AAWW Executive Director Quang Bao. "When the journal launched, there was an audience of about 60 people." Ten years later the non-profit center boasts a membership of 850, claims to have the largest bookstore of Asian American literature anywhere in the country, and has provided workshops and/or financially supported as many as 10,000 writers over the last ten years. And the semiannual journal is continuing to serve an important need. "There aren't that many literary magazines for Asian Americans." says Bao. "But there's so many general literary magazines these days, you can publish anywhere."

For Bao, it's frustrating that so many literary publications have what he considers a narrow perception of Asian American literature. "Editors are constantly looking for familiar markers like the food element," says Bao. "There's not much writing outside the box." For that reason Bao believes it's imperative to look at broader definitions of the Asian American experience through literature. In this vein, he would like to solicit more in the way of experimental work and writing that challenges the popular culture's conceptions of Asian-American identity.

The workshop is looking for ways to expand its horizons in other ways as well. Bao and his staff hope to develop its web presence and making the journal visiable to a wider audience online. And, while the workshop has been successfully publishing anthologies, the AAWW hopes to begin publishing the work of individual writers. Immediate goals call for the publication of three books a year. Bao is also working closely with others at the workshop to bring back out-of-print books by Asian American writers. Finally, Bao sees a renaissance in Asian-American poetry and hopes to enlarge the journal's cadre of poets.

San-Francisco-based Interlope (http://www.interlope.org) is deeply committed to discovering new forms of Asian-American writing, according to Founder and Editor Summi Kaipa. "My hope in starting the magazine was to expand the notion of Asian-American experimentation in literature," says Kaipa, adding that as an Asian American experimental writer "you get ostracized even more." She says that, when it comes to Asian-American literature, mainstream press seems to be interested only in the "Amy Tan immigrant story." By contrast, she says, "I am much more interested in discovering what it means to be experimental within the ethnic context, in pushing the envelope and looking at issues of language."

Kaipa, like Bao, also brings up the complexity of even defining what it means to be Asian American. "It's so often defined as mainly Korean-American, Japanese- or Chinese-American. But this is only an American version of Asian. In England you have Indian and Pakistani too." For her, the challenge in running Interlope is being all inclusive when publishing Asian American literature and seeking out non-traditional forms.

For this reason, Kaipa looks to the small, photocopied and stapled 'zines as well as comic books for cutting-edge writing and art from the Asian American community, preferring to solicit most of the work herself for the publication. "75% of submissions are bunk," says Kaipa. "Most people don't even know it's an Asian American magazine. I get translations from Asia all the time and I'm not interested in that."

What Kaipa is interested in is publishing ten issues--the magazine stands at seven now--and then archiving them online and shutting down the publication. While Kaipa may not always get her magazine out in a timely fashion, she believes she has fulfilled her goal of creating a space within the Asian American Community where experimental writing has a forum. Personally, Kaipa is happy to be part of the conversation about Asian-American literature. "I wanted to find a way to create a dialogue within the community and a means by which I could insert myself into it," she says.

Experimental writing is also one of the goals for Kaya Press, (www.kaya.com) an independent publisher of Asian, Pacific Islander, and API diasporic literary writing. Managing Editor Julie Koo says, "The press was originally started in 1994 by a wealthy Korean writer and publisher to introduce contemporary Korean literature." Since then, she says, the focus has expanded because the editors believed they were overlooking a large segment of the Asian, and Asian-American, literary world. "Now we're an Asian diasporic press," says Koo. "We don't limit ourselves to U.S.-based authors." The press--which puts out books of poetry, fiction, and critical essays, as well as the annual anthology Muae--wants to spread its geographical wings even wider to encompass Asian authors in Central America and Europe, places Koo says one doesn't typically consider as having much Asian influence.

Koo says the all-volunteer staff at Kaya is ambivalent about the label it's taken on to define itself. For Koo, part of this uncertainty stems from her own frustrations. She says she often feels "token" whenever she's asked to speak on a so-called "multi-cultural" literary panel. "It's never just a plain literary panel," she says. Likewise, the press is equally sensitive about being racially categorized. It tries to find literature that reveals the complexity of the Asian experience from the perspective of the outside world and not, Koo says, strictly from an Asian-American or an Asian writer from the diaspora. "We try to publish literature that sees an interconnectedness in all things," says Koo.

Above and beyond the editorial challenge of Kaya, there is the issue of money. "All along the biggest challenge has been trying to run this press on a volunteer basis," says Koo. That the small, unpaid staff has managed to publish 14 books and three anthologies in eight years is no small feat; however, questions remain about its ability to continue doing so. Koo is in the midst of solidifying Kaya's 501(3)c status, which she hopes will make it eligible for lifesaving state and national grants. "I'm hoping that non-profit status will eventually ease some of this burden," she says.

This year, the Manhattan Review is celebrating its 21st birthday by hosting a reading at Poet's House in New York City. The free event will feature many of the poetry journal's contributors, including Marilyn Hacker, Barry Wallenstein, and Jeanne Marie Beaumont. It will also mark the journal's continued-and to Founding Editor Phillip Fried, surprising-run. Fried admits he never thought the journal would be around long enough for such a celebration, but he's tremendously happy. "It's been a labor of love," says Fried. "I can honestly say I still find a lot of enjoyment in finding the work, of supporting new poets."

Fried says he launched the Manhattan Review fresh out of grad school to connect to a larger group of poets. "With [the journal], I could become a 'we,'" says Fried. "If I put on this institutional mask I figured I would feel more empowered and have more courage to contact poets I admired." Which is precisely what he did. Fried says he had no idea how much pleasure that dealing with poets would bring him. "I love the joys of acquisition. I didn't know how much I'd be excited by ensnaring writers' work."

The journal has faced the usual, brink-of-extinction money woes. Fried says, "I finance this thing out-of-pocket, and I barely break even." However, time has been a bigger problem for him. He works as editor, publisher and all-around staff hand for the magazine-"I've licked all the stamps around here," he says. He also holds down a day job in educational publishing, and writes poetry himself. And, since most of the poetry for his magazine is solicited, Fried often finds it difficult to publish even once a year.

Fried does admit that he can sometimes be his own worst enemy when it comes to finding time. For instance, in 1993, he decided to take on The New York Times Book Review when it began reducing its coverage of poetry reviews. He hired graduate students to track the Review's record on reviewing poetry from the 1970s to the mid-90s. It was no surprise that reviews began falling off steadily, particularly in the mid-to-late 80s. So, he created a petition and called over a thousand people for their support, then sent a delegation of five poets into The New York Times to talk to the Book Review Editor, among them Carolyn Forché. "It was like a flea biting an elephant," says Fried. "But remarkably, after submitting the petition the poetry reviews nearly doubled."

This is all part of Fried's passion for the art. Looking back on the preface he wrote for his first issue, Fried recalls how he expressed a hope that poetry could be a central part of the culture at large. Now, 21 years later, he calls such ambition "insane." However, the Manhattan Review has made a name for itself by supporting the work of young American poets while maintaining an international scope. And Fried hopes he can continue to do so for the next 21 years.

The trade book industry continues to post encouraging sales, making publishing naysayers seem like pessimists. For instance, AAP's preliminary numbers for sales in adult hardcovers show an increase of 11.5% for November. Trade paperback sales went up 14.9% as well.

It's not too late to sign up for the AWP conference, to be held in New Orleans on March 7, 8 & 9. But hotels are almost all sold out. For more information, log on at http://www.gmu.edu/departments/awp/

….And it's not too early to start planning for Book Expo America to be held in New York City, May 1-5. You can find more information by logging on at http://www.bookexpoamerica.com.

The Manhattan Review will celebrate its 21st anniversary at Poets House, 72 Spring Street, New York City, at 7:00 PM on Thursday, February 7. The event, which is free, will include readings by well-known poets who have contributed to the journal: Marilyn Hacker, D. Nurkse, Baron Wormser, Christopher Bursk, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Barry Wallenstein, and others. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, contact Philip Fried at (212) 932-1854.

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The CCS Reading Series is closing to re-open as: READINGS ON THE BOWERY. Please join us for our first reading in our new venue: Sunday, February 3rd, 2 PM (PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE) with Elizabeth Tucker, Cleopatra Mathis, Andrea Barrett, and Ellen Bryant Voigt. The readings take place at The Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, New York City. $7.00 suggested donation, $5.00 students and seniors. For more information contact: FourWayBksEvents@aol.com or bowerypoetry.com.

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Nimrod International Journal, The James Joyce Quarterly, Borders, and the friends of the Tulsa Irish-American Society are pleased to present "An Evening of Love Poems and Celtic Music," featuring Mary McLaughlin, writer, teacher, and performer of Irish music, on Tuesday, February 5, 2002, 7:30 p.m., at Borders Midtown in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For more information contact Nimrod at 631-3080 or by email at nimrod@utulsa.edu.

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Copper Canyon Press Seeks Publisher

Copper Canyon Press, a 30-year old nonprofit publisher of poetry, seeks qualified applicants for the position of publisher. Responsibilities include management of a nine person staff, oversight of a $900,000 budget, and maintenance of relationships with an active board of directors, a nationwide network of poets, donors, booksellers and publishing colleagues. Applicants must have successful nonprofit leadership experience in literary publishing or arts organizations, outstanding written and spoken communications skills, and possess a love of poetry and literature balanced with a devotion to the business of book publishing. A history of success in institutional fundraising and cultivation of individual donors is critical. Salary $50K plus benefits. Applicants must be willing to relocate to Port Townsend, Washington. Please send a resume detailing a minimum of five yearsí experience with references by February 28, 2002, to:

Search Committee

Copper Canyon Press
P.O. Box 271
Port Townsend, WA 98368

For more information about our organization, visit http://www.coppercanyonpress.org