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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 October 15, 2002 (Volume 2, Number 19)

• Greg Avila, Founder of Powhatan Review, Dies
• Southeastern Lit Mags Make First Appearance at Georgia Book and Arts Festival
• Small Press Center Holds First of Nine Workshops For Publishers
• In Brief
• CLMP Announcements

GREG AVILA, FOUNDER OF POWHATAN REVIEW, DIES

Greg Avila, 52, who founded and edited the literary magazine Powhatan Review (http://www.powhatanreview.cjb.net), was found dead in a parking lot in Norfolk, Virginia, on September 11.

In 1997 Avila and friend Alex Marshall launched the inaugeral issue of Powhatan Review, named after a Native American Tribe in Virginia. The magazine's original budget was $200, according to Marshall. Since then, the magazine--an eclectic mix of poetry, prose, essays, and criticism--has come out twice a year. Marshall says, "I think what made Greg special was that he was one of the few people I knew to bridge the gap between the literary, intellectual, artistic world and the working-class, just-the-facts, don't-get-too-fancy world."

Avila, an Arapaho Indian, received a Bronze Star for his service during the Vietnam War. Afterwards, he made his living installing heating and air conditioning, and as a roofer. But he was also an artist. He painted, wrote, and made sculpture--including pieces made out of the copper gutters he found on his roofing jobs. And, he was the heart and soul of the Powhatan Review. According to Marshall, Avila saw no distinction between building roofs and creating the magazine. He believed both endeavors were expressions of his art.

Part of Avila's desire to create the magazine stemmed from his background, according to Marshall. "He had this idea to use the magazine as a place to publish working-class voices," Marshall says. Avila also aimed to give regional writers a voice for their work, but over the five years that he stood at the helm of the operations, overseeing all aspects of the magazine, the Powhatan Review took on a more national bent.

According to Marshall, Avila lived a fairly solitary life after his wife died of cancer in 1986. In the past year, he suffered from a serious and unexpected depression during which he lost his job and his apartment. Doctors at the VA diagnosed the depression as a delayed post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Vietnam. But recently, according to Marshall, he had begun to recover and seemed to be back to his old self. And, he had plans for the future of the Powhatan Review, including finding more ways to distribute the magazine.

"Greg really was a skilled craftsman, whether working with copper gutters on a roof, or putting in a heating and air conditioning system," says Marshall. "Yet he would also go home and spend his time reading small literary magazines and poetry. And he had the gumption to start his own literary magazine" He adds, "The magazine was his baby."

SOUTHEASTERN LIT MAGS MAKE FIRST APPEARANCE AT GEORGIA BOOK AND ARTS FESTIVAL

In what they hope commences a long-standing tradition, four Southeast literary magazines made their debut appearance at the 3rd annual Georgia Book and Arts Festival. Marc Fitten, Assistant Editor of the Chattahoochee Review, took it upon himself to gather members of the Georgia literary publishing community to join forces and appear at the festival, which took place at the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta on September 29. Of the seven journals he contacted, Arts & Letters, The Atlanta Review, The Georgia Review, and The Chattahoochee Review all attended. "I think the reason others--like Five Points--didn't show up was that there was supposed to be a hurricane that weekend," says Fitten. "But it never arrived. It was a gorgeous day."

The four representative literary magazines gathered under a tent and displayed their publications. Among them, Brenda Keen of the Georgia Review found the event to be a mixed bag. "It was an odd thing in several ways," says Keen. "It didn't seem very well-organized, and I had to explain to people what a literary magazine actually is." The festival was scheduled at the same time as another event in the park, and a football game at the nearby Georgia Dome brought an eclectic mix of foot traffic. In addition, many of the participants at the festival were self-published authors.

According to Minal Singh, assistant editor at Arts & Letters, the event failed to summon a large literary crowd. "There were not enough big names there," says Singh. "Self-publishing is something I support, but without a bigger draw you can't do service to self-published writers or anyone else participating in the event." Singh was also disappointed in the physical placement of the editors and their magazines at the event, saying that they were relegated to a spot at the end of a long path and did not have very much foot traffic.

But Chante Whitley-Head, a bookseller for Barnes & Noble and one of the chief organizers of the Atlanta Literary Arts Festival (a non-profit organization that co-sponsored the book festival) was excited to have the literary magazines present. "I have to thank Marc for educating me about literary magazines. What he did for the festival this year was open it up and make it more well-rounded," she says, adding, "I sell mass-market books. I don't even pretend to be up-to-date on great literature. I want to create a venue where the editors of these magazines can talk about what goes into the making of literature."

Next year Whitley-Head hopes to create and promote a special panel that features the literary magazines and allows audience members to participate in a question-and-answer session. Aware that the magazines did not get the kind of exposure they were looking for, Whitley-Head also wants to provide them with their own tent and a location that will offer greater visibility to the public. "These editors took the time to educate me, and if my goal is to hit every pocket of the literary world, then I consider them an important component of the festival."

In a larger sense, Fitten says of the journals, "I thought it was important to meet up with each other. We shouldn't see ourselves as competitors." He adds, "I believe that we should develop a consortium of literary magazines and start a grassroots effort to bring attention to the literary culture of the Southeast."

SMALL PRESS CENTER HOLDS FIRST OF NINE WORKSHOPS FOR PUBLISHERS

For the fifth year in a row, the Small Press Center in New York City held the first of nine workshops geared toward helping small publishers access practical information on a wide range of publishing issues. "The goal of these workshops is to provide publishers with more creative and profitable ways to run their business," says Small Press Center Executive Director, Karin Taylor. To that end, the workshops cover a varied selection of topics aimed at publishers with tight budgets, small staffs and difficult deadlines. Each workshop will be conducted during the next six months in New York City, but recordings on CD of the panels are also available through the Small Press Center.

The first workshop, "Today's Best Book Promotion Options--Online" was held before a group of about 60 small press and magazine publishers. "We discussed how publishers can effectively use the Internet to publicize and market books," says Taylor. The workshop was designed to give participants an overview on how to interact with major bookselling sites on the web as well as how to generate more sales through creative promotion on their own sites. The panelists included publishing consultant Anne Kinard and Lyn Blake, Vice President, Vendor Group, Amazon.com. "People really bombarded Lyn with questions. They seemed very interested in what they could do to increase their sales on Amazon," says Taylor.

The workshops are supported in large part by Publishers Weekly, which provides advertising and helps recruit panelists. Other workshops include, "Better than Bookstores: Sales and Distribution," organized to show publishers how to protect themselves when making deals with distributors as well as offering advice on how to make deals for sales through libraries, schools, and special markets. Also, to meet the growing demand for information on web design and offer publishers practical solutions to cover design dilemmas, the Small Press Center has organized a panel called "Do it Yourself Design for Books and Websites." "The basic principle for this workshop is that if the design is good sales will follow, but if you skimp on the design your readers and web visitors will vanish," says Taylor.

For more information on the workshops log on to the Small Press Center website at http://www.smallpress.org.

IN BRIEF

FC2 First Novel a Finalist for the 2002 Oregon Book Awards

FC2's recent publication of Kate Bernheimer's The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold has been announced as a finalist for the H. L. Davis Award in Fiction in the prestigious Oregon Book Awards. Sherman Alexie will host the final awards ceremony on November7 in Portland, Oregon.

CLMP ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRIT LIT!

Leading British and Irish literary figures Paul Muldoon, Simon Armitage, Glyn Maxwell, Mimi Khalvati, Pascale Petit, Michael Hulse, and Bernardine Evaristo will participate in a major literary discussion, Brit Lit: New Writing from the UK and Ireland, on Thursday, October 17, 2002 at 7:00 PM at Engelman Recital Hall, Baruch College, 150 E. 25th St. at Lexington Ave., New York City. In recent years, the UK has produced a remarkable array of writers and poets who have energized the literary scene. In the wake of the tragic events on September 11, 2001 in New York City, many of these writers have published critical writing in support and against U.S. and British actions around the world and the globalization of cultures. In a rare opportunity, several of UK's and Ireland's leading editors, writers, and poets will be in New York City to discuss the state of world literature and perceptions of the United States around the world. The conference is sponsored by the Council for Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), Rattapallax, Poets House, and Baruch Center for the Performing Arts. For more information about the conference, please visit http://www.clmp.org.

THE RICHARD WRIGHT PROJECT

Tuesday, October 15, 7:00 p.m. Screening of BLACK BOY, a film on the life and work of Richard Wright, author of Native Son and Black Boy. Introduced by the film's Emmy-winning writer and director MADISON DAVIS LACY, and film historian PEARL BOWSER. @BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Admission $8.50

Thursday, October 17, 7:00 p.m. Book release party for Richard Wright: The Life and Times by HAZEL ROWLEY. Author reading, followed by Q&A. @Indigo Cafe & Books, 672 Fulton St., Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 718-488-5934. No admission fee

Sunday, October 20 3:00-7:00 p.m. Roundtable discussion with JOHN A. WILLIAMS, HAZEL ROWLEY, KEVIN POWELL, and NELSON GEORGE, moderated by APRIL WOODWARD (Inside Edition). Reception to follow. @South Oxford Space, 138 South Oxford St., Fort Greene, Brooklyn. No admission fee

Sponsored by the Fort Greene Park Conservancy, African Voices magazine, Griot Reading Programs, and Akashic Books. For more information contact Akashic7@aol.com.

PINK PONY WEST POETRY READING SERIES

Hosted by Jackie Sheeler at The Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street (Bleecker and West 4th), 212-989-9319. 6 p.m., $6 admission gets you a free drink!

Oct 18--Randy Roark & an open reading Randy is the author of Dissolve: Screenplays to the Films of Stan Brakhage, Mona Lisa's Veil: New & Selected Poems 1979-2001, and Hymns. This is his first reading in New York City.

Oct 25--Joy of Six, & an open reading Joy of Six, featuring André Mangeot, Andrea Porter, Anne Berkeley, Martin Figura, Peter Howard, and Wayne Hill, is an ensemble of original and prize-winning poets from Cambridge, England, performing together.

AGNI THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY PARTY

AGNI Magazine will be celebrating it's 30th anniversary and the release of a 480-page "best-of" poetry anthology--one poem by each of 243 poets who've been in AGNI over the past three decades--on Wednesday, October 30 (remember "30th on the 30th") at 8:00 p.m. at Boston University's Metcalf Center, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Rm. 107. The evening will include readings by Seamus Heaney, Robert Pinsky, Gail Mazur, Diana Der Hovanessian, Lloyd Schwartz, William Corbett, David Rivard, Rosanna Warren, Dzivinia Orlowsky, Fred Marchant, Tom Sleigh, Sharon Dunn, and Michael Franco. Cost is $15 ($5 w/ student ID), and the anthology will be on sale for $5 (regularly $12). Call 617-353-7135 for details and to inquire about a special pre-party.