We spoke with Michelle Dotter, publisher and editor-in-chief of Dzanc Books, in our latest Member Spotlight.
What is the history behind Dzanc Books? When was it founded and what is its mission?
Dzanc Books was founded in 2006 by two people, Steve Gillis and Dan Wickett, who wanted to see great books get published, whether or not they were commercial. It’s been nearly twenty years since the press’s founding, and our mission remains the same: to put unconventional, no-holds-barred, rule-breaking work into the world, while supporting authors, artists, and the broader literary community. That sounds, at some level, incredibly simple. But it’s a simple idea that runs counter to the way most publishing trends run. Being a nonprofit gives us the freedom to publish books that match our ideals, that speak in a voice we haven’t heard often enough, that challenge our conceptions of what constitutes a story. That’s Dzanc: a press built around the concept of neuroplasticity, of books that change us on a fundamental, neurological level.
It hasn’t been easy; Steve Gillis, especially, has been Herculean in his support for the press. But we’re so proud of what we’ve become. Winning the 2023 AWP Small Press Award felt like an immense validation of all of that work. For me personally, though, nothing is a greater compliment than the fact that many of our authors come back and publish with us again.
We’ve been expanding recently into writing and mentorship programs, new imprints, and new frontiers of experimental literature. We’re passionate about championing books that break the mold, that tell stories in some new, unexpected way. We’re forever redefining how we do that, but what we do, and what we value, remains the same—and remains more critical than ever, I think, at a time when technology is asking us to undervalue truly human creation.
Dzanc Books recently announced a new imprint, Berlin-based PalmArtPress. What inspired this collaboration, and what can readers look forward to from it?
In part, the collaboration was inspired by the devastating fall of Small Press Distribution (SPD)—PalmArtPress used to be a SPD client, and like so many, they found the rug pulled out from under them. That opened the door for this collaboration. PalmArtPress was founded in 2008 by publisher Catharine J. Nicely, and their aesthetic is similar to Dzanc’s: books with an experimental combination of literature and art, with select titles published in both German and English. The first book readers can look out for from the new imprint is an artist’s manifesto from the incredible social activist Ai Weiwei in November.
Can you tell us about some recent or upcoming Dzanc Books titles?
This question is always like asking a parent to pick their favorite child. We’ve been so thrilled, though, with Be Gay, Do Crime, a relentlessly queer anthology we put out in June. Afabwaje Kurian’s Before the Mango Ripens, a stunning novel set in Nigeria just after independence, is coming out in paperback this fall, and it’s a fantastic book club read. We’re also releasing Bloomland by John Englehardt, which won the Dzanc Prize for Fiction and went on to be an Indie Next pick and a Kirkus’s Best selection. A brilliant example of second person and of grappling with a mass tragedy while never losing sight of the humanity even in the most brutal of us, I could never recommend it highly enough. I’ve been doing this job a long time, and it’s still, hands down, one of the best books I’ve ever published.
What is the Dzanc Writers-in-Schools Program?
The Dzanc Writers-in-Schools Program grew out of our commitment to keep building a world of readers; it’s a program that sends published authors and grad students into Michigan classrooms for a whole school year, teaching poetry to fifth- and sixth-grade classes. The students get to work directly with professional writers, and at the end of the year, we publish a print anthology of the participating students’ work and hold a reading for the public. In the years we’ve been running this, we’ve mentored thousands of students, and it’s been so rewarding for the writers as well. We’re now expanding our literary outreach programs through Dzanc House, a literary safe harbor in Ypsilanti offering youth and teen writing workshops, adult writing intensives, residencies, art programs, and so much more.
What distributor is Dzanc Books working with? How can bookstores and libraries find and order your titles?
We’re distributed by Publishers Group West—they make it pretty easy, luckily. You can find all of our titles on Edelweiss, as well as in the PGW/Ingram catalog, and we’re also glad to do direct sales, too.
Are there any indie bookstores (or libraries) that you think do a particularly good job featuring titles from indie publishers? If so, what do they do?
Indie bookstores are incredible. In a business with razor-thin margins, they take more chances on indie presses and local authors than anyone, and the level of dedication and love for the written word that just pours from indie booksellers makes everything we’re doing feel possible. My local is Boulder Bookstore, a fantastic store with great staff, and we get a lot of love from the Michigan indies as well, especially Literati. Staff recs and shelf shout-outs are so effective for helping readers find and consider a new author or a new press; I love Boulder Bookstore’s entire wall of staff recs, giving a spotlight to so many books. I’m also a big fan of Indie Pub Salon and their Small Press Boxes. But truly, all indies are superheroes. Every bookstore I’ve walked into this summer has Be Gay, Do Crime on their rec shelf, and it’s such an honor.
How can interested writers submit their work to Dzanc Books?
Our annual contests are open through September 30: the Prize for Fiction, which accepts novels, as well as the Short Story Collection Prize and the Nonfiction Prize. The contests are fantastic—we get so many inventive, bizarre projects that way, I love it. And many of my perennial favorites—Bloomland, Homesick, White Dancing Elephants, The Banana Wars—came to us through the contests. We’ll also have an open reading period in late fall, usually November. You can find all the relevant information about submissions on our website; please send us cool stuff.
