Brooklyn Arts Press (BAP) is an independent

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

of poetry, literary fiction, non-fiction, art books, and music. The company was founded in 2007 by writer Joe Pan (formerly Joe Millar) in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

.“Pressing for Good Poetry
''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' March 12, 2012. Accessed October 21, 2014. In 2015, the

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

was compared to

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

and

Louis CK Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. C.K. won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a ...

for running a promotional sale that allowed readers to pay whatever they wanted for a new

Noah Eli Gordon Noah Eli Gordon (1975 – July 10, 2022) was an American poet, editor, and publisher. Overview Gordon was the co-publisher of Letter Machine Editions, an editor for ''The Volta'', and an assistant professor in the MFA program in creative writing a ...

paperback book, leading to local and international speculation as to whether the campaign would be instrumental in changing how poetry books are sold in the US. In 2016,

Daniel Borzutzky Daniel Borzutzky is a Chicago-based poet and translator. His collection ''The Performance of Becoming Human'' won the 2016 National Book Award. The son of Chilean immigrants, Borzutzky's work often addresses immigration, worker exploitation, pol ...

's book ''The Performance of Becoming Human'', published by BAP that April, won the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

for Poetry.

History

Brooklyn Arts Press, or BAP, began with the self-publication of Joe Pan's first book, ''Autobiomythography & Gallery'', after his debut manuscript was named a finalist for several major poetry contests, including the

Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition The Yale Series of Younger Poets is an annual event of Yale University Press aiming to publish the debut collection of a promising American poet. Established in 1918, the Younger Poets Prize is the longest-running annual literary award in the Uni ...

, the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

’ Walt Whitman Award, and the

National Poetry Series The National Poetry Series is an American literary awards program. Every year since 1979, the National Poetry Series has sponsored the publication of five books of poetry. Manuscripts are solicited through an annual open competition, judged and cho ...

. The book went on to be named “Best First Book of the Year” by Coldfront Magazine, and allowed BAP to begin publishing more books.Meet the press: nin andrews in conversation with joe pan of Brooklyn arts press
Best American Poetry Blog, March 17, 2012. Accessed October 21, 2014. While the recession halted production in 2008 and 2009, in 2010, the publishing company soon “broke the barrier where each book pays for the next." Since then, the small press has published between 9-12 books per year, including Christopher Hennessy's ''Love-In-Idleness'', which was a finalist for the

Thom Gunn Award The Thom Gunn Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honour works of gay male poetry. First presented in 2001 as the Triangle Award for Gay Poetry, the award was renamed in memory of American poet Thom Gunn, the awa ...

in 2012. On June 1, 2017 Brooklyn Arts Press will release the debut LP from Brooklyn indie-rock trio

Tuff Sunshine Tuff Sunshine is an American rock band based in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. The band is led by Johnny Leitera, who works with several backing musicians who join him onstage and on tour as well as in the studio. They include notable ...

Notable Authors

Anaïs Duplan Anaïs Duplan (born 1992) is a Haitian writer now based in the U.S., with three book publications from Action Books, Black Ocean Press, and Brooklyn Arts Press, respectively. His work has been honored by a Whiting Award and a Marian Goodman fello ...

Anselm Berrigan Anselm Berrigan (born 1972) is an American poet and teacher. Life and work Anselm Berrigan grew up in New York City, where he currently resides with his wife, poet Karen Weiser. From 2003 to 2007, he served as artistic director at the St. Mar ...

Alexander Boldizar Alexander Boldizar (born in Czechoslovakia, now Slovak Republic, 1971) is a writer, lawyer and art critic. He was the first post-independence Slovak citizen to graduate with a ''Juris Doctor'' degree from Harvard Law School. His writing has won a PE ...

Carol Guess Carol Guess (born January 3, 1968) is an American poet and fiction writer. Her work emphasizes compression, musicality, and experimental structure. Biography Guess attended Columbia University, majoring in English while studying ballet. She later ...

(

Winner) *

Michael Ernest Sweet Michael Ernest Sweet (born 1979) is a Canadian photographer, writer, and educator. He is the author of two books of street photography, ''The Human Fragment'' and ''Michael Sweet's Coney Island.'' Teaching Sweet was born and raised on his famil ...

References

External links

*{{Official website, www.brooklynartspress.com Publishing companies established in 2007 Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Companies based in Brooklyn