Jack Shoemaker (born 1946) is an American editor and publisher, and current editorial director and vice-president at

Counterpoint Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent ...

in Berkeley, California. Shoemaker has edited and published books under several imprints, including North Point,

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint with editorial independence. It is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Random House, Inc. Datamonitor Company Profiles Authority: Retrieved 6/20/2007, from EBSCO Host Business Source ...

, Shoemaker & Hoard, and Counterpoint. Shoemaker has published books by

Guy Davenport Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher. Life Guy Davenport was born in Anderson, South Carolina, in the foothills of Appalachia on Novem ...

, Romulus Linney,

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

Wendell Berry Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of ' ...

, Evan S. Connell, MFK Fisher,

James Salter James Arnold Horowitz (June 10, 1925 – June 19, 2015), better known as James Salter, his pen name and later-adopted legal name, was an American novelist and short-story writer. Originally a career officer and pilot in the United States Air For ...

Gina Berriault Gina Berriault (January 1, 1926 – July 15, 1999), was an American novelist and short story writer. Biography Berriault was born in Long Beach, California, to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. Her father was a freelance writer and Berriault took ...

Reynolds Price Edward Reynolds Price (February 1, 1933 – January 20, 2011) was an American poet, novelist, dramatist, essayist and James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University. Apart from English literature, Price had a lifelong interest in Biblical ...

W.S. Merwin William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thema ...

, Michael Palmer,

Donald Hall Donald Andrew Hall Jr. (September 20, 1928 – June 23, 2018) was an American poet, writer, editor and literary critic. He was the author of over 50 books across several genres from children's literature, biography, memoir, essays, and includin ...

Anne Lamott Anne Lamott (born April 10, 1954) is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. She is also a progressive political activist, public speaker, and writing teacher. Lamott is based in Marin County, California. Her nonfiction works are largely ...

Kay Boyle Kay Boyle (February 19, 1902 – December 27, 1992) was an American novelist, short story writer, educator, and political activist. She was a Guggenheim Fellow and O. Henry Award winner. Early years The granddaughter of a publisher, Boyle was ...

Gary Nabhan Gary Paul Nabhan (born 1952) is an agricultural ecologist, Ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, and author whose work has focused primarily on the plants and cultures of the desert Southwest. He is considered a pioneer in the local food ...

Jane Vandenburgh Jane Vandenburgh (born 1948) is an American novelist and memoirist. Biography A fifth-generation Californian, she was born in Berkeley and grew up in Redondo Beach and in the San Fernando Valley. She holds a bachelor's degree in English literatu ...

Carole Maso Carole Maso is a contemporary American novelist and essayist, known for her experimental, poetic and fragmentary narratives which are often called postmodern. She is a recipient of a 1993 Lannan Literary Award for Fiction. Biography Maso was bo ...

, and Robert Aitken. Shoemaker supports author-driven literary publishing ventures and mindfulness and political awareness in publishing. Shoemaker was one of the first American publishers of

Thich Nhat Hanh Thích is a name that Vietnamese monks and nuns take as their Buddhist surname to show affinity with the Buddha. Notable Vietnamese monks with the name include: *Thích Huyền Quang (1919–2008), dissident and activist *Thích Quảng Độ (192 ...

, and a major publisher of

Background

Jack Shoemaker was born in California and began his literary career as a bookseller in 1965 in Santa Barbara. During the next twenty-five years he owned or managed several influential independent literary bookshops, including The Unicorn Bookshop, Serendipity Books, and Sand Dollar Booksellers & Publishers. He allowed books to stay on the shelves longer than usual. He also corresponded with writers such as

, Robert Duncan, and

and stocked his store with titles they recommended. “I had good instincts, I had enormous presumption, and most of all I had good advisors,” Shoemaker has said of that time. “I was, still am, an autodidact. I did not go to college, so for me the correspondence and reading formed my path in education.”

Publishing

Jack Shoemaker moved from bookselling to publishing. An early publishing venture, Unicorn, evolved from a bookstore in Isla Vista, near the campus of University of California-Santa Barbara operated by Shoemaker from 1967 to 1968. In that capacity, Unicorn published in 1968 a book of poems, ''The Cry of Vietnam'', by

at a time when he was a little known Vietnamese Buddhist priest. A second volume published by Unicorn, ''Hark, Hark, the Nark'', was a pamphlet that instructed readers on their civil rights in the event of an arrest for drug possession. Unicorn was followed by Sand Dollar, Booksellers and Publishers, which began operations in 1970 from

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, “a bookshop for poets.” Shoemaker continued his career as a bookseller until 1979, when he co-founded North Point Press with William Turnbull, a civil engineer who loved literature. North Point began with authors Shoemaker had worked with, including Berry, Snyder, Aitken, Fisher, Connell, Salter, and Davenport. Shoemaker served as the company’s editor-in-chief for the entire life of the company. It lasted 12 years and published nearly 400 works, some of which won awards. When North Point closed in 1991, several of its authors followed Shoemaker to Pantheon, where he served as West Coast editor of the

Knopf Publishing Group Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

. Frank H. Pearl, an entrepreneur who specialized in leveraged buyouts, recruited Shoemaker to found

in 1994 in Washington, D.C., and Shoemaker’s core group of authors followed him once again. In 2004 Shoemaker left Counterpoint, and with his longtime associate Trish Hoard established a new company, Shoemaker & Hoard, Publishers, to continue his work. Soon affiliated with the

Avalon Publishing Group Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. It was named Publisher of the Ye ...

, Shoemaker & Hoard published more than 100 titles in its few years of existence. Additional writers published by Shoemaker, either at Counterpoint or at Shoemaker & Hoard, include Michael Downing,

Robert Bringhurst Robert Bringhurst Appointments to the Order of Canada (2013). (born 16 October 1946) is a Canadian poet, typographer and author. He has translated substantial works from Haida and Navajo and from classical Greek and Arabic. He wrote ''The Eleme ...

Alexander Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...

Nicholas Christopher Nicholas Christopher (born 1951) is an American novelist and poet. He is the author of seven novels, eight volumes of poetry, and a critical study of film noir. Background Christopher graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in English Lit ...

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (; 7 May 19273 April 2013) was a British author and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. In 1951, Jhabvala ma ...

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cr ...

Jay Griffiths Jay Griffiths (born in Manchester) is a British writer and author of '' Wild: An Elemental Journey'', ''Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time'', ''Anarchipelago'', ''A Love Letter from a Stray Moon'', ''Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape'' and '' T ...

Robert Hass Robert L. Hass (born March 1, 1941) is an American poet. He served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997. He won the 2007 National Book Award and shared the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for the collection ''Time and Materials: Poems 1997 ...

Ann Pancake Ann Pancake is an American fiction writer and essayist. She has published short stories and essays describing the people and atmosphere of Appalachia, often from the first-person perspective of those living there. While fictional, her short storie ...

Jed Perl Jed Perl (born 1951) is an American art critic and author in New York City. He was a longtime staff of ''The New Republic''. Career Jed Perl initially trained as a painter. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College and also studied at th ...

Mary Robison Mary Cennamo Robison (born January 14, 1949 in Washington, D.C., United States) is an American short story writer and novelist. She has published four collections of stories, and four novels, including her 2001 novel ''Why Did I Ever'', winn ...

, Valerie Trueblood, Lawrence Wechsler,

Janet Frame Janet Paterson Frame (28 August 1924 – 29 January 2004) was a New Zealand author. She was internationally renowned for her work, which included novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous awar ...

, and Cynthia Shearer. Later partnering with Charlie Winton, Shoemaker purchased Counterpoint Press from the

Perseus Book Group Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. It was named Publisher of the Y ...

, and another press,

Soft Skull Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent So ...

. At that time Counterpoint Press also formed an operating agreement with

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

Books. The new endeavor, consisting now of three separate imprints, operates from offices in Berkeley, California.

American Buddhism

As an editor and publisher Shoemaker has exerted influence on

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

in the United States, publishing notable translations of Buddhist sutras and texts, including work by

Red Pine ''Pinus resinosa'', known as red pine (also Norway pine in Minnesota), is a pine native to North America. Description Red pine is a coniferous evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth. It usually ranges from in height and in trun ...

Thomas Cleary Thomas Cleary (24 April 1949 – 20 June 2021) was an American translator and writer of more than 80 books related to Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, and of ''The Art of War'', a treatise on management, military strategy, and ...

, Norman Waddell, and

David Hinton David Hinton is an American poet, and translator who specializes in Chinese literature and poetry. Life He studied Chinese at Cornell University, and in Taiwan. He lives in East Calais, Vermont. Awards * 1997 Academy of American Poets Harold Mo ...

. Shoemaker has published in English great

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

masters, including Baisao, Bankei, Bassui,

Bodhidharma Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century CE. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to a 17th century apo ...

, Dogen, Hakuin, Muso, Senzaki, and several others. Shoemaker first became interested in Zen Buddhism through the work of

and

Kenneth Rexroth Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider h ...

. Shoemaker was a student of Robert Aitken and published several books of Aitken's including ''Taking the Path of Zen'', thought by many to be the best practical introductory guide to the study and practice of Zen. Later he co-edited with Aitken's senior

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

heir, Nelson Foster, ''The Roaring Stream: A New Zen Reader'', an anthology of Zen texts. “As a Buddhist, I’m simply a beginner,” Shoemaker told an interviewer in 2005. “There are many of us trying to discover if there can be an authentic American Buddhism, oriented toward lay practitioners.”

Awards and honors

Shoemaker served from 1974–1978 on the Literature Panel of the

National Endowment of the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, serving his last eighteen months as that panel’s chairman. He has also served on the California Arts Council, the Western States Arts Foundation panel, the

North Carolina Arts Council The North Carolina Arts Council is an organization in the U.S. state of North Carolina that provides grants to artists, musicians and arts organizations. The group's mission is "arts for all people." It was founded by executive order in 1964 by Gov ...

literature panel, and several other boards and awards panels devoted to literature, the visual arts, and dance. Shoemaker was a co-founder of

Small Press Distribution Small Press Distribution (SPD) is a non-profit literary arts organization located in Berkeley, California. As their name indicates, the core of their mission is to act as an umbrella distributor and marketer for hundreds of smaller literary publi ...

, a distributor for the work of dozens of small independent American presses. Together with Jack Hicks and

, he founded ''The Art of the Wild'', a summer program in Squaw Valley, California, devoted to the practice and study of writing related to environmental concerns and natural history. Shoemaker also serves on the advisory board of Fishtrap, a literary non-profit in Wallowa County, Oregon, that offers workshops, conferences, and residencies to develop writing talent among Western writers. In 1981 ''Publishers Weekly'' named Shoemaker the recipient of the Carey-Thomas Award for Creative Publishing. PubWest awarded him the 2013 Jack D. Rittenhouse Award for lifetime achievement and contributions to the Western book community.Wendy Werris, "PubWest Award Lifetime Achievement Award to Counterpoint's Jack Shoemaker," ''Publishers Weekly'', June 18, 2013; "Congratulations Jack Shoemaker," Counterpoint Press, 2013; http://counterpointpress.com/congratualtions-jack-shoemaker/

Personal

Jack Shoemaker married Vicki Guerin in 1965. They had two children, Sean Shoemaker, and Demian Shoemaker. The marriage ended in divorce in 1991. In 1996 he married California novelist

in Washington, D.C. They raised her child from a previous marriage, Eva Zimmerman. Shoemaker lives with his family in

Point Richmond Point Richmond, also sometimes referred to locally as The Point, is a neighborhood in Richmond, California, United States, near the eastern end of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, between Interstate 580 and the San Francisco Bay. History O ...

, California.

References

External links

Counterpoint Press

Fishtrap: Writing and the West
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shoemaker, Jack 1946 births Living people American publishers (people) American Buddhists