Spork Press is a

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 ...

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

edited and constructed by

Richard Siken Richard Siken (born February 15, 1967) is a North-American poet, painter, and filmmaker. He is the author of the collection '' Crush'' (Yale University Press, 2005), which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 2004. His second book o ...

, Drew Burk, Andrew Shuta, Joel Smith, and Jake Levine. Beginning in 2001, it began publishing a

quarterly A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content (media), content. They are generally financed by advertising, newsagent's shop, ...

literary

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

called ''Spork'', which is often bound

hardback A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occas ...

History

Spork is, as of 2022, a wholly other beast. Shuta and Joel and Jake have gone, and Siken had a stroke, and so it's just Drew sitting in their new(ish) spot off Broadway in Tucson, figuring out what the heck to do. What they're (he is?) doing is publishing Matt Roar's book of skate poetry ''My War'', and the collaborative book by Felicity Fenton and Drew Burk ''Elegy for My Art Monster'', and seeing what's what. What's what ''now.'' Does it matter whether or not you're doing things ''correctly''? That's the main issue at play with Spork in 2022. Ought they do things correctly? Drew thinks no. ---- At one time Spork Press was a publisher specializing in hand-made literary magazines with the occasional book release. It now produces a larger output of books and tapes while occasionally publishing the ''Spork'' literary magazine. Spork Press also produces

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

s and

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

. The books published include Roderick Maclean's ''Tropic/of/Cubicle''. Beth Toener's ''A La Recherche Du Petit Pseudo-Rockstars Perdu (Split E.P.)'' has been released in serial form. In 2010 Siken and Burk decided to take a break from the regular publication of a literary magazine, choosing to instead publish issues of the journal only when they had an idea they were excited about. Issue 9.1 "The Middles Of Things", was the first along these new lines. Five authors were tasked with writing the middle of a novel, but were not allowed to write the beginning or the end; they were instructed to treat it as though they had walked into the middle of a movie, and to simply describe what they saw. Sharon McGill provided the illustrations for each piece, and Amelia Gray ordered the pieces, writing interstitial parts and creating a loose impression of a continuous narrative through the book. She chose to order the pieces from most conventional to the least. In the absence of the regular magazine, Spork has been publishing a chapbook series, though the term "chapbook" is applied loosely: "This here, this mixtape? It's a chapbook. This novel? It's a chapbook. Everything we do is a chapbook." Burk said, and that is how things are done by the publisher. Chapbooks have traditionally been throwaway items – Spork subverts this idea with letterpressed hardback hand-bound books, and an inattention to the rest of the things chapbooks usually are. Most recently, Ariana Reines' ''THURSDAY'' (Spork Press, 2012),

Joyelle McSweeney Joyelle McSweeney (first name meaning: Rejoicing) (born 1976) is a poet, playwright, novelist, critic, and professor at the University of Notre Dame. Her books include ''Toxicon & Arachne'' (2021) from Nightboat Books, ''The Necropastoral: Poetry, ...

's ''the Necropastoral'' (Spork Press, 2011), Lara Glenum's ''All Hopped Up on Fleshy Dum Dums'' (Spork Press, 2014) and Zach Schomburg's, ''From the Fjords'' (Spork Press, 2011) have received attention for their quirky design and the texts themselves. The Spork team consists of Drew Burk (Production/Editor), Andrew Shuta (Design/Production), Richard Siken (Editor), Joel Smith (Editor), Jake Levine (Editor), and others who help out.

Writers

Shanna Compton Shanna Compton is the author of ''Down Spooky,'' a collection of poems published by Winnow Press in October 2005, and the editor of ''GAMERS: Writers, Artists & Programmers on the Pleasures of Pixels,'' an anthology of essays on the theme of vid ...

Stephen Elliott Stephen Elliott may refer to: Entertainment *Stephen Elliott (actor), (1918–2005), American actor *Stephen Elliott (author) (born 1971), American author and activist Sport *Steve Elliott (footballer, born 1958), English footballer *Steve Elliot ...

Matthea Harvey Matthea Harvey (born September 3, 1973) is a contemporary American poet, writer and professor. She has published four collections of poetry. The most recent of these, ''If the Tabloids Are True What Are You?'', a collection of poetry and images, ...

Tao Lin Tao Lin (; born July 2, 1983) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment of ...

Ander Monson Ander Monson (born April 9, 1975) is an American novelist, poet, and nonfiction writer. Life He was raised in Houghton, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. His mother's death when he was seven years old is reflected in the themes of his later fict ...

Stacey Richter Stacey Richter is an American writer of short fiction. Richter has been the recipient of four Pushcart Prizes, a National Prize for Fiction and the National Magazine Award. Her first collection of stories, ''My Date with Satan'' was published in ...

* Peter Rock *

Davy Rothbart David Ira "Davy" Rothbart (born April 11, 1975) is a bestselling author, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, contributor to ''This American Life'', and the editor/publisher of '' Found Magazine''. Found Magazine Davy Rothbart's magazine ''Found'' is d ...

Joshua Marie Wilkinson Joshua Marie Wilkinson (born December 2, 1977) is an American poet, editor, publisher, and filmmaker. Life He was born on December 2, 1977, and raised in Haller Lake neighborhood, Seattle, Washington. His given name is Joshua Wilson; his grand ...

Amelia Gray Amelia Gray (born August 17, 1982) is an American writer. She is the author of the short story collections ''AM/PM'' (Featherproof Books), ''Museum of the Weird'' (Fiction Collective Two), and ''Gutshot'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and the nove ...

Mixtapes and cassette releases

The Spork Mixtape series is, contrary to the current habit of referring to playlists and sometimes mixes on CD as 'mixtapes', a mix of music on a cassette. Highest-quality audio is sourced, sequenced and mixed, mastered at 32 bits and then recorded from the mastered source one at a time on a Sony dual-deck. * February 2013
Mixtape 1
* February 2014, Mixtape 2 * "King Cobra" by Young Family. Spork's first official release toward transitioning from a book press to a press and music label. * "NOTHING" by Isaiah Toothtaker. Spork's second official release, increasing the pace toward becoming both a press and a music label.

Chapbook Authors

Nat Baldwin Nat Baldwin (born February 21, 1980 in Rochester, New Hampshire) is an American bassist, improvisor, and songwriter. He's released several solo albums since 2003 and is also known for being a former member of Dirty Projectors. In 2020 he released ...

* Daniel Mahoney *

Sophia Le Fraga Sophia means "wisdom" in Greek. It may refer to: *Sophia (wisdom) *Sophia (Gnosticism) *Sophia (given name) Places *Niulakita or Sophia, an island of Tuvalu *Sophia, Georgetown, a ward of Georgetown, Guyana *Sophia, North Carolina, an unincorpor ...

Isaiah Toothtaker Isaiah Toothtaker (born 1981) is an American rapper, designer, and tattoo artist. He is a co-founder of the indie hip hop collective Machina Muerte. Biography Toothtaker is of Mexican and Native American heritage, who grew up in Tucson, Ariz ...

* Young Family *

Kazim Ali Kazim Ali (born April 5, 1971) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and professor. His most recent books are ''Inquisition'' (Wesleyan University Press, 2018) and ''All One's Blue'' (Harper Collins India, 2016). His honors include an Individua ...

Lara Glenum Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los Infa ...

Simon Jacobs Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

* Rauan Klassnik *

Brian Blanchfield Brian Blanchfield is an American poet and essayist. Early life and education He was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1973, and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers ...

Ben Fama Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, � ...

Matthew Dickman Matthew Dickman (born August 20, 1975) is an American poet. He and his identical twin brother, Michael Dickman, also a poet, were born in Portland, Oregon. Life The Dickman twins (Matthew is the younger and slightly taller) were raised in the Len ...

Ariana Reines Ariana Reines is an American poet, playwright, performance artist, and translator. Her books of poetry include ''The Cow'' (2006), which won the Alberta Prize from Fence Books; ''Coeur de Lion'' (2007); ''Mercury'' (2011); and ''Thursday'' (2012) ...

John Beer John Bernard Beer, FBA (31 March 1926 – 10 December 2017) was a British literary critic. He was emeritus professor of English literature at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. Best known as a scholar and critic ...

* Zachary Schomburg * Feng Sun Chen *

Colin Winnette Colin Winnette is an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. Early life and education Winnette grew up in Denton, Texas. He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he earned an MFA in writing in 2012. Career Winnett ...

Dan Beachy-Quick Dan Beachy-Quick is an American poet, writer, and critic. He is the author of eight collections of poems, most recently, ''Variations on Dawn and Dusk'' ( Omnidawn Publishing), longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry. His oth ...

* Gordan Massman * Heather Palmer * Drew Krewer *

Jake Levine Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach Animals * Jake (rescue dog), a ...

External links

Spork Press

References

{{reflist Publishing companies of the United States Small press publishing companies Publishing companies established in 2001