PRESSING ISSUES BY LAURA PEARSON: W.S. Merwin, Lynda Barry, I Write Like, the Tin House controversy, Chicago’s Printers Ball, and more
PRESSING ISSUES BY LAURA PEARSON: News and notes on small presses, periodicals, and literary goings-on
BY LAURA PEARSON: News and notes on small presses, periodicals, and literary goings-on
A NEW COLUMN BY LAURA PEARSON: News and notes on small presses, periodicals, and literary goings-on
The slow media publishing house that emphasizes “underdressed intelligence”
Two up-and-coming independent arts and culture magazines emerging out of Chicago
Forged in response to post-9/11 rhetoric, Melville House Publishing maintains an independent stance
New York publishers engage in reverse-gentrification of the literary world
As previously reported, the people behind the Chicago Independent Radio Project aren’t ones to sit around and just wait for great radio to happen. Although legislative decisions still need to be made about low power FM, the organization is moving ahead with a more immediate project: launching a web station.
On the CHIRP website, the industrious staff explains their plan: “As we’ve continued with our efforts to make sure we’ll eventually be able to bring a brand new low power FM signal to Chicago, we’ve always assumed that the station’s webstream would be crucial. That’s why we’ve decided to go ahead and launch a web version of CHIRP radio… We’re excited about the prospect of making CHIRP radio a reality even before we get a broadcast license.”
Slated to launch in late summer, the web station will feature “great underappreciated music across genres and eras,” while demonstrating “a true commitment to Chicago’s diverse music and arts scenes.” According to staff member Dustin Drase, the organization is currently working on programming specifics, and the group hopes to have a station launch party sometime this fall.
In another exciting development, CHIRP has found a home for the station in the historic Dank Haus building in Lincoln Square. The organization has been collecting office furniture, supplies, and computer equipment to improve the new digs, but there are still items on the CHIRP wish list. To donate equipment or funds (and stay tuned into upcoming events), visit the official website.
Looking for a specific way to help preserve your independents? South End Press is in the running for a $20,000 grant from the quirky website Ideablob.
The small, social justice-oriented press became a candidate for the grant via its Community Supported Publishing (CSP) Program, designed to promote sustainability in independent publishing. Like Community Supported Agriculture, this effort helps make available a steady crop of quality books. Now the CSP Program is up against seven other “ideas” in Ideablob’s July Showdown, and the winner receives a generous grant.
To help South End Press receive these much-needed funds, visit ideablob.com and cast your vote. Voting closes July 31, 2008.
The indie literati offers tips on this summer’s best reading
Former Kitchen Sink magazine staffers keep the deceased independent publication’s legacy alive
the Small Science Collective, a public education project that aims to put scientific information in the hands of non-scientists
The Chicago Independent Radio Project fights to provide Chicago with an independent voice on the airwaves
An interview with Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant of the Northampton micropublishing house
Tin House takes a fresh approach to the stodgy literary journal
Bound and determined, small publishers press onward
Paul M Davis