Ray DiZazzo is an interesting guy. He’s a filmmaker, instructor, and has written several books on corporate media production. My acquaintance began with him as a contributor of WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA (2016). When we agreed to work together, the first thing was to focus on tightening the poetry. When our poetry editor, Sean Dillon, raised some points, Ray was all in.
When I approached Papo in 2017 about doing a book, the goal was to launch a chapbook division at 2Leaf Press, with his chapbook being the first. He came up with the idea of PAPOLíTICO, which I immediately loved. I loved the idea of publishing some politically inspired poetry, especially in the surreal age we find ourselves living in today.
When I sent out a call for books for Spring 2018, jason vasser-elong, who was a contributor to BLACK LIVES HAVE ALWAYS MATTERED (2017) sent me his manuscript for SHRIMP. The title caught my attention, and I asked myself, “What does this mean?” When I went through it, I got the sense that this was a guy searching for answers about self.
2Leaf Press announces the publication of the poetry collections, TARTESSOS AND OTHER CITIES by Claire Millikin and OFF COURSE: ROUNDABOUTS & DEVIATIONS by A. Robert Lee, their second books of poetry with 2Leaf Press.
PUBLISHER’S COMMENTS Samuel Diaz Carrion has been part of the Nuyorican landscape for years, writing poetry, and working as an activist. He was there when the founders of the movement decided to turn a negative into a positive by adopting a pejorative in defiance of others; and he was there when Miguel Algarin and Pedro […]
Tara Betts’s Website PUBLISHER’S COMMENTS Tara Betts has had an extraordinary career as a spoken word artist, activist, poet, teacher, and scholar. Coming from Chicago, she had the likes of Gwendolyn Brooks as a mentor; became a member of the pre-eminent African American poetry organization, Cave Canem; had residencies from Ragdale Foundation, Centrum and Caldera, […]
PUBLISHER’S COMMENTS I met Jesús Papoleto Meléndez in the early 1990s when he came to New York for a visit (from California) and ended up relocating here permanently. Born and raised in El Barrio, Papo was one of the original Nuyorican poets. His early and close collaboration with poets and writers such as Miguel Algarín, […]
Reviewer Maria Rouphail of The Pedestal Magazine did a great review of Birds on The Kiswar Tree by Odi Gonzales, translated by Lynn Levin.