Vagabond, our resident videographer, graphic artist and book procurer, posted his year-end wrap-up on his blog, Nothing to be Gained Here, sharing with the world the great work he did in 2013, much of it for 2Leaf Press. In it, he explains how he became involved with 2Leaf Press. When I read Vagabond’s wrap-up, I was amazed at the incredible amount of work he has produced thus far for 2Leaf Press.
When thinking about how we embarked on this amazing journey, our stories are pretty similar: I knew about Vagabond for a couple of years through my association with Dylcia Pagán. We actually met around 2004 or so at the Julio de Burgos Cultural Center on 106th Street in El Barrio. We reconnected or rather “collided” in 2012 when I was working on Jesús Papoleto Meléndez‘ book, Hey Yo! Yo Soy! and Vagabond was working on a documentary on Papo. Some of the content of that documentary became Papo’s book trailer. The rest, as they say, is history. Besides creating book trailers, Vagabond has designed some really cool book covers, and has helped in the procurement of some of our 2LP writers.
What’s great about 2Leaf Press‘ book trailers is that they break all the rules. Instead of a ridiculously mundane 60-second spot with a poet reading his or her poetry over stills and music, our videos are five minute mini-documentaries that capture the essence of the author and the book, whether they’re discussing the creation of their book, or performing/reading their poetry. The book trailers are informative, imaginative and highly entertaining, and are videotaped without the usual gimmicks. Our first video together was Tony Medina’s book trailer. Once we set forth a standard working template, Vagabond’s been producing, directing and shooting them ever since, with the help of cinematographer, Jeffrey Akers. Vagabond also does press photos for those writers who live within a close proximity to New York. So far, in addition to Papoleto and Tony Medina’s videos, he’s completed book trailers for Not4Prophet, Sam Diaz Carrion, and Abiodun Oyewole, with more to come.
Vagabond has also been responsible for or indirectly involved with the procurement of authors, such as Dylcia Pagán, Not4Prophet and Lisa Sánchez González. He also created graphics for Not4Prophet’s book, Last of the Po’Ricans y Otros Afro-Artifacts, with plans to release his own book this fall, Nothing to Be Gained Here, to be released under our Nuyorican World Series. Let’s not forget the current projects he’s working on that will be unveiled in the coming months, and you have a pretty good idea why Vagabond is in such high demand.
Vagabond’s hard work is greatly appreciated and we look forward to some more stunning work ahead. Don’t forget to check out his blog, Nothing to be Gained Here. And be sure to join us at the launching of our series, 2Leaf Press Presents @ The Bowery Poetry Club on February 9, 2014, with Abiodun Oyewole and Not4Prophet, and check out Vagabond’s artwork and videos.
