{noctuary press} ~ a record, an unconcealing
NA: How
did you come up with the title, Noctuary Press?
KMD: A "noctuary" is a record of what passes in the
night. I chose "noctuary
press" as the title because my publishing project strives to create a
record of, and give visibility to, innovative writing by women that takes place
at the peripheries of existing genre categories. This writing, since it's difficult to label
or classify, runs the risk of remaining undocumented, invisible even. Noctuary Press strives to document these
challenges to existing genre categories.
Through this process of recording and documenting, we hope to promote
dialogue among reviewers, readers, and editors about the role of genre
categories within literary publishing and in the academy.
NA:There
are so many independent poetry presses out there. What made you want to start a new one?
KMD: You're absolutely right that there are many independent
presses out there. And a good number of
them are open to cross-genre work. But
most of the presses that I've encountered privilege work that simply challenges
the notion of genre. Much of this
writing is merely rebellious, and doesn't take the time to interrogate the
assumptions behind genre categories, and the ways in which cultural gatekeepers
use them to exclude writing that doesn't fit within their parameters. Noctuary Press hopes to initiate dialogue
about why writing that doesn't fit these traditional categories is so frequently
"othered." I believe that this
is a more substantial task than merely critiquing the notion genre, as most
existing publishing projects frequently do.
NA: Why is
the press for women only?
KMD: The press is for women only because the writing that doesn't
fit within traditional genre categories, and the work that's most frequently
"othered," is women's writing.
As Adrienne Rich once said, and I'm paraphrasing here, many women refuse
to write within a tradition that's hostile to them. Yet there are few places in the literary
community that offer a public space for this type of work. Noctuary Press strives to offer this much
needed public space for writing by women that interrogates received ideas about
genre.
NA: Tell
me about Noctuary Press.
KMD: Noctuary Press is based in Buffalo, New York. The project is funded by the generosity of
the English Department at the University at Buffalo. We actively seek submissions from outside the
university in order to promote dialogue between poetry communities.
NA: How
long have you been in existence?
KMD: Although Noctuary Press was launched fairly recently (in
October 2012), over a year of planning had taken place beforehand.
NA: Are
you the sole editor of the press?
KMD: I'm the sole editor of the press, and I'm responsible for
choosing the manuscripts. But I work with
a local printer and designer, David McNamara at Sunnyoutside Press, in order to
provide books of a professional quality.
NA: How
many books do you hope to publish per year?
KMD: We hope to publish three titles per year in perfect-bound
paperback editions. This year we'll
release titles by Carol Guess, Eva Heisler, and Kristy Bowen.
NA: How
will you find your authors? Will
you run contests?
KD: So far, we've mostly solicited submissions from authors who have captured our
attention. But we hope to have our first
open reading period in late 2013.
NA: If you
could pick an author or two off of a shelf and make her a Noctuary Press
author, who would you pick?
KMD: Simone Muench and Danielle Pafunda.
NA: Tell
me a little bit about your forthcoming titles.
KMD: I'm really excited by the stylistic range of the projects
we're publishing.
The first title we'll release is Carol Guess's F IN.
This book is an erasure project, a story in shards, which are taken
from a novel Guess had written but never published. The text, fragmented and elliptical,
juxtaposes images of femininity and violence in thought-provoking ways,
offering a beautiful matching of form and content all the while.
The second title in the 2013 series, Eva Heisler's Drawing Water, is a carefully crafted, lyrical meditation on the
artistic process. Her work interrogates
our attempts at representation in a series of intelligent and beautifully
written linked prose pieces.
Lastly, Kristy Bowen's the
shared properties of water and stars
presents a compelling narrative in the guise of mathematical word
problems. I'm excited by the ways Bowen
blurs the boundaries between scientific modes of reasoning and the wonderful
associative logic that drives poetry.
NA: I’d
love to close with a poem from one of your books.
KMD: Here's an excerpt from Kristy Bowen's the shared properties of water and stars:
Let’s
say the blonde girl has someone whispering in her ear each night. Hundreds of
bears lumber outside her windows. Her mouth like an open window. A small cut in
the dark; club-footed, claw-hearted in her head. The bears outside her window
watch the boys climb, one by one, up to the roof to touch her face. Her excuses
are slender, silky, like the backs of her calves. Let’s say the dark writes
itself anew along the walls each night. The word like a bubble in the throat
until it bursts.
Kristina Marie Darling
is the author of nine books, which include Melancholia (An Essay) (Ravenna Press, 2012), Petrarchan (BlazeVOX Books, forthcoming in 2013), and
(with Carol Guess) X Marks the Dress: A Registry (Gold Wake Press, forthcoming in 2014).
Her writing has been honored with fellowships from the Corporation of
Yaddo, the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers, the Helene
Wurlitzer Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Vermont
Studio Center, and the Ragdale Foundation, as well as grants from the Kittredge
Fund and the Elizabeth George Foundation. Kristina is working toward
a Ph.D. in Poetics at SUNY-Buffalo.
Nin Andrews received her BA from Hamilton College
and her MFA from Vermont College. The recipient of two Ohio Arts Council
grants, she is the author of several books including The
Book of Orgasms, Spontaneous Breasts, Why They Grow Wings, Midlife
Crisis with Dick and Jane, Sleeping with Houdini, and Dear Professor, Do
You Live in a Vacuum. She also edited Someone Wants to Steal My Name, a book of translations of the French poet, Henri Michaux. Her book, Southern Comfort was published by CavanKerry Press in 2010. Follow Nin's blog here. Follow Nin on Twitter here.
Find all of Nin Andrews' Meet the Press columns here.