Litmus Press

10/31/2024

The veil is thin and the Witch Box is here, based on the book Spectral Evidence by Elizabeth Willis and Nancy Bowen (Litmus Press, 2023).

Each boxed set contains 46 silkscreen printed cards, silkscreen printed Evolon wrapper, a glazed ceramic object by Nancy Bowen, and a pamphlet containing a conversational afterword by the authors and Litmus editor, E. Tracy Grinnell, in which they explore connections between the collaborative project, with its roots in the Salem witch trials, and the broader interwoven contexts of current U.S. politics, misogyny and state violence, capitalist and colonial power structures, and cultural practices of resistance and repair.

Find out more through our website. 

10/28/2024

Mona Kareem in Another Room to Live In, translated by Sara Elkamel

#🇵🇸 #🇸🇾 #🇱🇧

10/25/2024

Embroideries by Burcu Sahin, translated from Swedish by Jennifer Hayashida, is now available for pre-order!

📚 If you're interested in reviewing this title, you can reach out to us directly and request a digital galley.

“In Embroideries, Burcu Sahin stitches the lives of working-class Muslim immigrant women into language. Here, acute attention is paid to those expressions of love that can survive the all-encompassing exhaustion of care work and the ways this love shapes those who receive it. The mothers, grandmothers, and daughters in these poems exist in the context of asphalt and racial capitalism, while dreaming of better laws and songs sung in their praise. Sahin sings them with unsentimental precision, and Jennifer Hayashida’s incredibly perceptive translation recreates that music. There is so much beauty and grief in these spare verses.”

— Elizabeth Clark Wessel

10/24/2024

“but what can be done today to resist — something the heart is inclined to do — to avoid giving in to the forced march the unnamable tenacious cold to refuse to be seduced by the current catastrophic renunciation”
– Eugénie Paultre in Winter

#🇵🇸 #🇸🇾 #🇱🇧

10/23/2024

Our very own Rachael Wilson is giving a lecture next week at and you can tune in online!

Thursday 31st Oct at 1pm EST 📕 📚✨ sign up through the link in our bio!

About The Lecture-

Critical Making: Book Arts and Small Press Production

“In this lecture, we will explore the book as form and process; as object and multiple; as historically produced; a container that is itself made up of many parts. Drawing analogies from fields such as architecture and translation theory, we’ll think about what goes into making a book, and hopefully come out with a better sense of what a book is (or might be) and what it does (or can do). We will also talk about the distinct challenges of small press production and the opportunities afforded to this scale of publishing. Attendees will be invited not only to listen but to generate ideas about books, bookmaking, and print matter through written prompts, and to ask questions about book production, including projects they’re envisioning or currently working on.”

10/22/2024

Welcoming the Spooky Season with Spectral Evidence: The Witch Box. A limited-edition artists’ edition of the book by Elizabeth Willis and Nancy Bowen. 

Spectral Evidence is the result of a meeting between Willis, descendent of one of the convicted and executed “witches” of the Salem witch trials, and Bowen, descendent of Samuel Sewall, a prominent judge in the trials. 

In this special artist’s edition each boxed set contains 46 silkscreen printed cards at 5″ x 6.5″ with images by Nancy Bowen and texts by Elizabeth Willis, as well as a silkscreen printed Evolon wrapper, a glazed ceramic object by Bowen, and a pamphlet containing an afterword by the authors and Litmus editor E. Tracy Grinnell, all housed in a vintage cigar box. 

Spectral Evidence: The Witch Box was printed and assembled at Shoestring Press by Master Printer Lane Sell and Nancy Bowen, with Erich Erving, Merisa Skinner, and May Hernandez.

Produced in a limited edition of 26 copies. 

Find out more about the artist box and Spectral Evidence through our website!

10/11/2024

Will Alexander in Asia & Haiti

🇵🇸

10/08/2024

Rachida Madani (translated by Marilyn Hacker) in Another Room to Live In

🇵🇸

10/06/2024

Etel Adnan in The Arab Apocalypse

🇵🇸

10/04/2024

Lyn Hejinian in Happily

🇵🇸

10/01/2024

Sara Elkamel (translated by Aya Nabih) in Another Room To Live In

🇵🇸

10/01/2024

Will Alexander in Asia&Haiti

🇵🇸

10/01/2024

Safaa Fathy in Where Not To Be Born
translated by Rawad Z. Wehbe

🇵🇸

09/16/2024

Poetry for Everyone: 🍁 Fall Updates on Litmus Open-Access Projects 🍁 -

We’re working in collaboration with Joyelle McSweeney to release a digital-critical version of her 2014 Litmus play, Dead Youth, or, The Leaks this winter. This Open Poetics edition will include a collection of paratexts related to the play, documentation of past performances, and other contextu...

09/11/2024

An excerpt from our beloved late Lyn Hejinian’s recently published book *Fall Creek* is featured in this month’s issue of !
..dispersing wild syllables an anarchy

of storming signs into systems

that can’t be understood for a simple reason

that everything is participating

loftily or low invading the public

sphere with swaggering plasticity...

Read on at The Baffler online (link in bio).

*Fall Creek* is available for purchase now at .

09/10/2024

Please consider donating to Palestinian poet Nassar Rabah's fundraiser. Rabah is surviving the seemingly endless siege on Gaza, now in its eleventh month. As Ammiel Alcalay, one of Rabah's translators, writes:

"Nasser Rabah is a poet living in Gaza with his family. He is the author of five collections of poetry and two novels. Like everyone else in Gaza, his life, and the lives of his family members, have been impacted enormously over this past year. Like almost everyone, they have been displaced numerous times, and struggle to meet basic needs.

Our translation group (myself, along with visual artist Emna Zghal and professor of Arabic Khaled al-Hilli), have been translating Nasser's work for several years, with a book upcoming in 2025 from City Lights. Our mutual friend Mosab Abu Toha has referred to Nasser as his "favorite poet living in Palestine... the musicality of his lines could replace my heartbeats and I would feel more than alive."

Nasser Rabah has been a witness to the cataclysm of life in Gaza for many years. He has never renounced humanity but championed it through the freedom of his imagination. His work is more important than we can presently comprehend.

We ask that you contribute what you can to help Nasser and his family survive this seemingly unending onslaught. Our appreciation for your efforts and good will is immeasurable."

Link to donate:
https://bit.ly/4eAD8B5

08/01/2024

EXTENSION!!! Calling all two-spirit / Indigiq***r visual artists! Julian Talamantez Brolaski and Crisosto Apache are seeking artwork for the book cover of an upcoming volume featuring Indigenous Native poets, to be published in 2026. Send up to two pieces with a minimum of 150 dpi. We look forward to seeing your work!

The call has been extended to August 31st.

Link for submissions in our bio 🌸

***r ***rpoetry

07/31/2024

It's here! VERBATIM SOUND TEXT EXPO

Saturday, August 3rd, 12-7pm in the fine hamlet of ROUND TOP, NY

Find Litmus Press alongside Pinsapo and with all kinds of amazing presses and tape labels

Shout out to Litmus's Miriam Atkin for bringing the sound text expo for the 3rd year in a row 📣

Catch Rachael GW reading at 3:25 if you are feeling extra Litmusy

More info at: https://bit.ly/3yagQXf

07/30/2024

From “orchid memory, or night”

Our very own E. Tracy Grinnell () has a poem in the newest issue of Three Fold Press (). 😍

Link in our bio to read the full issue! 🌟

06/21/2024

It's been BUSY over here at Litmus, what with recovering our books from Ingram and PSSC warehouses and getting set up with our new distributor

So, for awhile now we've been meaning to share this sweet, pitch perfect review of Litmus from our friends at Electric Literature, who featured us alongside 22 other small presses to support after the closure of SPD.

Here's what they have to say about Litmus Press:

"Founded in 2001 within a constellation of older presses that included the now-defunct O Books and The Post-Apollo Press, Litmus began with a publishing-out-of-your-kitchen determination. They’ve since grown into an established small press that specializes in poetry and translation, and they are spearheading a new open-access e-book publishing platform called Open Poetics."

You heard it, we'll take it: "a publishing-out-of-your-kitchen determination"!! 😂🤘💓

Read on at the link:

These independent publishers play a vital role in shaping today's literary landscape. Here's how you can support them

06/18/2024

Calling two-spirit / Indigiq***r visual artists! 💫

Crisosto Apache ( ) and Julian Talamantez Brolaski ( )are seeking artwork for the book cover of an upcoming volume featuring q***r Native poets, published by Litmus Press. 

Call open till August 1st!

More info and submission portal through the link in our bio. ✨

  ***r  ***rpoetry 


06/11/2024

NEW DISTRO!!!

We are thrilled to announce that we've joined up with Asterism Books for book and eBook distribution!

After the head-spinning sudden loss of Small Press Distribution, we couldn't be happier to be landing where we are, with an amazing group of people and fellow small presses.

Thanks, , for bringing us on board.

Litmus, Post-Apollo Press, and O Books are being added to the Asterism catalog as we speak. You can find *most* of our books there now, and more to come soon. If there's something you're looking for that you don't see, just give us a shout at [email protected]

Follow the link to our Asterism page: https://bit.ly/3yZrOyP

06/05/2024

POP-UP BOOK SALE coming up THIS Saturday💥

Highly Discounted Books💸 ! Readings🔥! Vibes🌈 !

Litmus is setting up a one-day-only book stall in Brooklyn. We will bring all of our new books and majorly discounted backlist titles from Litmus Press, O Books, and The Post-Apollo Press in Brooklyn. Stock up on your books for the seasons to come! 📖✨

There will be short poetry readings by Litmus authors, editors, translators and collaborators on the hour beginning at 1pm. 📣

📍SATURDAY, JUNE 8th
12-5pm EST
187 Waverly Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11205 (between Myrtle & Willoughby)

06/04/2024

Read Hocine Tandjoui's "Tribute to Allen Ginsberg" translated by Olivia C. Harrison, a new poem on the Litmus blog.

This poem is the second post in a series of engagements by Litmus authors, translators, and editors reflecting on the connection of their work to the ongoing struggle and violence, current and historical, in Palestine.

Rooted in our commitment to creating and maintaining space for international exchange and dialogue, Litmus Press has created this blog series, War & Peace, in homage to the journal War & Peace, edited by Leslie Scalapino and Judith Goldman from 2004-2009.

Read on at the link in our bio!

And if you haven't read it yet, check out Olivia C. Harrison's inaugural post, "On Palestine Solidarity," from April 11th.