Episodes

Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
Let’s Talk About: Submissions
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
In this episode, Claire and Annar get into the nitty gritty of where, how and what to submit when sending your writing out for publication, whether it be to a literary magazine, a chapbook prize, or to a press for full-length manuscripts.
Focusing on the practical details, we offer lists, tips and insights into the the daunting task of sending work out to be considered for publication, and dive into some philosophical questions like, "What, of your work, needs to be out in the world?" "What are you saying with this work?" "What is the dialogue that you want to have with this publication?" We talk about some of our personal submission strategies, how we cope with rejection and keep our spirits alive to send the next batch of poems out into the world, feeling supported and hopeful.
If you're listening before March 17th, 2023 (St. Patty's Day!) Host Publications is open for submissions! If you've got a chapbook manuscript ready to go, please send it our way!

Tuesday Feb 21, 2023
What the Hell is Dada?
Tuesday Feb 21, 2023
Tuesday Feb 21, 2023
Welcome to Season 4 of The Host Dispatch!!
We're kicking this season off with another pressing question: "What the Hell is Dada?" Annar and Claire dive into the absurdity, revolution, play, and anti-art of the Dada movement, sharing some of their favorite writings from the likes of Tristan Tzara, Til Brugman, and Mina Loy.
Here's our curated Dada Reading List, including books we discuss in this episode:
Seven Dada Manifestos and Lampistries by Tristan Tzara
The Dada Market Anthology edited by Willard Bohn
Dada: Themes and Movements (Phaidon), Rudolf Kuenzli
The Lost Lunar Baedeker: Poems by Mina Loy
Three New York Dadas and The Blind Man: Marcel Duchamp, Henri-Pierre Roché, Beatrice Wood

Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
In Conversation with Sophia Stid
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
In this episode, we had the immense delight of chatting with the Fall 2022 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Sophia Stid! We discuss her prize-winning chapbook, But For I Am a Woman a gorgeous collection of poetry which explores the intersection of personal autonomy and deep spiritual connection through the writings and life of Julian of Norwich (ca. 1342 – 1416), a mystic who was the first woman known to write a book in the English language.
Sophia illuminates for us what drew her to this communion with Julian of Norwich, where she draws inspiration from (spoiler alert: the writings of Christian mystics + classic mystery novels are both involved!), how she approached writing the poems in But For I Am a Woman, and so much more.
Here are some of the books and other media discussed in this episode:
Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
Reassemblage (documentary film) by Trinh T. Minh-ha
A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Sensational Books Exhibit at Bodliean Libraries
We hope you enjoy this conversation among friends, and as always, thanks for listening.

Monday Oct 31, 2022
SpOooky BoOks!
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
In this episode, we reminisce about all the good times we shared with our publisher, friend, and ultimate fan of Spooky Season, Joe Bratcher.
Carrying on the tradition, we discussed two spooky reads that we've been enjoying this year:
A Phantom Lover by Vernon Lee (Creature Publishing)
Three Streets by Yoko Tawada (New Directions)

Thursday Sep 29, 2022
Adventures in Book Design: Inspiration
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
In this new minisode series, Managing Editor and cover designer extraordinaire, Annar Veröld, divulges all of her secrets to making the most striking book covers for Host Publications. In this first episode of the series, we focus on what it means to be inspired, and how to carry that inspiration through to the finish line.
Some of the design resources Annar recommends in this episode are:
The Look of the Book by Peter Mendelsund and David J. Alworth
Taro As Color Deck by Ithell Colquhoun
Tantra Song - Tantric Painting from Rajasthan by Frank Andre Jamme

Friday Aug 26, 2022
Celebrating Women in Translation
Friday Aug 26, 2022
Friday Aug 26, 2022
We offer this episode in loving memory of our publisher, mentor, and dear friend, Joe Bratcher III, who loved literature and was a champion of translated works, especially those written and translated by women. We celebrate Women in Translation Month this year in his honor.
In this episode, we discuss:
Shapeshifter by Alice Paalen Rahon
Extracting the Stone of Madness by Alejandra Pizarnik
Please visit our website where currently, all of our works by women in translation are 50% off!

Friday Jun 17, 2022
Happy Pride Month!
Friday Jun 17, 2022
Friday Jun 17, 2022
This Pride Month, we are celebrating by making donations to the following organizations that support the LGBTQIA+ community:
The Okra Project - a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People wherever we can reach them.
Out Youth - Out Youth serves Central Texas LGBTQIA+ youth and their allies with programs and services to ensure these promising young people develop into happy, healthy, successful adults.
In this episode, Claire and Annar discuss some of the queer poets they've been reading lately, with a focus on up-and-coming LGBTQ+ poets with debut collections, including a couple of Host Chapbook Prize Winners!
The books discussed in this episode are:
autobiography of a semiromantic anarchist by mónica teresa ortiz
Mistaken for Loud Comets by lily someson
Punks by John Keene
Wound from the Mouth of a Wound by torrin a. greathouse
Burying the Mountain by Shangyang Fang

Monday Jun 06, 2022
What the Hell Is a Line Break?
Monday Jun 06, 2022
Monday Jun 06, 2022
In this episode, Host editors Annar and Claire go back to the basics of poetry, to investigate one of the seemingly simplest yet most elusive poetic elements: the line break.
The poems discussed in this episode come from the following books:
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
Mistaken for Loud Comets by lily someson
Little Girl Blue: Poems by Sequoia Maner

Tuesday May 03, 2022
In Conversation with Fernando A. Flores
Tuesday May 03, 2022
Tuesday May 03, 2022
In this episode, Annar and Joe had the chance to sit down with Fernando A. Flores, author of Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas, the short story collection that revived Host Publications as we know it after taking a brief hiatus.
We always like to say that Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas is a psychedelic romp through the Rio Grande Valley music scene. It is collection of 10 punk rock fairy-tales about artists and misfits trying to make noise and live forever in the unforgiving landscape of the Rio Grande Valley.
Fernando A. Flores is a writer who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, near McAllen, Texas. In addition to Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas, he is the author of Tears of the Truffle Pig, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and the forthcoming short story collection, Velleyesque, out May 3rd, 2022.

Friday Apr 15, 2022
Happy National Poetry Month!
Friday Apr 15, 2022
Friday Apr 15, 2022
In this episode, Host editors Claire and Annar, and publisher Joe celebrate National Poetry Month by reading a few poems they've been returning to again and again to find inspiration this month.
The poems discussed in this episode are:
"Sailing to Byzantium" by W. B. Yeats
"Black Star Line" by Henry Dumas
"Reading Darwish in Vermont" by Zaina Alsous