The Host Dispatch: A Literary Podcast

Let’s Talk About: Submissions

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! 

What the Hell is Dada?

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 

The Dada Spirit by Emmanuelle De L'Ecotais 

In Conversation with Sophia Stid

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

The Works of Dorothy Sayers

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. 

SpOooky BoOks!

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)

Adventures in Book Design: Inspiration

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: 

Rijks Museum Archives 

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

Celebrating Women in Translation

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! 

Happy Pride Month!

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

What the Hell Is a Line Break?

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

 

In Conversation with Fernando A. Flores

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.

Happy National Poetry Month!

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:

"Poetry" by John Keene

"Sailing to Byzantium" by W. B. Yeats

"Black Star Line" by Henry Dumas

"Reading Darwish in Vermont" by Zaina Alsous