Episodes
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
Thursday Mar 03, 2022
In Conversation with Maryan Nagy Captan
Thursday Mar 03, 2022
Thursday Mar 03, 2022
In this episode, Claire and Annar interview the Spring 2022 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Maryan Nagy Captan.
Maryan is a poet, screenwriter and educator living in Austin, Texas. She is a 2021 graduate of the Michener Center for Writers and attended the Disquiet International Literary Conference in 2017 and 2019. Her first book, Copy/Body, was published in 2017 by Empty Set Press and, her second book, Sixteen Rabbits, was the Spring 2022 winner of the Host Publications Chapbook Prize and is now available from Host Publications.
With Maryan, Claire and Annar discuss the poems in Sixteen Rabbits, how Maryan came to poetry as an art form, what it means to be an experimental writer, and much more.
If you're listening to this episode before March 5th, 2022, please join us in celebrating Maryan at the virtual chapbook launch for Sixteen Rabbits via the Malvern Books YouTube channel.
Tuesday Feb 22, 2022
In Conversation with Amanda Johnston
Tuesday Feb 22, 2022
Tuesday Feb 22, 2022
Hello, and welcome to *Season 3* of The Host Dispatch!
What an honor it is to share the first episode of Season 3 of The Host Dispatch with you, in conversation with poet, educator, community organizer and founder of TORCH Literary Arts, Amanda Johnston.
Amanda has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter. She has received fellowships, grants, and awards from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, Tasajillo, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Watermill Center, and the Austin International Poetry Festival. She is a former Board President of Cave Canem Foundation, a member of the Affrilachian Poets, cofounder of Black Poets Speak Out, and founder of Torch Literary Arts.
TORCH Literary Arts is a nonprofit organization established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women based in Austin, Texas.
Amanda is doing so much for Black women writers, but she also has such a beautiful vision for the future of this newly minted non-profit, including retreats, writing workshops, and more! So keep an eye out for more great things coming soon from TORCH by visiting their website, torchliteraryarts.org, following them on socials @TORCHliteraryarts and if you want to support, please consider joining us in making a donation!