Penteract Press is a UK-based small press specialising in experimental poetry with an
emphasis on structure. This includes formal verse, concrete poetry, and poems
composed using constraints of varying complexity. It exists online at
penteractpress.com.
1 – When did Penteract Press first
start? How have your original goals as a publisher shifted since you started,
if at all? And what have you learned through the process?
We began in the latter half of 2016. I’d written a poem called “Wars of
the Roses and Thorns”, and I had such a clear idea of how I wanted it presented
that, rather than send it off for someone else to make, I decided to design and
distribute the leaflet myself. Kind of as a whim, and because I thought it
looked good, I added a penteract logo, with the name “Penteract
Press” beneath it—but I wasn’t committed to starting a press. That came a few
months later, after talking things over with my wife, Clara. We decided it
would be a great way to meet interesting people, and to be more involved in the
arts, in general.
As it happened, the “penteract” (which is the five-dimensional
equivalent of the 2-D square, 3-D cube and 4-D tesseract) conveniently
represented our taste in art: We like poetry that places an emphasis on
structure, but which also has a radical and innovative edge. That is, we like
works that, like the penteract, are an extension of familiar rules and forms
into exotic, unfamiliar territory. We decided on this theme early on, and our
goal, in this respect, hasn’t changed.
With respect to scale, however, our ambitions have certainly grown. When
we began, we weren’t thinking beyond single-sheet leaflets. We’re now producing
booklets and looking to produce full-length books. This is partly down to the
fun we’ve had learning about book design, materials, typesetting, etc.—and all
those other details that were, before we set out, so easily overlooked.
2 – What first brought you to
publishing?
Back at university, Clara and I ran a small record label for local bands,
including my own. So, we’ve always enjoyed seeing works of art realised as
material objects. Personally (being somewhat obsessed with control) I don’t
like not being involved during any stage of the creative process!
3 – What do you consider the role and
responsibilities, if any, of small publishing?
Knowing how hard it can be to relinquish control of a poem, I feel a
huge responsibility to present others’ poems appropriately, and in a manner
that best highlights their unique qualities. Moreover, Clara and I know that
each poem we publish represents the overall theme and aesthetic of our press,
and, because of this, we try to be very selective…. So, there’s definitely a
great deal of aesthetic
responsibility involved.
Social or political responsibilities are less of a focus, given the generally
abstract and conceptual nature of the work we publish. We select works that
inspire us, and which fit our aesthetic. Politics stay out of it, mostly. If
we’re publishing the highest quality work we can, then we feel we’re doing our
job properly.
4 – What do you see your press doing
that no one else is?
I wouldn’t say no one else is
doing it, but it’s quite unusual for such a small press to have published
predominantly international poets. Nearly all our poets are based outside the
UK, which is likely a result of our very specific theme, and our selectivity—we
have to cast a wide net.
In addition to planning for larger-scale works, we have recently begun
reading submissions for a series of “nanopamphlets”—miniature (A8) leaflets. That’s
not really something I’ve seen elsewhere. I like to think our introduction of
nanopamphlets, at a time when we are also thinking of full-length books, says
something about our commitment to a DIY aesthetic.
5 – What do you see as the most
effective way to get new titles out into the world?
While our publications are purchasable from a small number of bookshops
(bookartbookshop in London stocks our complete series: http://www.bookartbookshop.com/), given that most of our poets, and therefore our readers, are based
outside the UK, we rely heavily on the internet, and on our online store, https://penteractpress.com/store/. For promotion, we depend on social media, and on the support of
friends and collaborators.
6 – How involved an editor are you? Do
you dig deep into line edits, or do you prefer more of a light touch?
I rarely make suggestions on the content of the poems themselves—of
course, any typographical and grammatical errors are brought to the author’s
attention. Furthermore, I will often engage with the poets throughout the publishing
process, relaying PDFs, to make sure they are happy with the design. It’s their
poem, after all, so they should have the final say on all aesthetic decisions.
I don’t like surrendering too much control over my own poetry, so I shouldn’t
expect it of others!
7 – How do your titles get distributed?
What are your usual print runs?
We currently self-distribute through our site, penteractpress.com, although
we intend to look at other options, when we start producing books. For the
current, small scale stuff, most of our leaflets are printed at home, and are
produced when a sale is made. On the day of publication, we’ll do a short run
that includes a number of copies to be sent to the author as “payment”—normally
between 15 and 25, depending on material costs.
8 – How many other people are involved
with editing or production? Do you work with other editors, and if so, how
effective do you find it? What are the benefits, drawbacks?
It’s just Clara and me; though, as I said, our leaflets are produced
through close contact with their authors, who are the best judges of their own
poetry. I like art with a clear vision, unmuddied by too many interfering
voices.
The only drawback I can think of is that there are only two of us to do
all the work of printing, folding and mailing the leaflets, on days when
significant sales are made—but I can’t complain too much about that!
9– How has being an editor/publisher
changed the way you think about your own writing?
Whenever I write a poem, these days, I think of how it should appear in
leaflet format—which typeface and font would suit it best, which paper, how
much space it should occupy, and so on—in fact, there’s a definite “back and
forth” between the poem and its potential presentations. They way it might look ends up affecting the outcome
of its content, which is something I find fascinating. Symbiosis between
content and form is really important in poetry, anyway, and an area I’ve always
enjoyed experimenting with—moving into publishing has given these experiments greater
scope.
10– How do you approach the idea of
publishing your own writing? Some, such as Gary Geddes when he still ran
Cormorant, refused such, yet various Coach House Press’ editors had titles
during their tenures as editors for the press, including Victor Coleman and
bpNichol. What do you think of the arguments for or against, or do you see the
whole question as irrelevant?
I believe in self-publishing, because I believe in overseeing a project
from start to finish. Self-publishing is a good way of asserting individuality—and
individuals always make better artists than committees.
Of course, it is also nice to see how other publishers interpret one’s
work. Personally, I’ll self-publish those poems for which I have a definite
vision, and I’ll submit elsewhere those for which I do not…. But, in general,
I’m very much a fan of the art of self-publishing, since the few legitimate
arguments against it are greatly outweighed by its virtues.
The one thing I’ll say from the contrary perspective, I suppose, is that
self-publishing should never dominate a small press that has made a commitment
to publishing other poets. To this end, Clara and I will never publish our own
works at the expense of someone else: Our selection criteria for submitted
works, and their likelihood of acceptance, remain unaffected by our personal
projects.
11– How do you see Penteract Press
evolving?
We’re now committed to producing lengthier works. This will start with a
short book of my micropoems (my own poetry will be serving, here, as a guinea
pig—that’s another benefit of self-publishing), and we’ll probably follow that
with an anthology, before, all going well, taking submissions for full-length
collections.
We’re also interested in pursuing more individualised, niche works:
Handmade and handbound, strictly limited editions, and the like. We want to go
in both directions: bigger and smaller. We want to reach a larger audience
while retaining our idiosyncrasies and independence.
12– What, as a publisher, are you most
proud of accomplishing? What do you think people have overlooked about your
publications? What is your biggest frustration?
Presses our size are a labour of love, with little chance of making a
significant profit—I guess that’s frustrating, to some extent, but we knew it
would be the case when we started. I’m proud that we’ve been able to stay
afloat, and are now in a position to build upon our work. I’m also proud of the
positive attention certain of our publications have received—one, in
particular, has reached an audience most poetry leaflets rarely experience.
Most of all, however, I’m proud of the compliments we’ve received from fellow poets
and publishers—from people we respect, and who really seem to understand what
we’re trying to achieve.
As for what people have overlooked (and this is, of course, a
frustration too), it never ceases to amaze us how many submissions come from
people who have, apparently, never been remotely near our submissions
guidelines….
13– Who were your early publishing
models when starting out?
14– How does Penteract Press work to
engage with your immediate literary community, and community at large? What journals
or presses do you see Penteract Press in dialogue with? How important do you
see those dialogues, those conversations?
Having published mostly international poets, when I think of our
“immediate” literary community, I think of likeminded poets and publishers,
before I think of geography. The internet is Penteract Press’s true home. I’m a
habitual tweeter, and I’ve met many poets and publishers through my Twitter
account.
The presses I’ve had the most contact with are, unsurprisingly, those
operating on a similar scale, and exploring similar corners of the avant-garde.
I’ve mentioned No Press, Spacecraft Press and The Blasted Tree. Another I’d like
to add is Sweden’s Timglaset, run by Joakim Norling.
Dialogues with presses such as these are very useful—we exchange
publications, suggest poets to approach, and, occasionally, discuss the more
practical aspects of putting a publication together. More importantly, we,
either directly or by our actions, provide each other much-needed
encouragement.
15– Do you hold regular or occasional
readings or launches? How important do you see public readings and other
events?
Given our location, and the international nature of our press, we rarely
hold readings and launches. This is unfortunate, and something that will certainly
change, when we make the transition to full-length books. We already have
several locations in mind.
16– How do you utilize the internet, if
at all, to further your goals?
We rely heavily on our Twitter accounts and website. We are also in the
process of setting up a Patreon account, and exploring other internet-based
means of promotion and distribution.
17– Do you take submissions? If so,
what aren’t you looking for?
As a publisher of constrained, concrete and formal poetry, the simple
answer to what we don’t want is,
“free verse”. In terms of content, we tend to prefer the extrospective over the
introspective (in fact, we rather enjoy poems that have no subject at all). Poetry
about science, history, and the arts are most welcome. But it’s unlikely we’d publish
poems that fixate on identity, or which promote a specific political stance.
Poetry overly concerned with feelings isn’t really our sort of thing, either, though
we are happy to consider it….
18– Tell me about three of your most
recent titles, and why they’re special.
I’ve already mentioned our miniature ‘nanopamphlets’, most
of which we are likely to give away, rather than sell. I don’t know how many of
these we’re going to produce, but it’s a format we love working with—they’re not
too costly to produce, present an interesting design challenge, and, as
something anyone could make, reflect our love of DIY arts. The most recent
nanopamphlet we’ve published is “Neith Cursive”, a small visual poem by Derek Beaulieu.
As a stepping stone towards producing books, we have
recently published two booklets, which we had printed by a third party. It’s
been an interesting experience, and fun adapting to designing larger formats.
The first one was “Broken Light”, by Gary Barwin—a 16-page booklet of visual
poetry based on the Hebrew alphabet. The other is the long poem “A Nocturne for
Eurydice” by Christian Bök, which appears in a more delicate, A6-size, 8-page
edition. We’ve been really pleased with how both have turned out—it augurs well
for the future.
