Four writers working in Rome have organized a new literary press. Known as Ninebark Press, the organization is dedicated to publishing innovative and compelling work by both new and established writers. The press is especially interested in literature that crosses boundaries of genre, culture, and aesthetic.
The founding editors are Ray Marsocci, Sandra Meek, Michael Mejia, and Mindy Wilson. Marsocci is a former editor of Elixir Press and an adjunct instructor in the English Department at Berry College.
Meek is Associate Professor of English at Berry College and an award-winning poet. A recent recipient of a literary fellowship from National Endowment for the Arts,
Mejia is Assistant Professor of English and author of the novel Forgetfulness. Wilson is managing editor of The Georgia Review and former managing editor of The Gettysburg Review.
“It is our belief that the best literature is both intelligent and empathetic, as engaged in the art of language as it is concerned with human circumstance and the larger natural world,” said the editors in a statement released on Friday.
The press takes its name from a genus of flowering shrubs, Ninebark, named for the way the plant’s bark peels away in many layers. Ninebark occurs naturally both inside and outside the United States in diverse varieties. Both as natural object and as word, Ninebark suggests that complexity is not antithetical to beauty, but necessary to its creation.
The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses states: “Literary magazines and presses accomplish the backstage work of American literature: discovering new writers; supporting mid-career writers; publishing the creative voices of communities underrepresented in the mainstream commercial culture; and preserving literature for future readers by keeping books in print.”
Ninebark Press seeks to work in the tradition of the literary press. They plan to publish two or three titles per year, beginning in February 2007 with Deep Travel: Contemporary American Poets Abroad. This anthology brings together 34 contemporary American poets whose work has been significantly informed by international travel or by living abroad. The book includes poems by Pulitzer Prize-winners as well as mid-career and emerging writers.
Participating poets have also contributed original prose statements on how travel has deepened their work, their understanding of poetry’s aesthetic and human value, and their sense of the “Other” and themselves. Ninebark Press also is reviewing manuscripts for their next book to be published later in 2007.
In addition to the founding editors, the Editorial Board for Ninebark Press includes numerous award-winning authors and editors: Sven Birkerts, editor of AGNI, a literary magazine based at Boston University, and a member of the core faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars; Alice Friman, Professor Emerita at the University of Indianapolis and Poet in Residence at Georgia College & State University; Albert Goldbarth, Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Department of English at Wichita State University; Mark Jarman, Professor of English at Vanderbilt Universit; Tayari Jones, Writer in Residence at George Washington University; Laurence Lieberman, Professor of English at the University of Illinois and Poetry Editor for the University of Illinois Press; Michael Martone, Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Alabama; Reginald McKnight, Hamilton-Holmes Professor at the University of Georgia; and Larissa Szporluk, Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at Bowling Green State University.
The press also has established a local community advisory board: Brad Adams, Associate Professor of Art, Berry College; Allen Bell, Executive Director, Rome Area Council of the Arts; Jeanne Cahill, writer and Rome community leader; Sarah Egerer, Director of International Programs, Berry College; Susan Harvey, artist and Rome community leader; Jon Hershey, Professor of English, Georgia Highlands College; and Jim Watkins, Chair, Berry College Department of English, Rhetoric and Writing.
Rome Area Council for the Arts serves as the parent organization for Ninebark Press. Tax-deductible contributions designated for Ninebark Press may be addressed to: RACA/Ninebark Press, P.O. Box 203, Rome, Georgia 30162.
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