Chelsea Green Publishing Company  in White River Junction, Vermont, specializes in books about sustainable living, with selections of environmentally friendly, thoughtful, and hopeful books. The editor in chief, Jim Schley, wrote us about our conversation with the Bessies: “As a younger editor who has every intention of emulating such ... predecessors, I find this conversation to be truly illuminating.” This press has high standards.

see also Conversations with Cornelia & Michael Bessie, part II.

The Harvill Press  publishes, among many estimable authors, Richard Hughes, Richard Ford, and in translation, Anna Maria Ortese (THE LAMENT OF THE LINNET), Ismael Kadare, Javier Marías. Many of their titles are available in the U. S., particularly at independent bookstores. We also urge our Readers to look for their books.

The Lilliput Press is an Irish publisher founded in 1984 by Antony Farrell. Some 150 titles have appeared under its imprint: art and architecture, autobiography and memoir, biography and history, ecology and environmentalism, essays and literary criticism, philosophy, current affairs and popular culture, fiction, drama and poetry – all broadly focused on Irish themes. Its authors include Agnes Bernelle, Hubert Butler, Philip Casey, Elaine Crowley, Richard Douthwaite, Esytn Evans, Benedict Kiely, Sinéad McCoole, John Moriarty, Tom Phelan, Tim Robinson and Paulo Tullio, to name a few. Since 1985 they have brought out four volumes of the essays of the late Hubert Butler. Hubert Butler’s “The Artukovitch File” appears, with their permission, in an earlier Archipelago. (Vol. 1, No. 2).

McPherson & Co  publishes such writers as the fascinating Mary Butts (THE TAVERNER NOVELS), Anna Maria Ortese (A MUSIC BEHIND THE WALL, Selected Stories Vol. 2, summer 1998), and the performance artist Carolee Schneeman. A beautiful story by Ortese, “The Great Street,” appeared in our inaugural issue (Vol. 1, No. 1)

Mercury House  is a not-for-profit literary press in San Francisco. Members of the staff used to be associated with the respected North Point, before that imprint closed its doors. Alfred Arteaga’s HOUSE WITH THE BLUE BED is out now. They are to publish NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH, a non-fiction narrative by Katherine McNamara, later this year.

Fine Arts

The Colophon Page  and PhotoArts  are two beautiful sites devoted to the fine arts. They are directed by the fine-art book publisher James Wintner, of JHW Editions. Colophon Page is devoted to artists' books, which are displayed as if in a gallery; there is an attendant shop, and review and forum pages. PhotoArts presents and offers for sale the works of fine-arts photographers and photojournalists. An on-line auction of photography is to take place on the PhotoArts site. With a preview commencing in late April, it will be conducted during the second week of May, closing May 16; the auctioneers, experts in photography, were formerly at Christie's and Sotheby's. The design and quality of reproduction of these sites are excellent.

Fray. Strange. Cool. Heartbreaking. A delight.

Octavo  is a digital publisher committed to conserving books, manuscripts, and antiquarian printed materials via digital tools and formats. They make original works available to readers and book lovers through partnerships with libraries, individuals and institutions. Faithfully depicting the beauty and craftsmanship of these works, their editions incorporate all the modern day benefits of digital formats, such as live text, searching and bookmarking. Schools and libraries receive special discounts and generous site licenses from them. As a sample, they offer a PDF download of William Shakespeare Poems. We are always pleased when web publishers use pdf files, as we do for our Download edition.

Literary Reviews

The Barcelona Review, Jill Adams, Editor. (Español) (Català)

Carol Isern y Cristina Hernández Johannson, co-editoras. Issue 6 is now on-line with fiction byNicholas Royle (London) and Lucinda Ebersole and David Alexander (U. S.), and a one-act play by L. A. playwright Ken Tesoriere. From Spain the BR offers a first English translation by a well-known author, Agustín Cerezales. As April 23rd is Sant Jordi Day in Barcelona, the city that inaugurated World Book Day in 1995, they offer a Shakespeare Quiz and a Cervantes Quiz with the offer of a free book to the first correct reply to either quiz. Also, book and film reviews, an essay on Shakespeare, and the Back Issues archive.

Ya está listo el número seis de The Barcelona Review. En él, con motivo del Día del Libro por Sant Jordi, encontraréis un test un tantocurioso sobre Cervantes. Además, contamos con cuentos de Agustín Cerezales [saldrá lunes, dia 20], Miquel Zueras, Nicholas Royle, Lucinda Ebersole y David Alexander y una obra de Ken Tesoriere.

Jacket  was founded and is edited by John Tranter, an interesting Australian poet . “For more than thirty years he has been at the forefront of the new poetry, questioning and extending its procedures,” according to his biographical note. His own work has been published widely and deeply; and in this quarterly literary journal he publishes the work of other writers generously.

The Richmond Review  received approving notice (along with Archipelago) in the TLS last year. The founding editor, Steven Kelly, “lives and breathes” literature as an editorial consultant for various English publishers. He set up this site in October 1995, “when it was the UK's first lit mag to appear exclusively on the World Wide Web.” Each issue carries short stories, feature articles, book reviews and poetry, and it comes out around ten times a year. We particularly like “Viennese Blood,” by Sylvia Petter, in the current issue.

Bookstores

The Irish Bookshop  is the place in New York where books of and from Ireland, in English and Irish, can be bought. The shop will take phone, mail, and e-mail orders.

Politics and Prose  is the largest independent bookshop in Washington, D.C., with a full and beautifully-chosen stock-list and a nicely-arranged web site.

The Village Voice Bookshop lives in the heart of Paris, and makes American and English books available to customers on several continents, via phone, fax, post, and e-mail Odile Hellier, the proprietor, is a Contributing Editor of this publication.

The Media

C-Span Booknotes: On Saturday and Sunday nights, C-Span 2 broadcasts interviews with writers, publishers, and bookstore owners, and then makes these and other book-related matters available on the web.

The Financial Times: For those who want to watch intelligently not merely the movement of stocks but the expansion of capital, this newspaper (online; in print) is essential. Its new format is more dignified than the carnival-like design with which it suffered for many months.

next page