About West End PressPeoples Culture &
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NewsLong Range MattersNon-Profit Incorporation. We were registered as a corporation with the state of New Mexico on February 21, 2006 and are awaiting notification of Federal non-profit incorporation under 501c3. Our thanks to Sarita Nair and Stacey Comacho of Sutin, Thayer and Browne in Albuquerque for their continuing services. Board of Directors, Management, and Staff. Our board of directors consists of E. A. Mares, John Randall, and Margaret Randall, all of Albuquerque. Patricia Clark Smith and I have also formally joined the board. We are seeking several more board members at present. Our accountant, Bob Rosen, is bringing our business into alignment with bookkeeping practices appropriate to nonprofit incorporation. Our editorial advisory board consists of Joy Harjo, Honolulu; Margaret Randall, Albuquerque; Mandy Gardner, Albuquerque; Fred Whitehead, Kansas City; Janet Zandy, Rochester; Michael Henson, Cincinnati; Sesshu Foster, Los Angeles; and Linda Ray Pratt, Omaha. I am serving as President of West End Press; Pat Smith is Secretary-Treasurer. We have two part-time staff members and one advisor. Elise McHugh is in charge of editorial correspondence and in-office production. Leslie Fishburn Clark is working on public events and interviews. Mandy Gardner is consulting on organizational and writing matters. All three of these individuals helped organize meetings and participated in sales events over the spring and summer. Distribution. University of New Mexico Press (UNM Press) is our primary distributor to bookstores, libraries, and related institutions. Small Press Distribution (SPD) is our secondary, non-exclusive distributor, concentrating on certain annual academic and trade events and bookstores in the west. West End Press does its own direct-mail fulfillment and fills other orders as needs arise (pamphlets, archival photocopies, etc.). Short Range OperationRecent Publications. We published a new trade edition of Meridel Le Sueur, The Girl with an introduction by Linda Ray Pratt in January 2006. Promotion and marketing of this epic of working-class literature has been extensive; the book received an unprecedented second review in Publishers Weekly. We’ll publish Crow Call, a collection of Cincinnati poems by Michael Henson, in September. Fall 2006 Catalogue, UNM Press. We’ve produced a Fall 2006 catalogue for general distribution in August and September. The design was supervised by Elise McHugh. Travel Schedule, 2006. Travel to conventions, including exhibition, sales, and networking, are an important component of West End Press. In 2006 we will have attended the following events: March 8-11. Associated Writers Program Conference, Austin, Texas Cultural WorkCultural Activities. West End Press helped form a cultural activism group in Albuquerque this spring, and hopes to sponsor more meetings, lectures, panel discussions and/or readings the rest of the year. As we achieve non-profit status we hope to secure regular reading space, sponsor a writing class, publish occasional pamphlets, and co-sponsor a regional conference in 2007. New Mexico Project. With the help of Leslie Fishburn Clark and others, we are locating materials relevant to alternative cultural issues in New Mexico. We’ve contacted Phaedra Greenwood, formerly a reporter for the Taos News, concerning Meridel Le Sueur’s archival material. We eventually hope to publish some of this cultural material in magazine or book format. Homeless and Prison Writers. We’re working with Mandy Gardner, who teaches writing in homeless shelters and prisons and has completed a doctoral dissertation on her work with Union Institute. Mandy plans to found an independent publishing company, Street Sweeper Press, in the future. Meridel Le Sueur. The family of Meridel Le Sueur is negotiating a movie option concerning her novel The Girl with Mia Bays, London-based producer. West End Press will act as agent. We have consulted in this matter with Saul Cohen, Santa Fe-based attorney. News of Events. West End Press exhibited its books and titles from UNM Press at the AWP conference in Austin, Texas in March. The meeting provided a means of networking with alternative presses and other organizations, including Wings Press of Austin; Curbstone Press of Willimantic, Connecticut; and Poetry Flash of Berkeley. In April we exhibited at the Border Book Festival in Las Cruces, New Mexico, an event we’ve attended over the years in our home state. Suggested Reading. Our new print catalog recommends several books by other publishers, both mainstream and alternative. The one that’s helped us most in defining what we are doing is Adrienne Rich, What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics, second edition (NY: Norton, 2003). Teresa Anderson. Poet and activist Teresa Anderson died of cancer in January. She is survived by her husband Michael Smith. A group of concerned individuals including Mary McAnally of Tulsa, Fred Whitehead of Kansas City, Al Markowitz of Norfolk, Virginia, Mandy Gardner of Albuquerque and myself are collecting Terri’s poems and journals, along with two CD’s, for possible publication. We honor this brave and generous person who made a great difference in the lives of many of us. Watch for our winter update. John Crawford
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