As I work to unpack the last few boxes in my tiny study (the new center of operations for Seven Kitchens Press), it’s heartening to glance around and see our many chapbooks arranged in their various stages of completion, nested alphabetically by author in their cubbies. I’d love to do more to promote their fine work. Perhaps you have a little time to help? Write a review, or conduct an interview? Host an online reading? Most of our titles are still in print. Please reach out if you’re interested.

We’re looking for a new editor for the Robin Becker Series. Many thanks to Crystal Boson for her work in this series. As I look ahead at our fifteenth year, I’ve bolstered my determination to pull back a bit, just enough to get some of my own writing done. By year’s end, I hope to have full editorial teams in place for the Becker, Arroyo, and Keystone series. If you are a poet wishing to champion more women’s voices, more work by marginalized writers, work by POC and writers across the gender spectrum, please reach out.

In case you missed it, here are our nominations for this year’s Pushcart Prizes, in order of the chapbooks’ publication:

• Reilly D. Cox, for “Shoveling Snow” in The Death of Sargon the Gardener
• Daniel Barnum, for “The B Word” in Names for Animals
• Jennifer Stewart Miller, for “The Mother Omission” in The Strangers Burial Ground
• Julie Swarstad Johnson, for “The Kingdom of God Is Like” in Orchard Light
• Susan Austin, for “Love Quarrel with Ixodes” in The Disappearing Word
• Don Hogle, for “Dormition” in Madagascar

2021 marks our fifteenth year, notwithstanding some bumps and a hiatus or two along the way. We’ve brought out over 150 chapbooks, most still in print. If you’d like to see Seven Kitchens Press continue our commitment to championing the best and most diverse voices we can find, please consider buying a chapbook or two, or make a donation (we’ll soon announce our 15:15 drive). There’s also a few 2021 subscription packages left. And if you’re a poet, please send us your best work when our series open this year (check the guidelines section).

Finally, and foremost, thank you to everyone who has supported our little press. The vast majority of operations is done by one person (me), though I like to think always that we’re all connected in this endeavor.

Julie Swarstad Johnson’s Orchard Light was selected by series editors Steve Bellin-Oka and Ron Mohring as Number 20 in our Keystone Chapbook Series. Set against the backdrop of Gettysburg and other historical sites, and drawing from extensive on-site research, these poems explore the challenges of faith endured by a family torn by the American Civil War. Available now.

Our sixth chapbook release of 2019, A Season for Speaking by Allison Blevins, is #20 in our Robin Becker Series and features gorgeous cover art by Marsha Boston. Read more and order your copy here.

We are proud to announce the selection of the next three titles in the Robin Becker Chapbook Series: all the catholic gods by Patrick Kindig, A Season for Speaking by Alison Blevins, and Permanent and Wonderful Storage by Alec Hershman will appear this winter. Please join us in congratulating these wonderful poets.

It was such a pleasure to read such a brilliant range of work. Thank you, thank you, for continuing to make this such a diverse and enduring series.