Publishing Talks: Interview with Kyle Schlesinger of Cuneiform Press

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I’ve spent time talking with people in the book industry about how publishing is evolving in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

Later this series broadened to include talks and interviews that go beyond the future of publishing. In an effort to document the literary world, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing in the past, and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me on many levels. I have gotten to speak with visionaries and entrepreneurs, as well as editors and publishers who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I started out in independent publishing, and early on learned how to set type by hand and operate mechanically operated printing presses that were even then becoming obsolete. I was never a very good printer and admire the poets and editors who have taken up the mantle of what is known as fine press printing to produce books that are artistically innovative and at times handmade.

Kyle Schlesinger is a poet and independent publisher whose work I have long admired. His press, Cuneiform (“Poetry, Typography and Artists’ Books) has established an incredible body of work since he issued his first book in 2000, Luisa Giugliano’s Chapter in a Day Finch Journal, published in Buffalo while Kyle was a student in the Poetics Program at SUNY, where he studied with Robert Creeley, Susan Howe, and Charles Bernstein.

Kyle first discovered the idea of printing through Will Hamlin, a Black Mountain College alumnus, while he was studying at Goddard College. He learned to print first in Vermont on an 1889 Prouty platen press with metal type. As he says on the Cuneiform site:

“We printed the literary review for Goddard College, instructions for using a compost toilet, Gertrude Stein stationery, and a few short poems. I remember building up the letters of William Carlos Williams’ “A poem is a small (or large) machine made of words” early on.”

This early experience quite evidently sent Kyle on the path to becoming a fine printer and book designer, and the hand work well suited to his personal design views, as he has gone on to produce a range of excellent writing expressed through fine design and outstanding creativity in book production.

After he left Buffalo, Kyle moved to Austin, Texas, where Cuneiform is now based. He teaches at the University of Houston, Victoria. Cuneiform produces books of poetry, artists’ books and even scholarly works, using letterpress and offset printing. Kyle and I had a great conversation earlier this spring. When it is possible to travel again, I am looking forward to visiting Cuneiform and seeing Kyle and the great Vandercook 219 proof press he runs in his shop in Austin.

Kyle and I share a number of connections, including poets  and old friends, Kit Robinson, Steve Benson, and Kyle printed for years on a press he got from another old friend, Michael Waltuch, as well as a shared interest in Black Mountain College and its many amazing poets, artists and craftspeople. It’s inspiring to see his work, that carries forward the meaningful traditions of poets in collaboration with artists in the making of books. We had a wide ranging conversation about his work, past, present, and future.

Visit the Cuneiform Press website – do consider buying some books or subscribing or even donating, as Cuneiform is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit, donations are tax-deductible!

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Publishing Talks: David Wilk interviews Charles Alexander

In this series of interviews, called Publishing Talks, I have been talking to book industry professionals and other smart people about the future of publishing, books, and culture.  This is a period of disruption and change for all media businesses.  We must wonder now, how will publishing evolve as our culture is affected by technology, climate change, population density, and the ebb and flow of civilization and  economics?

I hope these Publishing Talks conversations can help us understand the outlines of what is happening in the publishing industry, and how we might ourselves interact with and influence the future of publishing as it unfolds.

These interviews give people in and around the book business a chance to talk openly about ideas and concerns that are often only talked about “around the water cooler,” at industry conventions and events, and in emails between friends and they give people inside and outside the book industry a chance to hear first hand some of the most interesting and challenging thoughts, ideas and concepts being discussed by people in the book business.

Charles Alexander is the founder and prime mover behind Chax Press, a nonprofit publisher and studio.  As he describes it on the website Chax “publishes writing that does not take things for granted — things like “what is a poem,””what is an author,” or “what does it mean to read?”  Walt Whitman said, “Reading is a gymnast’s act.”  We strive to make books that reward such exercise in stunning ways.”

Whether working with handset type, Vandercook proof press, carved wood blocks, linen threads and fine papers, or with computers, Chax Press books celebrate the changing shape of American poetry by presenting experimental works with humanist commitment.  Chax also brings its work to the public in ways other than in books, sponsoring poetry readings, writers- and artists-in-residence, exhibitions, and more events that encourage a public investigation as to the nature and importance of contemporary poetry and book arts.

Chax Press was founded in 1984 in Tucson. More than 50 books have followed between then and the present, including several published during Chax’s three years (1993-96) in Minneapolis, where Alexander served as Executive Director of Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

In general, Chax Press publishes experimentalist works that share a strong humanist commitment. Chax Press chapbooks are published in small editions and mix desktop publishing technologies with hand bookbinding practices and, at times, fine art papers.

I’ve known Charles Alexander for many years and love the work he has done with Chax.  I thought it would be extremely rewarding to talk to him about modern publishing and his vision of books and readers, especially now, when the current talk about digital publishing dominates our environment.  Anyone who has set type, printed pages and made paper by hand for a living is certain to possess a valuable perspective on the literal relationship between word and eye that still is so important to the work of publishers in any environment.  Charles and I had a great time talking about Chax and its wonderful work.

The Chax website is well worth a visit, as is Charles’ blog, and if you find yourself in Tucson, go see the Chax Press facility, which is a wonderful and central hub of the Tucson poetry and arts community.

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