Abode Press Updates: Quererme En La Luz Launch
A new cover reveal, virtual summer retreat applications, and TONS of events!
YOU’RE INVITED to our lineup of upcoming events!
Quererme En La Luz by Farrah Fang Book Launch - Houston, TX - 4/26/24
We are so thrilled to have Farrah Fang’s book out in the world! We love this poetry collection, and we know you will too.
Celebrate the launch of Quererme En La Luz by Farrah Fang with us!
Where: Basket Books, Houston, Texas.
Who: Featured readers Amanda Ortiz, Edward Santos Garza, and Farrah Fang.
Books will be available for sale and there will be time for a Q+A. Please RSVP to let us know you're planning on attending!
Houston Poetry & Arts Festival - 4/27/24
An annual gathering of Houston creatives featuring poetry, music, art, tabling organizations, panels, workshops, and a gallery walk. Abode Press will be tabling and our Founder, Diamond Braxton, will appear on a panel to discuss publishing.
BIPOC Book Fest - Houston, TX - 5/4/24
Abode will be tabling at BIPOC Book Fest in Houston next month! Come grab a book, some merch, and a friendly conversation if you see us.
Abode Virtual Summer Retreat: Applications Close 4/30/24
Starting June 9th, join Abode Press for our FIRST-EVER virtual retreat experience! We will have workshops available in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction led by Diamond Braxton, SG Huerta, and aureleo sans. Attendees will also be able to attend 1-2 craft talks and lectures throughout the week.
At Abode, we are working tirelessly to increase accessibility for writers to attend much needed spaces to work on their craft and build connections without compromising their livelihood. This is why the retreat will only cost $200 per attendee. Because of this low price, applicants will be selected based off the strength of their application and alignment with our press.
Applications will open via Submittable from April 15th to April 30th. It is FREE to apply (though we do appreciate donations!) and applicants will be notified of acceptance in early May. All funds will go towards helping Abode get to AWP in LA in 2025 and towards paying our presenters.
More details can be found here. We can’t wait to write and learn with you this summer!
Workshops
In addition to our Virtual Retreat, we have an incredible slate of workshops this year! At Abode, we believe offering affordable workshops is important so all writers can have access to writing tools and community engagement. All of our workshops are virtual and are offered on a sliding scale, starting at $10.
Join us for The Plate is a Portal: Writing About Food with Devi Sastry, Saturday May 18 from from 12-1:30pm CST.
Food holds the power to transport us. A good meal can collapse the distance between my past and my present, ferry me to faraway beloveds, or bring me closer to my inner child. For writers, food is an especially potent means to delve into memory, notions of home, cultural heritage, and relationships. In this workshop, intended for poets but open to writers in all genres, we will consider the plate as a portal, reaching through sensorium and memory to explore what food can offer to our practice. We will read food poems together and discuss the role that food plays as a loaded cultural signifier, as a love language in the domestic space, and as a carrier for history. Through guided generative work, participants will be invited to consider the food that has nourished them in its fullness – where it comes from, what historical and personal narratives it holds, what language it allows them to access, how it might have changed over time. We’ll read, write, and share, working together to discover the ways in which food can nourish our writing.
Shout out to presenter CD Eskilson for leading a wonderful workshop earlier this month!
Cover reveal: My Sisters Look Like God: A Womanist Manifesto of Poetry by Desiree McCray, out 6/1/24
We are so excited to finally share the cover of My Sisters Look Like God with you! This poetry collection is an experience you don’t want to miss. Pre-orders are officially open!
Check out what early readers are saying:
“A powerful testimony of reclamation and radical remembrance, My Sisters Look Like God: A Womanist Manifesto of Poetry earns its place as a necessary piece of art in the contemporary literary space. Desiree's emboldened commitment to sharing the intricate truths, struggles, and joys of her life as her full self is transformative to the reader to say the least. Weaving a tapestry of important themes like Black American history and culture, identity, and relationship to self, My Sisters Look Like God positions itself as one of the freshest expressions of Black feminist thought today."
— Deja Mackey, History Teacher - Chicago Public SchoolsWe hope to see you soon, either virtually or at one of our upcoming events in Houston!