December Press Updates: 2025 Virtual Retreat, Pre-Orders, Winter Sale, and More!
Our last 2024 newsletter is here!
We hope everyone is well and warm as we approach the Solstice! We had a very fun and very busy fall at events like the Front Market and San Antonio Zine Fest. We even hosted our first in-person workshop (shout out to the San Marcos Public Library)! Whether you’ve been with us for a year or just met us this fall, we’re super excited to share all our current happenings.
Bilingual Bitch by Angelica Julia Davila, out March 15th
Pre-orders are open for Angelica Julia Davila’s poetry chapbook, Bilingual Bitch!
Angelica Julia Davila's Bilingual Bitch explores the complexities of being Mexican yet growing up in the United States through multilingual expression, generational conflict, and longing for a homeland while existing in a limbo. With a sharp tongue that disrupts both English and Spanish, Davila's poems document familial and US/Mexican history through oral knowledge and chisme while lamenting lost histories. Bilingual Bitch is for the pochas everywhere who find themselves always wondering “which country” is their country.
TOY SOLDIERS by MICHAEL CHANG, out January 1st
Pre-orders are also open for MICHAEL CHANG’s poetry chapbook TOY SOLDIERS!
"Michael Chang’s TOY SOLDIERS is a world of text speak and pop culture—of love and loathing, of happiness and audacity. Playful language scattered throughout the collection mimics everyday speech in a voice at times joyful, at times crass, at others pointed. Chang is a remarkably brave poet, choosing to hold oneself high under the crush of so much fleeting stimuli, amid the challenges of living in a rigid society—and, in so doing, finding what it truly means to be human. Well done." - Ina Cariño
Abode Virtual Summer Retreat - open until January 30th
Applications are open for our second Virtual Retreat! We had so much fun last June talking about craft, publishing, and bringing our authentic selves to the page.
Throughout June 2025, we will have workshops available in poetry, fiction, speculative fiction, and nonfiction led by Ariana Brown (poetry), mónica teresa ortiz (poetry), Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya (speculative fiction), Stephanie Macias (fiction), and KB Brookins (nonfiction). Attendees will also be able to attend 2-3 craft talks and lectures throughout the week.
At Abode, we are always working to increase accessibility for much needed spaces to work on craft and build connections without writers having to compromising their livelihood. This is why the retreat will only cost $250-$400 (sliding scale). Because of this low price, applicants will be selected based off the strength of their application and alignment with our press.
It is FREE to apply (though we do appreciate donations!) and applicants will be notified of acceptance in mid-March. All funds will go towards paying our presenters, press operations, and paying Retreat admins. Learn more and send your application by January 30th here!
“A month-long virtual retreat was not something I knew I needed until experiencing Abode Press and the amazing offerings. The retreat provided community and support to grow as a queer writer of color. The craft talks, weekly workshops, and readings created a stimulating environment to focus on my writing, be inspired, and build community.” - Jude Paul Dizon, 2024 attendee
Workshop Proposals - open until January 4th
Community workshops are a staple of the work we do at Abode. We’re so excited to announce that we’re accepting proposals for our 2025 lineup!
We love themes of identity, origin, and culture, and workshops that take risks, defy genre and subvert our expectations. We especially love to work with instructors who belong to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities and/or who are based in the South.
You can find more details and send your proposal here!
Bookstore - all titles on sale until January 1st!
Earlier this year, we published My Sisters Look Like God: A Womanist Manifesto of Poetry by Desiree McCray, Quererme en La Luz by Farrah Fang, Coral in the Diaspora by Jerrice J. Baptiste, and Moth and Ghost at Work by Stephen Rendon. You can find our full bookstore here!
The best part? All of our titles are on sale until January 1st with the code loveabode.
Thank you for being with us through 2024! We’re so excited to see what next year brings!