Thirty West Newsletter - February 2025
New book launch, napkin poems, and cleaving the ice
Enjoying Hibernation.
Hello again, it is Josh.
For now, I’m not going anywhere. It is still winter. Winds howl and snow is frozen upon the grounds. What better time to share this quote?
“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief.”
—Franz Kafka
Like the Kafkaesque book-axe, TW strives to cleave those chunks of ice within us: mighty chapbooks, illuminating volumes, new experiments, book fairs, and more of the good things. The 10th year of Thirty West Publishing is a plunge into the icy depths. A shockwave to the core. A new era that begins now.
See you in March, or as I like to call it…Mud Month.
Upcoming Release
JP Infante's debut prose poetry chapbook won the 4th Annual Wavelengths Chapbook Contest in 2020.
Now, it’s being republished with gusto.
On the Tip of Your Mother’s Tongue is a dual language (English-Spanish) collection of prose and poetry. Expanded & revised, it is a story of a son grappling with his mother's mental health and his stepfather’s overdose in Washington Heights, New York City. Capturing the disastrous toll of the criminalization of drug use on communities, families, and individuals, Infante pairs literature with buying cocaine, screen time with addiction, and cinema with harm reduction. It’s modern literature for New Yorkers & U.S. Americans. Critical, gritty, & emboldening, JP Infante is a masterful scholar of contemporary inner-city life.
“They used to call you Minene, and before that, Chungo, even though your birth certificate says another name. Your stepfather, who’s been away at school for three months, calls you son. Son, get me the TV controller. Son, listen to your mother. Son, stop talking about your heart.”
—from ‘Without A Big One’
ISBN: 979-8-9895422-7-7
PUBLICATION: March 14th, 2025 (3-14-25)
Praise for JP Infante and ON THE TIP OF YOUR MOTHER’S TONGUE
“These paragraphs remind me that growing up often seems like an initiation into secrets—just learning them but understanding which ones to share and which ones to keep.”
—Yuka Igarashi, executive editor of Graywolf Press
“JP Infante captures the complexities of addiction, homelessness, mental illness, and racial identity through the lens of a son whose mother is dedicated to one thing; survival. On the Tip of Your Mother’s Tongue is a lesson in snapshot vulnerability and introspection. Infante moves us rapidly through short scenes condensed with an emotional precision that forces us to slow down and contend with our own disasters. Whether on the tip of a tongue, or an iceberg, the magic in this book is in what lives underneath, every word that has yet to be said.”
—Elisabet Velasquez, author of When We Make It: A Nuyorican Novel
“In ‘Without a Big One,’ JP Infante provides the reader with a glimpse at the impact of incarceration on black and brown families. This powerful short story also touches upon issues of love, poverty, education, and mental health, all through the lens of one young child in Washington Heights.
Prison reform and prison abolition are receiving increased mainstream attention, and as readers, we see the harm done to the family at the center of ‘Without a Big One.’ Community intervention has its place. Cages do not. Infante's art helps to move us away from these cages and closer to a more just and equitable society.”
—Laura Pegram, founding editor & publisher of Kweli Journal.
Afterimages News
Here is the Afterimages schedule for February. Napkin poems will sporadically float into your inbox throughout the weeks, accompanied by a book review and a flash essay (those two are scheduled.) A bonus newsletter regarding new authors will drop at an undetermined date.
We wish to thank TW poet, Gardner Dorton, for guest editing and selecting the napkin poems We hope you enjoy this unique poetry project.
Currently, we are reading for March on out. Maybe another guest editor is coming on board? Find out soon.
Welcome Our New Intern
We wish to welcome Nadia Jackson to the masthead for the spring 2025 semester! Nadia Jackson is a writer from Jenkintown, PA. She is a senior at Kutztown University, planning on writing short stories and a fantasy novel once she achieves her bachelor’s degree. With a fondness for analyzing narratives, she is always open to discussing what makes stories compelling.
TW Tales Reading Series
TW TALES #5 Cabin Fever is coming soon. Listen to the dynamic and brilliant prose of Thirty West author Anna Vangala Jones & Thirty West editor, Caterina Alvarez. An open mic follows the features. Please register below and join us with some poetry and stories of your own.
Extra Bits
A Writers Party, Philadelphia’s alternative to AWP, is happening next month. As cohosts, we will periodically promote upcoming readings, events, and workshops as the schedule solidifies.
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