Thirty West Newsletter - May 2025
Book fair quotes, relishing The Blooming, and a new intern.
Some words
“Such interesting covers…”
“Did you write all these?”
“Escape the mundane…hmm.”
“Oh, you’re doing the best you can…”
“Do you eat? Like, pay the bills?”
“We need more of you guys!”
“Any business cards left?”
“I’ll take all of these, thanks!”
“Are you open for submissions?" (x5000)
“Me. I’m the broke witch!”
“I could use some nature trails right now…”
“Aww, love your cat!”
“…this is $15? Really?”
Hi, it’s Josh, and these are actual words spoken to me at various vendor tables. Doing this for many years, you’ll remember much banter between guests, other festival vendors, and authors. We wish to thank the existing readers who visit us often and the new fans who took a chance on us. We know you won’t be disappointed. What do you think of our tables? Comment on which one you enjoy the most. We’re always thinking of new ways to present the TW family.
The Blooming is here.
This series couldn’t have gone much better than this. Some limited edition copies remain, but the 2nd printing of standard and budget editions will start up later this month. Below are some blurbs for each chapbook. Lastly, all 3 chapbooks are on Goodreads, and it’s the main place for reviews and ratings to exist. Please make sure to leave one or both to really help them out. I’m so thrilled for Abigail, Jie, and Rayni, and I hope to see their careers blossom into greatness.
“In their stunning debut chapbook, Jie Cohen breathes life into the Venus of Willendorf and shifts between the first- and third-person narrative—a move that mythologizes the self. Cohen offers a counter-gaze to the patriarchal structures that seek to contain and erase fat and femme bodies. Reclaimed, the body transcends these structures and becomes an altar of worship, creation, and vengeance, “blossom[ing] with bruises.”
—Jeddie Sophronius, author of Interrogation Records
“Abigail Michelini’s debut chapbook, Brace, lives up to its title, demanding resilience from both writer and reader alike. With haunting lyricism and raw detail, Michelini chronicles the weight of what it means to endure—whether the slow unraveling of relationships, the challenges of womanhood and motherhood, the starving for faith, or the relentless grip of an eating disorder. Page after page, these courageous poems honor the private reckonings of the self in a society that idealizes and violates the feminine body. These poems confront the facts of the body—its burdens, its betrayals, and the limits of control we bluff ourselves into believing.”
—Robert Fillman, author of The Melting Point
“Rayni Wekluk’s debut is at mile marker ‘1’. Garbage City Poems personifies angst, lust, melancholy, and enlightenment at every intersection. Poetry as roadside daffodils. Don’t litter in this city or you’ll end up in the yellow pages.”
—Josh Dale, publisher and author of Duality Lies Beneath
Welcome our new intern
Thirty West is happy to announce Kinsey Krachinski to the TW team. She will be an intern this summer and in support of many Year 10 titles to come.
Kinsey Krachinski is a graduate student studying English at Indiana University South Bend. She has worked in Editorial and published 48 articles, is getting poetry published in eight magazines, has published two academic essays, and two children's books. The children's book titles are Karis the Kitten and the Tail of Kindness (April 2022) and Zuri the Zebra and the Rainbow Race for Kindness (July 2024). While Kinsey is not writing, she is playing Magic: The Gathering with her boyfriend and spending time with her friends and family.
Afterimages News
A shortened month, but a mighty one! Also, Michael McSweeney’s Dream Stories are being read and deliberated on…eyes on your inbox, writers. Expecting June & July publications for those accepted.
Extra Bits
Some teasers for new books will be arriving on our socials. Glass Labyrinth, a choose-your-own-adventure book of poetry by Hailey Spencer is our next book. We hope you make the right choices as you navigate…
A summer sale is approaching. Get your beach reads early. More on that soon.
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