Featuring

Poetry by Paul Vangelisti
Music by Robyn’s Nest Quintet
with Vocalist Polly Geller

$10 tickets are available at the door.

Books will be available for purchase at the Beyond Baroque Bookstore after the event for $20.

L’autrice e poeta Renata Morresi, curatrice della collana Lacustrine per Arcipelago Itaca, converserà con il redattore capo Paul Vangelisti e il redattore generale Sean Pessin sulla storia e il futuro di Magra Books.

Author and poet Renata Morresi, editor of the Lacustrine series for Arcipelago Itaca, will converse with editor-in-chief Paul Vangelisti and editor-at-large Sean Pessin about the history and future of Magra Books.

To commemorate the publication of Just in Time by Lithic Press, Paul Vangelisti will read poetry, with Polly Geller contributing vocal performance, and Robyn’s Nest, led by Dr. Robyn Javier, providing music. A conversation moderated by Sean Pessin about writing and making art — including publishing books with Magra —  will follow.

Join us at North Figueroa Bookshop, Sunday afternoon, December 10 at 5pm., to celebrate Magra Books 2023 publications. We will feature Lorenzo Mari’s Cancellations, Bill Mohr’s Displacements and Amy Allara’s Eight, with in-person readings and book signings by Mohr, and Magra authors Avery Burns, David Lloyd, Dennis Phillips and Martha Ronk also featured.

Magra Book editors Sean Pessin and Paul Vangelisti will be on hand to introduce and discuss their project.

Intervengono Paul Vangelisti, Fabio Orecchini e Lorenzo Mari

Se si parla di poesia, editoria e traduzione, a livello tanto nazionale quanto internazionale, ragionare di “voci” e “cancellazioni” è all’ordine del giorno. L’incontro con gli autori e traduttori Paul Vangelisti, Fabio Orecchini e Lorenzo Mari metterà a fuoco alcune questioni relative all’editoria e alla traduzione di poesia partendo da due testi che, incidentalmente, sono intitolati appunto alle “voci” e alle “cancellazioni”.

VOCI (Argolibri, 2023) è il capolavoro dei un autore nato a Conflenti, in provincia di Catanzaro, e naturalizzato argentino, Antonio Porchia (1885-1963). Si tratta di una raccolta di testi brevissimi che oscillano tra la forma dell’aforisma e quella del frammento lirico, come ad esempio: «Vorrei essere parte di qualcosa, per non essere parte di tutto». Il libro è tradotto da Andrea Franzoni per la collana “Talee” di Argolibri, che Franzoni dirige insieme a Fabio Orecchini; Franzoni ha tradotto anche Alejandra Pizarnik, poetessa argentina, che di Porchia (L’altra voce 1955-1972, Giometti & Antonello, 2019) ha scritto: «Credo che Porchia sia lo scrittore più puro d’Argentina. È riuscito a restituire alle parole la loro missione primordiale: quella di illuminare l’essenza dell’essere umano, come Blake, Hölderlin o Rimbaud».

CANCELLATIONS (Magra Books, 2023) è una plaquette di Lorenzo Mari, tradotta e curata da Paul Vangelisti. La selezione dei testi proviene dal libro Soggetti a cancellazione (Arcipelago Itaca, 2022), libro in cui l’autore sperimenta con vari codici, tra cui quello del QR code, e con la creazione di ambienti di realtà virtuale.

L’incontro è anche parte del California Rare Book School Italy 2023, un tour di incontri e presentazioni destinato a bibliotecari e studenti dell'UCLA sulla cultura del libro in territorio italiano.

Ospitato presso MODO INFOSHOP.

•••

Lorenzo Mari è insegnante, traduttore e poeta. Nel 2022 ha pubblicato il libro di poesia Soggetti a cancellazione (ed. Arcipelago Itaca). Ha tradotto dallo spagnolo (César Vallejo, Trilce, Argolibri, 2021) e dall’inglese (Joshua Clover, Riot sciopero riot. Una nuova epoca di rivolte, Meltemi, 2023).

Fabio Orecchini è poeta, artista e permacultore. Negli ultimi anni è impegnato in una ricerca su una possibile forma di teatro sotterraneo, lavorando su terioscritture e immaginari interspecie, in cui far convivere scrittura poetica, performance e ricerca visiva e sonora. Cura inoltre le collane Talee e Fuori catalogo per la casa editrice Argolibri.

Paul Vangelisti è poeta, editore e traduttore di molta poesia italiana del secondo Novecento (da Amelia Rosselli a Adriano Spatola, da Corrado Costa a Giulia Niccolai). Ha recentemente pubblicato Fragment Science / Tecnici del bianco, in collaborazione con l’artista William Xerra (Edizioni del Verri, 2023). Da anni, co-organizza il California Rare Book School Italy

Visit Magra Books on exhibition at the CUTCOPYPASTE 2023 Zine Potluck!

The books are available for purchase via QR code.

This event is hosted by Singapore Art Book Fair (SGABF), Thing Books, and Temasek Polytechnic.

Visit Magra Books on exhibition at the CUTCOPYPASTE 2023 Zine Potluck!

The books are available for purchase via QR code.

This event is hosted by Singapore Art Book Fair (SGABF), Thing Books, and Temasek Polytechnic.

Visit Magra Books on exhibition at the CUTCOPYPASTE 2023 Zine Potluck!

The books are available for purchase via QR code.

This event is hosted by Singapore Art Book Fair (SGABF), Thing Books, and Temasek Polytechnic.

Lorenzo Mari, with Fabio Orrecchini & Andrea Franzoni from Argolibri, and with Paul Vangelisti & Sean Pessin from Magra Books discuss small press publishing and the labor of translation at La Confraternita dell’Uva, a cozy bookshop itself named after a translation the John Fante work.

In conjunction with California Rare Book School.

Dennis Phillips has just published a new volume of poems, Mappa Mundi with Talisman House and is the author of over a dozen other books of poetry, most recently Desert Sequence (Magra Books, 2016), Measures (Talisman, 2013) and Navigation: Selected Poems, 1985–2010 (Seismicity, 2011). His work, both poetry and commentary, regularly appears in various national and local poetry journals. Phillips is also the author of the novel, Hope (2007).

Rocío Carlos is the author of Coyolxhauqui, Los Angeles (Archetype Press, 2012), A World Below (Mindmade books, 2014), and (the other house) (Civil Coping Mechanisms 2019) and co-author of ex.her.pt (wirecutter collective, 2016). Her poems have appeared in Chaparral, Angel City Review, The Spiral Orb and Cultural Weekly.Her work was included in LACMA’s Pacific Standard Time exhibition, Those of This America. With the poet Terry Wolverton, she participated in the DIS.ARTICULATIONS project through Entropy Magazine. Her collaborative book, Attendance, with the poet Rachel Mcleod Kaminer appeared with The Operating System in 2018. She is co-publisher of the Wirecutter Collective and is currently completing a book entitled (the other house). She was selected as a 2003 PEN Center Emerging Voices fellow. 

Please email in advance for the address.

Join Magra Books as we table at the Small Press Book Festival!

Organized by Beyond Baroque, the Culver City Arts Foundation and Vagabond Books with the Wende Museum of the Cold War.

LITLIT, or The Little Literary Fair, is a two-day book fair celebrating independent booksellers, book publishers, and book makers from Los Angeles and beyond. The book fair, free and open to the public, will take place from 20 – 21 July, 11 am – 6 pm at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles. Hosted by the Los Angeles Review of Books and Hauser & Wirth Publishers, LITLIT brings together the eclectic contemporary in publishing, creating a unique opportunity for independent publishers to offer a range of books, while sharing their missions with Angelenos of all stripes. Presented in partnership with the 2019 LARB Publishing Workshop, LITLIT is an exciting addition to the landscape of summer activities for the culturally curious. Programming throughout the weekend will include interviews and panel discussions with publishers, authors, artists, and community organizers. Participating publishers, booksellers, and vendors include: Angel City Press, Artbook, BookSwell Counter Culture Coffee, DoppelHouse Press, Gayettes, Harvard Square Editions, Hauser & Wirth Publishers, Hay House, Inlandia Institute, Insert Blanc Press, Interlude Press, Inventory Press, Jaded Ibis Press, Kaya Press, LARB Books, LARB/ USC Publishing Workshop, The Los Angeles Press, Los Angeles Public Library, Magra Books, Not a Cult, Nouvella, PEN America, Prospect Park Books, Rare Bird, Red Hen Press, Tia Chucha Press & Centro Cultural, Tsehai Publishers & Harriet Tubman Press, Two Lines Press & Center for the Art of Translation, Unnamed Press, Vagabond Books, Words Uncaged, World Stage Press & Community Lit Initiative, Writing Workshops Los Angeles, and X Artists’ Books.   Schedule of Events Sat, 20 Jul 11 am - Panel: Arts & Books Join artists, publishers, and vendors as they define what makes an art book. Participants include Dagny Corcoran of Art Catalogues, artist and X Artists' Books co-founder Alexandra Grant, artist Paul McCarthy, and Dr. Michaela Unterdörfer of Hauser & Wirth Publishers. 1 pm - Panel: Activism In Words An exploration of how activism and publishing work together. Participants include Jessica M. Wilson Cárdenas of Tia Chucha, Dawn Finley of the Feminist Library On Wheels, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy of Words Uncaged, Tobias Tubbs of Words Uncaged, and Elias Wondimu of Tsehai Publishers. 4 pm - Conversation: Absurdity & Writing Writers Melissa Broder and Alissa Nutting discuss how absurdity in their writing creates humor – and drama. Sun, 21 Jul 4 pm - Conversation: Latinx/LA Poetics Poets Yesika Salgado and Vickie Vértiz explore Latinx poetry from – and for – Los Angeles and beyond. – No booking is necessary. This event is free to attend and open to the public.

LITLIT, or The Little Literary Fair, is a two-day book fair celebrating independent booksellers, book publishers, and book makers from Los Angeles and beyond. The book fair, free and open to the public, will take place from 20 – 21 July, 11 am – 6 pm at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles. Hosted by the Los Angeles Review of Books and Hauser & Wirth Publishers, LITLIT brings together the eclectic contemporary in publishing, creating a unique opportunity for independent publishers to offer a range of books, while sharing their missions with Angelenos of all stripes. Presented in partnership with the 2019 LARB Publishing Workshop, LITLIT is an exciting addition to the landscape of summer activities for the culturally curious. Programming throughout the weekend will include interviews and panel discussions with publishers, authors, artists, and community organizers. Participating publishers, booksellers, and vendors include: Angel City Press, Artbook, BookSwell Counter Culture Coffee, DoppelHouse Press, Gayettes, Harvard Square Editions, Hauser & Wirth Publishers, Hay House, Inlandia Institute, Insert Blanc Press, Interlude Press, Inventory Press, Jaded Ibis Press, Kaya Press, LARB Books, LARB/ USC Publishing Workshop, The Los Angeles Press, Los Angeles Public Library, Magra Books, Not a Cult, Nouvella, PEN America, Prospect Park Books, Rare Bird, Red Hen Press, Tia Chucha Press & Centro Cultural, Tsehai Publishers & Harriet Tubman Press, Two Lines Press & Center for the Art of Translation, Unnamed Press, Vagabond Books, Words Uncaged, World Stage Press & Community Lit Initiative, Writing Workshops Los Angeles, and X Artists’ Books.   Schedule of Events Sat, 20 Jul 11 am - Panel: Arts & Books Join artists, publishers, and vendors as they define what makes an art book. Participants include Dagny Corcoran of Art Catalogues, artist and X Artists' Books co-founder Alexandra Grant, artist Paul McCarthy, and Dr. Michaela Unterdörfer of Hauser & Wirth Publishers. 1 pm - Panel: Activism In Words An exploration of how activism and publishing work together. Participants include Jessica M. Wilson Cárdenas of Tia Chucha, Dawn Finley of the Feminist Library On Wheels, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy of Words Uncaged, Tobias Tubbs of Words Uncaged, and Elias Wondimu of Tsehai Publishers. 4 pm - Conversation: Absurdity & Writing Writers Melissa Broder and Alissa Nutting discuss how absurdity in their writing creates humor – and drama. Sun, 21 Jul 4 pm - Conversation: Latinx/LA Poetics Poets Yesika Salgado and Vickie Vértiz explore Latinx poetry from – and for – Los Angeles and beyond. – No booking is necessary. This event is free to attend and open to the public.

La poesia e il suo altro è un ciclo di incontri e reading di e su la poesia contemporanea. Di volta in volta alcuni poeti, in dialogo con critici e docenti dell’Università, si incontrano per leggere i propri testi e parlare del proprio lavoro alla luce di alcune parole chiave, mettendo alla prova di volta in volta la capacità della lingua poetica di parlare al suo altro e intercettare importanti aspetti dell’esperienza contemporanea (Filosofia, Gender e Potere, Traduzione, Politica, Ecologia e natura, Città, Arte e Nuovi Media).

In Poesia e e nuovi media, Paul Vangelisti e Dennis Phillips, con Italo Testa (Università di Parma), dialogano sul legame tra poesia e nuovi media nel loro percorso creativo.

Paul Vangelisti è l’autore di più di trenta libri di poesia ed è un rinomato traduttore dall’Italiano. Nel 2015 ha curato l’antologia di poesie di Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones, “S.O.S.: Poems 1961-2013”, e alla fine dello stesso anno è uscito “Solitude”, un libro di sonetti tradotto da Nanni Cagnone; e subito dopo una nuova collezione di poesie, “Border Music” (2016). Per la traduzione “War Variations” [“Variazioni belliche”] di Amelia Rosselli ha vinto il Premio Flaiano (2006) e il PEN USA Translation Award nello stesso anno. Nel 2010, per le sue traduzioni di Adriano Spatola, raccolte in “The Position of Things: Collected Poems, 1961-1992”, ha vinto il premio per la traduzione dell’Academy of American Poets.

Dennis Phillips è l’autore di 17 libri di poesia; tra i più recenti: “Desert Sequence” (Magra Editions, 2016), “Measures” (Talisman House Publishers, 2013) e “Navigation:
Selected Poems, 1985 – 2010” (Otis Books/Seismicity Editions, 2011). Il suo lavoro, sia poetico che di commento, appare con regolarità in diverse riviste di poesia nazionali e locali. Le sue due prime traduzioni, di lavori di Milli Graffi e Susanna Rabitti (quest’ultima con Paul Vangelisti), sono uscite nel 2018 per Marga Books. Nel 1998 ha editato e scritto l’introduzione per un libro sui saggi giovanili di James Joyce, “Joyce on Ibsen”. Il suo romanzo, “Hope”, è uscito nel 2007 (Green Integer). Phillips è un professore presso il Department of Humanities and Sciences at Art Center College of Design, dove insegna letteratura e scrittura dal 1979.

La poesia e il suo altro è un progetto dell’associazione Vita Activa (apsvitaactiva@gmail.com) finanziato con il contributo dell’Università degli Studi di Parma.

Join Magra Books, Half Cracked Press, and Every Other as we table at this maker fair!

Join Magra Books, Half Cracked Press, and Every Other as we table at this maker fair!

Martha Ronk has published 11 books of poetry, most recently the photography-focused Ocular Proof (Omnidawn, 2016), Transfer of Qualities, prose poems (named to long list for the National Book Award) and National Poetry Series selection Vertigo, indebted to W.G. Sebald. Her most recent chapbook, The Unfamiliar Familiar (Magra Books, 2017), addresses Los Angeles. Recent poems appear in Volt, Lana Turner and Conjunctions. She lives in Los Angeles.

Paul Vangelisti has published more than 30 books of poetry and is a noted translator from Italian. In 2015 he edited Amiri Baraka’s S.O.S.: Poems 1961 – 2013, for Atlantic-Grove, and in the same year his book of sonnets, Solitude, appeared in a bilingual edition in Italy. In 2016 a new collection of poems, Border Music, was published by Talisman House. His translation of Adriano Spatola’s The Position of Things: Collected Poems, 1961 – 1992, received the Academy of American Poets translation prize in 2010. Vangelisti lives and works in Los Angeles.

Please join us Sunday, January 29, from 4 to 5pm, at the Poetic Research Bureau, in celebrating the inaugural season of titles from the independent publisher, Magra Books. Reading from their new books will be Martha Ronk, The Unfamiliar Familiar, and Dennis Phillips, Desert Sequence. Part of the presentation will be a memorial tribute to Ray DiPalma (1943-2016), whose For a Curved Surface is also one of Magra’s initial offerings.

Based in Los Angeles and Tuscany, Magra Books is a series of chapbooks, printed in editions of 300 copies, featuring unique works by important writers. Each volume, typically 32 pages in length, presents writers who are up to the all-encompassing challenge of producing work that strives to make “news that stays news.” Writers who are passionate about language, language that knows no borders.

Hosting the event will be Paul Vangelisti and Sean Pessin, part of Magra Book’s editorial staff.