Magra Books
0

All Events

Dennis Phillips at Effie St. Reading!
Mar
8
1:00 PM13:00

Dennis Phillips at Effie St. Reading!

  • 3018 Effie St Los Angeles, CA 90026 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS
The Cartographer's Lament
$19.00

Invitation from David Lloyd

Dear Friends,

After another hiatus, during which we were able to refurbish the back yard and make a yet more attractive space for our guests, the Effie Street reading series will resume March 8, 2026 at 1 pm, with poets Dennis Phillips and Rick Snyder. Light foods and drinks, alcoholic and not, will be served, as always.

Dennis Phillips was born in Los Angeles in 1951. He is the author of 20 books of poetry, most recently, The Cartographer’s Lament (Magra Books, 2025), Mappa Mundi (Talisman House, 2019), 17 Meditations on Time (Magra Books, 2021), and Sonnets (Magra Books, 2022). In 1998 he edited and wrote the introduction for a book on the early essays of James Joyce, Joyce on Ibsen (Green Integer). His novel, Hope, came out in 2007 (Green Integer). Phillips has translated or co-translated the works of Italian poets Milli Graffi and Susanna Rabitti. He is a professor in the department of Humanities and Sciences at Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena California, where he has been teaching literature and writing since 1979. 

Rick Snyder is the author of Here City (Parlor Press, 2021), Escape from Combray (Ugly Duckling, 2009), and six chapbooks. His poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in the Bennington Review, Fence, Hanging Loose, Lunch Break, and other journals. He currently lives in Long Beach, CA, and teaches in the classics department at the University of California, Irvine. For more information, see ricksnyderpoet.com.

In the event that it rains, or in the case of uncomfortable chill, we can move inside, so do come whatever the weather.

Parking may be easiest west of our home, up the hill on Redesdale, which runs between Berkeley Ave and Effie St.

Please feel free to forward this information to any individuals you think might be interested in this or future readings. We plan to host regularly again, with the usual open-air format, weather permitting.

Hope to see you 1 pm, Sunday March 8 at 3018 Effie Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026.

…

David 

View Event →
Magra Books on Panel for Translation and Publishing as Book Arts
Mar
7
1:30 PM13:30

Magra Books on Panel for Translation and Publishing as Book Arts

  • CSUN USU East Conference Center, Flintridge Room (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Panel Description

How does a book travel from one language to another, and what skills make that possible?

This panel brings together poets, translators, and independent publishers to explore translation and publishing as creative, material, and collaborative practices central to bookmaking. Featuring Paul Vangelisti (Magra Books), Renata Morresi (Arcipelago itaca), and Ramón García, the conversation will consider translation not just as linguistic transfer, but as editing, curating, designing, and circulating texts across communities and geographies.

What does it mean to “make” a book in more than one language? How do small presses shape literary exchange? What craft decisions shape the life of a translated work?

Moderated by Sean Pessin, this discussion will illuminate the behind-the-scenes labor that transforms manuscripts into books and books into cross-cultural conversations.

Ideal for writers, editors, translators, and anyone interested in translation!

Register here!
View Event →
Dec
13
8:00 PM20:00
Reading

Pretty Punks: A Launch Party & Reading

Hosted by Dylan Fahoome

with

  • Temperance Agamohammadi

  • Emily Daniel

  • Mira Cameron

  • Cecily Chen

  • Colin Lavery

featuring

Featured
Jessie McCarty.png
Jessie McCarty

Jessie McCarty is an Irish-American writer from Shreveport, Louisiana. Their poetry, in English and Gaeilge, uses images of the Louisiana South and Midwest as memory tools. Their poems can be read in Dublin’s Bog Bodies Press, Sarka Journal, The Minnesota Review, Charm School, The Documentarian, Don’t Submit Lit, Thick Press, and more.

Jessie’s writing has been published as research chapbooks for the following theatrical productions: The Sarcoma Cycle (11:11 Press, 2024), the Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions: A Homo-Turgy ode to Larry Mitchell (Jack Bowes, 2024), and Perforated Play (Dir. Miles Sennett, 2022). They have taught writing at Index Space, The Center for Fiction, and more. Previous collections include The Bovine Huff (Track and Field Studios, 2021) and the self-published artist book, Our Fairy Diary (2023). Their poem, “Loving you is ordinary heaven,” was featured in Only Poems Daily under Best New Poems in August 2025. They were nominated as Best New Poetry Book by a Chicagoan and Best New Poet for the Chicago Reader’s Best of Arts and Culture in 2022, for their work, The Bovine Huff.

Jessie McCarty has a BFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They hold certifications in systems migration and rare book cataloging (DCRMB).

Pretty Punks: Poems, Portrait & Play
Pretty Punks: Poems, Portrait & Play
$19.00
Event Flyer
View Event →
Magra Books @ Beyond Baroque
Dec
6
2:30 PM14:30

Magra Books @ Beyond Baroque

  • Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The series’ debut, Saturday, December 6, at 2pm, at Beyond Baroque, will highlight readings and discussion by Phillips, Mohr and McCarty, as well as introductory comments by Magra’s editors, S.E. Pessin and Paul Vangelisti. Books will be available for signing by the authors.

View Event →
Magra Books @ North Fig Bookshop
Dec
5
5:00 PM17:00
Reading

Magra Books @ North Fig Bookshop

Come enjoy an intimate reading from three fabulous Magra personæ!

Come enjoy an intimate reading from three fabulous Magra personæ!

RSVP

Readers

Featured
Paul Vangelisti.png
Paul Vangelisti

Paul Vangelisti is the author of more than thirty books of poetry and a noted translator from Italian. Some recent books of poems are Solitude (2015), Border Music (2016), and Just in Time (2024).

Dennis Phillips.png
Dennis Phillips

Dennis Phillips (born 1951) is a U.S. poet & novelist. He co-edited the poetry-section of the New Review of Literature, was a founding editor of Littoral Books, the first Book Review Editor of the magazine Sulfur and the L.A. Weekly's first poetry-editor, as well as a director of the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center. Phillips attended the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with Clayton Eshleman. He then attended graduate school at New York University. He is a professor in the Humanities and Science Department at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, the city where he lives with his wife, artist Courtney Gregg, and their daughter.

Jessie McCarty.png
Jessie McCarty

Jessie McCarty is an Irish-American writer from Shreveport, Louisiana. Their poetry, in English and Gaeilge, uses images of the Louisiana South and Midwest as memory tools. Their poems can be read in Dublin’s Bog Bodies Press, Sarka Journal, The Minnesota Review, Charm School, The Documentarian, Don’t Submit Lit, Thick Press, and more.

Jessie’s writing has been published as research chapbooks for the following theatrical productions: The Sarcoma Cycle (11:11 Press, 2024), the Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions: A Homo-Turgy ode to Larry Mitchell (Jack Bowes, 2024), and Perforated Play (Dir. Miles Sennett, 2022). They have taught writing at Index Space, The Center for Fiction, and more. Previous collections include The Bovine Huff (Track and Field Studios, 2021) and the self-published artist book, Our Fairy Diary (2023). Their poem, “Loving you is ordinary heaven,” was featured in Only Poems Daily under Best New Poems in August 2025. They were nominated as Best New Poetry Book by a Chicagoan and Best New Poet for the Chicago Reader’s Best of Arts and Culture in 2022, for their work, The Bovine Huff.

Jessie McCarty has a BFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They hold certifications in systems migration and rare book cataloging (DCRMB).

Host

Featured
Sean Floral Headshot b&w.png
S. E. Pessin

S.E. Pessin is adjunct faculty at California State University, Northridge, where he is the faculty advisor for Northridge Review, the campus’s oldest literary magazine, and director of the Book Arts Lab in the Department of English; a Ph.D. student in Information Studies at UCLA and the Associate Director of Publishing and Pedagogy for the UCLA Library, Ethics, and Justice Lab; and a humanities professor at Colburn School. Pessin’s research interests include pedagogy, digital humanities, book history, book arts, publishing and distribution, and the relationship between ‘the public’ and print culture. His chapbook of TED Talk eavesdropping poems, Thank You for Listening, was published by Mindmade Books in 2017; his fairy tale tryptic, Three Stories, was published by Magra Books in 2021.

His work is always fabulous and strange and queer.

download the flyer
View Event →
Jessie McCarty in Conversation with Northridge Review
Sep
24
4:00 PM16:00

Jessie McCarty in Conversation with Northridge Review

Event Details

September 24, 2025
4pm–5pm Pacific
ZOOM: 862 6128 1695

Join Northridge Review, CSUN’s oldest literary magazine, as they virtually welcome Jessie McCarty to discuss writing, archiving, and producing literary culture.

Featured
Jessie McCarty.png
Jessie McCarty

Jessie McCarty is an Irish-American writer from Shreveport, Louisiana. Their poetry, in English and Gaeilge, uses images of the Louisiana South and Midwest as memory tools. Their poems can be read in Dublin’s Bog Bodies Press, Sarka Journal, The Minnesota Review, Charm School, The Documentarian, Don’t Submit Lit, Thick Press, and more.

Jessie’s writing has been published as research chapbooks for the following theatrical productions: The Sarcoma Cycle (11:11 Press, 2024), the Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions: A Homo-Turgy ode to Larry Mitchell (Jack Bowes, 2024), and Perforated Play (Dir. Miles Sennett, 2022). They have taught writing at Index Space, The Center for Fiction, and more. Previous collections include The Bovine Huff (Track and Field Studios, 2021) and the self-published artist book, Our Fairy Diary (2023). Their poem, “Loving you is ordinary heaven,” was featured in Only Poems Daily under Best New Poems in August 2025. They were nominated as Best New Poetry Book by a Chicagoan and Best New Poet for the Chicago Reader’s Best of Arts and Culture in 2022, for their work, The Bovine Huff.

Jessie McCarty has a BFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They hold certifications in systems migration and rare book cataloging (DCRMB).

Download the flyer
View Event →
Music and Poetry: Paul Vangelisti & Vincent Katz
Mar
31
8:00 PM20:00

Music and Poetry: Paul Vangelisti & Vincent Katz

Celebrate these two lyrical traditions with readings from new works by Paul Vangelisti and Vincent Katz.

Vangelisti’s reading will be accompanied by performances from jazz ensemble Robyn’s Nest, featuring Robyn Javier, trombone; Mark Massey, piano; Jeff Kay, trumpet; Jeff Takaguchi, bass; Kendall Kaye, drums; and vocalist Polly Geller. Katz’s reading will be accompanied by Colburn School musicians Gabriel Crist, piano; and Esther Zhang, cello.

Books will be available for purchase.

This event is part of Colburn School's Poetry Week, sponsored by the Library Learning Lab, and produced by Sean Pessin.

Download the Flyer
Featured
Paul Vangelisti.png
Paul Vangelisti

Paul Vangelisti is the author of more than thirty books of poetry and a noted translator from Italian. Some recent books of poems are Solitude (2015), Border Music (2016), and Just in Time (2024).

View Event →
What Books Press and Friends: A Celebration of Small Presses from LA and Beyond
Mar
27
6:00 PM18:00

What Books Press and Friends: A Celebration of Small Presses from LA and Beyond

The Schedule

6:20 - 6:45: 7.13 Books
6:45 - 7:10: Magra Books [featuring Bill Mohr and Dennis Phillips
7:10 - 7:35: El Martillo Press
7:35 - 8:00: Beyond Baroque

8:00 - 8:20: break

8:20 - 8:45: Tía Chucha Press
8:45. - 9:10: Walton Well
9:10 - 9:35: What Books / Giant Claw 
9:35 - 10:00: book signing, etc.

Download the Flyer

Event Photos

Featuring

Featured
Bill Mohr.png
Bill Mohr

Bill Mohr is a professor emeritus at California State University, Long Beach, where he has taught since 2006, after receiving his Ph.D. in Literature from the University of California, San Diego in 2004. In 2011, the University of Iowa Press published Hold-Outs: The Los Angeles Poetry Renaissance 1948-1992. His reviews, articles, and commentary have also appeared in the Bloomsbury Handbook of Contemporary American Poetry, Poetry Flash, Journal of Beat Studies, Chicago Review, William Carlos Williams Review, Poetry Project Newsletter, Hungry Mind Review, New Review of Literature, OR, Los Angeles Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, and Beyond Baroque NEW.

Mohr has a chapter on L.A. poetry forthcoming in a volume entitled “L.A.: A Literary History” from Cambridge University Press in 2026 as well as an essay forthcoming in a CUP volume celebrating the centenary of Allen Ginsberg’s birth. Prior to his career as an academic, Mohr made his living at various occupations, including working as a blueprint machine operator and typesetter. During this time, he was the editor and publisher of Momentum Press, which he founded in 1974 (www.koankinship.com)

In addition to being translated into Spanish, Italian, Croatian, and Japanese, Mohr’s poems have appeared in over 20 anthologies. Mohr’s most recent full-length collection of poems is a bilingual edition, The Headwaters of Nirvana / Los Manantiales del Nirvana (What Books, Los Angeles, 2018). What Books will publish Remiges: Collected Longer Poems in the fall 2026.

Mohr has been a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Institute and been honored with Beyond Baroque’s George Drury Smith Award. His literary and editorial archives are at the Archive for New Poetry in the Special Collections Library at the University of California, San Diego.

Dennis Phillips.png
Dennis Phillips

Dennis Phillips (born 1951) is a U.S. poet & novelist. He co-edited the poetry-section of the New Review of Literature, was a founding editor of Littoral Books, the first Book Review Editor of the magazine Sulfur and the L.A. Weekly's first poetry-editor, as well as a director of the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center. Phillips attended the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with Clayton Eshleman. He then attended graduate school at New York University. He is a professor in the Humanities and Science Department at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, the city where he lives with his wife, artist Courtney Gregg, and their daughter.

View Event →
Dec
14
to Jan 1

Poets House 29th Showcase Exhibition

Magra Books is proud to feature the following titles, published in 2022–2023 for the 29th Poets House Showcase Exhibition:

View Event →
The Beyond Gala
Nov
2
8:30 PM20:30

The Beyond Gala

Magra author Douglas Messerli (On Marriage, 2018) is being recognized for distinguished service by Beyond Baroque at their annual Beyond Gala, alongside Sesshu Foster, Ashaki M. Jackson, Exene Cervenka, and John Doe in a celebration of the literary arts of Southern California.

Paul Vangelisti will offer a speech in recognition of Messerli.

Event Recording

View Event →
Jul
5
6:30 PM18:30

Join a discussion about international small press publishing

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.

View Event →
May
8
7:00 PM19:00

Just in Time: Paul Vangelisti, Polly Geller, and Robyn's Nest — Poetry, Jazz, and Small Press Publishing

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.

View Event →
Apr
6
to May 31

Poets House 28th Showcase Exhibition: 2020–2021 (The Pandemic Years)

Magra Books are on exhibition at Poets House!

From the Poets House event page:

The 28th Poets House Showcase features over 2,600 books from more than 600 different presses and publishers. For nearly three decades, the Showcase has helped to keep our collection current and relevant, building one of the most extensive collections of poetry in our nation—an expansive record of the poetry of our time, freely available and open to all.

The exhibition features our following titles:

A full catalog of participating presses and titles is available on their website.

View Event →
Dec
10
5:00 PM17:00

Magra Books at North Fig Bookshop

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.

View Event →
Jun
29
6:30 PM18:30

Voci/cancellazioni. Poesia, editoria e traduzione

Featuring Paul Vangelisti, Fabio Orecchini and Lorenzo Mari

When we talk about poetry, publishing and translation, both nationally and internationally, reasoning about “voices” and “cancellations” is the order of the day. The meeting with the authors and translators Paul Vangelisti, Fabio Orecchini and Lorenzo Mari will focus on some issues related to the publishing and translation of poetry starting from two texts that, incidentally, are entitled precisely to “voices” and “cancellations”.

VOCI (Argolibri, 2023) is the masterpiece of an author born in Conflenti, in the province of Catanzaro, and naturalized Argentine, Antonio Porchia (1885-1963). It is a collection of very short texts that oscillate between the form of the aphorism and that of the lyrical fragment, such as: «I would like to be part of something, so as not to be part of everything». The book is translated by Andrea Franzoni for the “Talee” series by Argolibri, which Franzoni directs together with Fabio Orecchini; Franzoni has also translated Alejandra Pizarnik, an Argentine poet, who wrote about Porchia (L’altra voce 1955-1972, Giometti & Antonello, 2019): «I believe that Porchia is the purest writer in Argentina. He managed to restore words to their primordial mission: that of illuminating the essence of the human being, like Blake, Hölderlin or Rimbaud».

CANCELLATIONS (Magra Books, 2023) is a booklet by Lorenzo Mari, translated and edited by Paul Vangelisti. The selection of texts comes from the book Soggetti a cancellazioni (Arcipelago Itaca, 2022), a book in which the author experiments with various codes, including the QR code, and with the creation of virtual reality environments.

The meeting is also part of the California Rare Book School Italy 2023, a tour of meetings and presentations for UCLA librarians and students on book culture in Italy.

Hosted at MODO INFOSHOP.

•••

Lorenzo Mari is a teacher, translator and poet. In 2022 he published the book of poetry Soggetti a cancellazione (ed. Arcipelago Itaca). He has translated from Spanish (César Vallejo, Trilce, Argolibri, 2021) and from English (Joshua Clover, Riot sciopero riot. Una nuova epoca di rivolta, Meltemi, 2023).

Fabio Orecchini is a poet, artist and permaculture artist. In recent years he has been involved in research on a possible form of underground theatre, working on therioscriture and interspecies imaginaries, in which poetic writing, performance and visual and sound research can coexist. He also edits the Talee and Fuori catalogo series for the Argolibri publishing house.

Paul Vangelisti is a poet, editor and translator of much Italian poetry from the second half of the twentieth century (from Amelia Rosselli to Adriano Spatola, from Corrado Costa to Giulia Niccolai). He recently published Fragment Science / Tecnici del bianco, in collaboration with the artist William Xerra (Edizioni del Verri, 2023). For years, he has co-organized the California Rare Book School Italy

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

View Event →
Jun
27
6:00 PM18:00

Magra Books with Argolibri

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.

View Event →
SMOL FAIR 2022
Mar
19
to Mar 26

SMOL FAIR 2022

https://www.smolfair.com/

SMOL Fair is an alternative book fair which will be 'live' from March 19-26, 2022.  In addition to featuring small presses, we will be organizing readings and opportunities for readers to connect with authors and publishers.

The SMOL Fair is being organized by Jesi Buell, Mandana Chaffa, Wendy Fox, Annelyse Gelman, Miette Gillette, Lori Hettler, and Kamden Hilliard.  Thanks to past contributor Jason Teal.

View Event →
Jan
26
1:00 PM13:00

Dennis Phillips and Rocío Carlos at Effie Street Readings

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.

View Event →
Aug
3
to Jul 31

Magra Books in Folding Days at Eightfold Coffee

Folding Days is a retail installation of independent publications highlighting local small presses and makers. It acts as a small survey of recently printed works that focus on design, community, art, and Los Angeles. Bringing these projects together highlights the variety and richness of the creative community in LA.

A project from Days: an LA-based experimental retailer specializing in curating independent projects around a conceptual theme, hosting thoughtful events, and providing support and feedback to makers. Days presents a flexible, forward-thinking model of retail that is not tied to one particular location or idea. This instance is located in Eightfold Coffee.

Featuring projects from: Actual Source, Akina Cox, Autre Magazine, Bullhorn Press, Carla, Co-Conspirator Press, Curious Publishing, Coloured Publishing, Dirty Looks, Fulcrum Press, Golden Spike Press, Hat & Beard Press, Hesse Press, Insert Blanc Press, Inventory Press, The Kingsboro Press, Llano del Rio Collective, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, Love's Remedies, Magra Books, Mouthfeel Magazine, Native Strategies, Nonsensical Press, Norma Studio, Paper Chase Press, Sibba Hartunian, Small Spells, Sming Sming books, Talis, Tan and Loose Press, Thick Press, Tiny Splendor Press, Todd Lerew, Use All Five, Wendy's Subway, Wendy's Subway and Press Press, Women's Center for Creative Work, X Artists Books, X-TRA Magazine

View Event →
Jul
21
11:00 AM11:00

Magra Books at LITLIT, Day 2

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.

View Event →
Jul
20
11:00 AM11:00

Magra Books at LITLIT, Day 1

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.

View Event →
Jun
20
6:30 PM18:30

LA POESIA E IL SUP ALTRO

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.

View Event →