Alan Squire Publishing

A Small Press With Big Ideas

OPEN SUBMISSIONS ARE HERE! ASP is hosting its first open submissions period January 1st @ 12 AM-31st @ 11:59 PM. We are accepting full-length poetry collections and novels. All submissions will go through our submittable (link below) and will cost $10 in order to cover reader's fees and the submittable account. We can't wait to read your manuscripts! Sign up for our mailing list at the bottom of the page for updates and additional info. Manuscripts selected for publication will receive the attentions of ASP's excellent in-house editorial team, the support of the ASP staff in publicity and … [Read more...]

Don't let a Poet Burn Down Your House: A Cautionary Tale for the Holidays By Rose Solari WHETHER YOU LOVE IT OR LOATHE IT, there’s no denying that the holiday party season is all-consuming. Hosts everywhere order mistletoe, peruse catering menus, and search for just the right poet to read her work at their swank event. What’s that, you say? Never heard of that last one? Indeed, of all your artist friends, a poet pal might be last one you’d think to ask to recite a few pieces at your holiday shindig. Musicians of all stripes are pressed into service this time of year, lending their flutes, … [Read more...]

An Interview with Mark A. Pritchard Mark A. Pritchard grew up in the New Forest, Southern England, a village with more sheep than people. He is the eldest of four siblings, whom he assures are recovering well. Mark holds a degree in drama from King Alfred’s College, Winchester. Tired of suffering Mark’s essays, the Head of Drama suggested he try a screen play as his dissertation. Words magically ceased to be mortal enemies and he has been captivated by story telling ever since. Rose Solari discovered him at the Oxford Literary ‘Fringe Festival’ in 2008 reading from his then work in … [Read more...]

Notes from the Personal Journal of James J. Patterson (On Joanna Biggar) At our October book launch, James J. Patterson introduced Joanna Biggar in a way only he could pull off, with passages from his personal journal. ASP’s Fall Book Launch Party took place on October 10, 2019 at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD. There James J. Patterson was giving the lofty task of introducing his mentor, Joanna Biggar, whose novel Melanie's Song was debuting that night— its predecessor That Paris Year was among the first books published by ASP ten years ago. The evening was also, in many ways, a … [Read more...]

Escaping the Fat Man by Joanna Biggar "To say that the Gao jail was notorious is an understatement. It was a spot we had no intention of visiting. Yet, in the heat of mid-day, there we were, sweating inside the interior of its relatively cool cement walls...Watching those ahead of us beg, grovel, and attempt to pay their way out of their difficulties was not reassuring. Watching a prison guard beat until bloody two beautiful young Tuareg men in blue robes was positively terrifying." IT BEGAN, OF COURSE, WITH A FRENCHMAN. While living in Ghana in the 1970’s with my husband and three young … [Read more...]

Two Poems by Reuben Jackson Kelly Recalls 1963 I still call The year 1963 Season of Nightmares After Medgar Evers Was killed I Would lie awake And wait for My uncle Joe To get home Safely he and My Aunt Blanche Had the same Carport Mr. Evers Had I know Because I read The story concerning His assassination over And over in Ebony magazine even When he my Uncle was safely Seated on the Couch I could Not sleep because I now knew That we were Hated for being Who we were And are then The four little Girls in Birmingham Died in that Bombing who will Protect us I Asked the moon On more … [Read more...]

Shanghaied By The Past By Linda Watanabe McFerrin SHANGHAIED BY THE PAST appears in Navigating the Divide (ASP 2019) SOME CALL SHANGHAI THE PEARL OF THE ORIENT. And, in many ways, it is—organic, iridescent, a nacreous gemstone wrapped around a suffering center stuffed into the belly button of China. Behind it, China’s umbilicus, the great Yangtze, crawls through the fat middle of the country all the way from Tibet. Shanghai is young as great cities go. A murky backwater for centuries, its origins as a cosmopolitan center are rooted in the 1843 Treaty of Nanjing and trade concessions … [Read more...]

Love Poem by Elizabeth Hazen I love you changes me into a tree falling after erosion has its say. This process does not simply take away the cliff’s edge— it creates new space, frees me from fear of stasis. It tells me I’m still young enough to be surprised. I first believed the tree was dead, but months later it blossomed, this emblem of possibility prostrate across our path, this tangle of limbs like a castaway clawing her way back from the sea. "Love Poem" appears in Hazen's new collection Girls Like Us ( ASP March, 2020) Girls Like Us is packed with fierce, eloquent, … [Read more...]

"Poetry in Motion." An Introduction to Grace Cavalieri Grace Cavalieri has been publishing poetry for over 50 years. But how did she get her start? In this weeklong series we will be discussing Grace's life and work in detail. Today, we discuss her origin as a poet. Like many feminist writers of the midcentury, Grace Cavalieri’s artistic origin coincided with her husband’s deployment. It was the mid 1960s, Grace’s husband, airforce pilot, and, later, sculptor Kenneth Flynn, was deployed on shore duty in Annandale, Virginia and Grace, for the first time, found time on her hands. … [Read more...]

Final Chance to Get your Free Copy of Dead Love Today, Dia de Los Muertos, is you last chance to take advantage of Linda Watanabe McFerrin's book giveaway! This Halloween, author, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, in partnership with ASP is giving away free copies of her sophomore novel, Dead Love, with every purchase of her new book Navigating the Divide. Before now the deal only applied to purchases from the ASP online store, but, we are happy to announce that we are extending the giveaway to purchases from other online retailers* as well. Just send your receipt and … [Read more...]

Grace Cavalieri Reviews Linda Watanabe McFerrin's "Navigating the Divide" The Maryland Poet Laureate took special care reviewing Watanabe McFerrin's new Legacy Book for her review column in the Washington Independent Review of Books. Every month for the Washington Independent Review of Books, the Maryland Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri, author of Other Voices, Other Lives, does a round-up style review of the best recently released independent books of poetry and books about poetry. June 2019's review features fourteen books including two of ASP's upcoming … [Read more...]

This is What Author, Tim Cahill, has to Say about "Navigating the Divide" The noted travel writer and founding editor of “Outside” speaks out about fellow travel writer Linda Watanabe McFerrin’s ASP Legacy Book. "Navigating the Divide" collects the highlights of Linda’s own travel writing, fiction, and poetry into one neat, curated text. "Poetry like burnished steel and prose that reads like poetry. The most captivating and rewarding book I’ve read this year." —Tim Cahill, Author of Jaguars Ripped My Flesh and A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg Pre-Order Navigating the Divide Tim … [Read more...]

Independent Bookstore Day: What do the Indies Offer? Amid Amazon’s economic hegemony, amid the wholesale abandonment of big-box stores around the country, amid the strange, unpredicted resurgence of vinyl record collecting, and amid the general economic turmoil in the American printed news media we have, sitting in the room-corner upon a large leather chair, drinking tea, nose nestled cozily in the pages of Du Bois, the indie bookstore question. For what purpose does an indie bookstore exist in the age of digital media and online book sales? This question might be rephrased to ask how … [Read more...]

Grace Cavalieri Set to Appear on the Kojo Nnamdi Show Jan 23rd Recently Governor Larry Hogan announced that Grace Cavlieri, poet, playwright, and long time host of NPR's The Poet and The Poem, would become Maryland's next Poet Laureate, succeeding the great Stanley Plumly. Now after being inaugurated, one of her first stops is The Kojo Nnamdi show. Kojo Nnamdi has been hosting his show on WAMU for 20 years, so he and Grace are kindred spirits in that regard--Grace has hosted The Poet and The Poem for over 40 years. All in all the intrigue is laid: a long-time radio host and poetry … [Read more...]

The Legacy Series: What it Is, Why it Matters   Europeans have always known that writers who practice one form of writing might naturally write in another form. American publishers seem stymied when poets write novels or playwrights turn to prose. Fortunately, Alan Squire Publishing gets it! Now, what was so hard about that?  Grace Cavalieri Anyone who has founded, worked for, or been published by an independent literary press knows the joys of it: Being able to put great writing into print without going through tiers of vetting by the “marketing” department; editors and authors … [Read more...]

  Richard Peabody reads "The Other Man is Always French" Few write with as much brilliance and variety as Richard Peabody. Spanning nearly forty years, The Richard Peabody Reader offers us a buffet of Peabody’s poetry and prose from 1976 to the present that includes nostalgia, tragedy, despair, wit, surrealism, sex, and even science-fiction. This is an immensely entertaining collection of decades of work by a writer whose powers never lag and whose creativity seems to know no limits. —Mary Mackey Mustn't we all agree that Richard Peabody can seem awfully French? Not to say he writes … [Read more...]

  Rose Solari reads "Benedict" from her Debut Novel A Secret Woman is not only a pleasure to read, it is sneaky serious in a way I particularly like. Rose Solari explores the eternal literary theme of self — who we are, who are the ones we love, and how we invent and reinvent these people, trying always to paint ourselves into the vast canvas of life and history. Robert Olen Butler Many schools of poetry stress economy. The Shakespearean sonnet is limited to twelve lines, ten syllables each; the sestina uses requisite repetition to enforce its themes; imagism is a principle of … [Read more...]

James J. Patterson reads "Jesse's Wife" Roughnecks maps a rugged geography of the human condition, as seen through the eyes of the hard-bitten Zachary Harper. With both wit and style, Patterson paints an unforgettable picture of characters wrestling with their own gruff but complicated souls. James Mathews Of course James J. Patterson would be the first ASP author to require a content warning beside their featured audio. We thought for a long while about whether or not this scene would be appropriate to publish to the site; Roughnecks, after all, is a massive book of incredible scope--there … [Read more...]

The Poet and The Poem is a radio show and poetry program hosted by poet and playwright, Grace Cavalieri. For over 40 years, TPaTP has been broadcast from the library of congress, and since 1977, Grace has interviewed every US Poet Laureate to hold office.  On "The Poet and the Poem" Grace examines just that, the poetry and the poet. Each show is an interview with an important poet, national or international, and each interview a mix of questions pertaining to the poet's life, anything from literary inspirations to childhood romances. Thanks to Grace's disarming personality and acute questions, … [Read more...]

  Elizabeth Hazen reads "Burning Trash" "Elizabeth Hazen’s unflinching first book, Chaos Theories, forms a powerful meditation on female identity and the cultural expectations that daughters, mothers, wives, and sisters resist and embrace." Jane Satterfield Elizabeth Hazen's "Burning Trash" is a narrative of time. Like much of her other work, it focuses on subtle arrangements and a strong sense of theme. There is a loneliness present even when the author consoles, something dirty, like tire smoke caught in hair, a day to day struggle to wash out the grime. When one's memories last … [Read more...]