Alan Squire Publishing

A Small Press With Big Ideas

  Richard Peabody reads "The Forgiveness Device" "Richard Peabody has served the literary community here [in DC] in countless ways, often simultaneously—mentor, teacher, editor, cheerleader, co-reader, host, panelist, blurber, book seller, co-conspirator. Peabody is a kind of resident institution here, the bookish equivalent of Ben’s Chili Bowl." Nathan Leslie Last week I spoke briefly of Richard Peabody's beautiful coming-of-age poem "The Forgiveness Device," but used it only to put his talent as a reader of Hellerian disaster-comedy in proper context, so the listener might admire … [Read more...]

Rose Solari reads "Last Night I Tried to Walk You out of My Body" Rose's voice is as much a part of the journey as the text. Her understanding of (and love for) the music within language is entrancing-haunting, and delightful. It moves me like love itself. Reuben Jackson Rose Solari is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, The Last Girl, Orpheus in the Park, and DifficultWeather(re-issued by ASP in 2014); the one-act play, Looking for Guenevere; and the novel, A Secret Woman. She has lectured and taught writing workshops at many institutions, including the University of … [Read more...]

James J. Patterson reads "The Nearest Thing to Perfection" "One of the welcome treats from the emergence of James J. Patterson’s fiction is his penchant for setting his stories in the real America, the part of our country that gets too little notice by either the factual or the fictional media stars. He’s a welcome addition to the stories of our times." James Grady James J. Patterson can give you a breakdown of every pitch, every play, every score, every formation, and infuse it with color no matter how slow the windup or mundane the foul ball. This is his job, as a writer: caring so much it … [Read more...]

Elizabeth Hazen reads "Chaos Theory" "She harnesses the atoms and molecules of poetry like a Tesla coil, attuned to the science of our everyday lives, and leaves us sadder, wiser, and the better for it." Richard Peabody "All it takes for things to turn is a blip." The first-page poem from Elizabeth Hazen's debut collection, Chaos Theories, is a rumination on the reductive power of the human mind when facing grief, and the language we have developed in labs and classrooms to facilitate it. Recognizing laws and theories as little webs of possibility, as impossibly complex addenda to what … [Read more...]

  Grace Cavalieri reads "Safety" "The poet Grace Cavalieri is a…truly generous friend of poetry and poets. In her writing and all she does her large-minded generosity shines." Robert Pinsky In the folds and on the back cover of Other Voices, Other Lives, sits a few very special drawings —a rose, the dome of the capital building— by sculptor Kenneth Flynn, Grace's late husband. They were sketches made whenever Ken was waiting for Grace to return, and so he dubbed the series "Waiting for Grace." It makes sense then, since the sketches are rough, not overwrought, but meaningfully simple, … [Read more...]

Richard Peabody reads "Flea Wars"  "Not only is he a good writer, he is very entertaining and funny. And very  sexy, too." Michael Dirda When Richard Peabody came in-studio to record this excerpt from an absurd and frustrating story in The Reader, I was still in disbelief I hadn't read it in The New Yorker or The Atlantic or some other pedigree publication first. But, from the moment he uttered, almost farcical in his expressionlessness, "just dip the cats they say," he had me: I knew it belonged to Richard and to Richard alone. We recorded "Flea Wars" on the heels of recording "The … [Read more...]

Rose Solari reads "Achilles on Shore" "No one reads poetry like Rose Solari. She enters the essence of each word with a voice, making meaning become spirit. I think her great gift is the understanding that language can make you feel what the speaker experiences...so she proceeds to make you feel her passion, her wit, and love." Grace Cavalieri Rose Solari's upcoming poetry workshop at Politics & Prose is titled "Revise, Rethink, Reveal." "Rethink" holding, for Rose, an essential place in the poetic process. It makes sense then why she would gravitate toward poems about myth and family. … [Read more...]

James J. Patterson reads "Jesse Lancaster Remembers" from Roughnecks "[Reading James J Patterson] is like sitting down with a very intelligent friend and having the kind of conversation you’d always wanted to have." Myra Sklarew In his readings, James J. Patterson gives every character a voice of their own. Consummate thespian and raconteur, not only is he a great modulator of voice, but sonorous and entrancing even in those moments most quietly intimate: internal dialogue. Listen to how James, filling the rough-hewn Jesse Lancaster, is master of every breath, articulation, and expression, … [Read more...]

Elizabeth Hazen Reads "Maxwell's Demon" Hazen has a way of uncovering universal feelings that resonate, even if we haven’t experienced her particular grief or confusion. Gabriella Souza “By dint of his prodigious intelligence and dexterity, the goblin could cause things to happen that are never seen to occur in nature, things that seemed able to violate the second law of thermodynamics.” — Hans Christian von Baeyer. This is the epigraph which opens Elizabeth Hazen's wonderful poem, Maxwell's Demon. You can read more on the genesis of the poem and on finding poetic inspiration within the … [Read more...]

Grace Cavalieri Reads, "Work is My Secret Lover" The poet Grace Cavalieri is a truly generous friend of poetry and poets. In her writing and all she does her large-minded generosity shines. Robert Pinsky Grace Cavalieri reads poetry just as though she were speaking then with Pinsky, Dove, or Solari, and she speaks just like she were reading you a poem-- with some verses left blank you ought to fill in yourself. In "Work is My Secret Lover" you meet a Grace who is excited to tell you about what she is hiding from you, about how, even now as you talk, she is observing, listening, feeling … [Read more...]

Richard Peabody Reads "I'm in Love with the Morton Salt Girl" Peabody’s aesthetic is all-embracing – strands of punk, beat, experimental, feminist, and political protest literary influences blend with the purely romantic to create a body of work that is both profound and pleasing.  Eckleburg Book Club Morton Salt Girl is original Peabody. Creative, daring, and irreverent. His delivery on this recording is so sure you may conflate the poem with a yarn by Ronsard or Nash—though, a comparison wouldn't be far-fetched. But be assured, this sure person, somewhere compressed between humor, … [Read more...]

Featured Audio: "The Last Girl," a poem by Rose Solari Rose's voice is as much a part of the journey as the text. Her understanding of (and love for) the music within language is entrancing-haunting, and delightful. It moves me like love itself. Reuben Jackson "The Last Girl" by Rose Solari, appearing in her newest collection of the same name, is written, as with much of her poetry, to swing. Rose has written odes to Mingus, bop, and beats and brought that same enthusiasm for "disciplined freedom in both content and form" to "The Last Girl." Hear Rose Read "The Last Girl" The Last … [Read more...]

Grace Cavalieri, her great interview with the late Donald Hall, CATF criticism and more Grace’s longtime talk series, The Poet and The Poem, broadcast from The Library of Congress, is being gradually released for free to iTunes. There are currently over a dozen interviews available on iTunes, including poets Tracy K. Smith and Rita Dove. More are being added each month; but, the whole series is available in unabridged form from within the sublimely gargantuan archive of Library of Congress. Her interview with Donald Hall is available here. Eva Brann is here, Louise Gluck here. If you love … [Read more...]

Here is an update on their recent doings: Joanna Biggar has just returned from a visit to Cuba with Wanderland Writers, a writing retreat series that she co-founded and runs with Linda Watanabe McFerrin. They publish annual anthologies of essays and poetry written on these trips. Find out more here. Joanna is also at work on revisions to her sequel to That Paris Year, entitled Melanie’s Song. Grace Cavalieri has recently had new poems published in The Art of Survival: An Anthology, as well as the journals Poets & Artists and the South Florida Poetry Journal, in which she is the … [Read more...]

ASP books make perfect gifts for any time of year! Our boutique approach to book-making means that each title is published on fine deckle-edged paper, with elegant French-fold covers, and exquisite, original interior and exterior design. We want our books to look, feel, and be as artful as stories, poems, or essays they contain. And that makes them perfect holiday gifts. This year, why not give a Legacy gift to the book-lovers on your list? ASP’s Legacy series is devoted to career-spanning collections from writers who meet the following three criteria: The majority of their books have … [Read more...]

September 29, 2017 We are happy to announce the publication of Other Voices, Other Lives: A Grace Cavalieri Collection, in October 2017. This is the second volume in the ASP Legacy Series, devoted to career-spanning selections from writers who also give strong and consistent support to other writers. ASP poet and fiction writer Rose Solari edited the volume and wrote the introduction. Here is a sample: Before I met Grace Cavalieri, I had already fallen in love with her voice. I was in my early twenties when I began tuning into her weekly radio show, The Poet and the Poem, broadcast then … [Read more...]

Autumn is just around the corner and our ASP authors have a busy schedule of readings and events!  Please check back as the schedule grows. Here is what we’ve confirmed so far: Sept 14, 2017, 6:30 p.m., Grace Cavalieri & Richard Harteis share poetry and conversation at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, 415 Park Ave, Baltimore, MD. Check here for details. Friday, October 6 through Sunday, October 8, Rose Solari is the keynote speaker and a faculty member at the 6th Annual Mariposa Poetry Retreat, at the Capital Retreat Center in Waynesboro, PA. The retreat was founded and is run by poet … [Read more...]

Announcing the publication of Other Voices, Other Lives: A Grace Cavalieri Collection, October 1, 2017 Other Voices, Other Lives is a selection of poems, plays, and interviews drawn from over forty years of work by one of America’s most beloved and influential women of letters. The author of 23 books of poetry and 26 produced plays, and the founder of the legendary radio interview program, The Poet and the Poem, Grace Cavalieri has won multiple national awards for her writing and her service to literature. “The poet Grace Cavalieri is also a truly generous friend of poetry and poets. In … [Read more...]

Washington Post, Wednesday, May 20th, 2015 Richard Peabody Collection Is A Buffet Of Legendary Editor's Work, by Michael Lindgren PEABODY DELIVERS! A romantic poet of breathtaking tenderness. A keen writer of farce and a master of satire. A political activist whose fierce advocacy manifests itself in allegory. A pop-culture explorer. Richard Peabody is all these and more, as is evident in this collection taken from nearly four decades of writing by a national literary hero. Peabody’s aesthetic is all-embracing. His literary influences — including strands … [Read more...]