Bosso Poetry Company

The Minneapolis publication Downtown Journal recently published an article about Bosso Poetry Company, a group that features Spout friends and contributors. Check it out!

Resource for writers and writing teachers

Mark Polanzak and  Rachel Yoder are launching their draft journal blog site where they’ll post revision exercises, thoughts on the writing process, and other literary babble. Hope you’ll follow them (especially if you teach creative writing. They’d love for you to use this in the classroom). Also, if you have the hankering, check out their site at draftjournal.com for more info about the journal and its concept.

http://draftjournal.blogspot.com/?psinvite=ALRopfV8yK-24LBD8qz3AjNWspo4FwcACA0VSAEwLykdh0XD9Zc2ipCXn3uDiLzqvxeqFtNrSaFUcB2aqeR4l9HVv8ZRi8Cmlg

Give to the Max

Give to the Max day is happening on November 16, 2010.  This “Great Minnesota Give Together” is a wonderful opportunity for you to give to your favorite non-profit, and double your dollars for 24 hours.

If you can, Spout Press would really appreciate any gift in any amount. We can be found here.  As you know, Spout is committed to publishing the best in new, experimental writing as well as young and/or underappreciated writers. We can’t do it without your help. Thanks.

Congratulations Coffee House Press!

We are thrilled for our friends at Coffee House Press, who today learned that the novel I,  Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita was nominated for the National Book Award! Read more here. We have long known that the Twin Cities is home to some of the finest literary publishers in the country. It is so gratifying to see the efforts of Coffee House recognized.

Spoutstock Is Coming!

Dear Persons of Extraordinary Taste,

It’s time again. Spout Press invites you to our 8th annual Spoutstock, 8:30 Thursday September 30th at Mario’s Keller Bar, 2300 University Avenue NE in Minneapolis (lower level of the Gasthof).

Spoutstock is our annual cover song contest/fundraiser/wild party. Local rock stars will perform surprise covers, our panel of celebrity judges will score them, and you the audience members will each have a ballot for the audience choice award. All you have to do to support small press publishing is get a little drunk and declare your opinion. Can we make this any easier?

This year’s performers include members of The Sunny Era, Minor Kingdom, Birds of Virginia, Urban Hillbilly Quartet and Oaks as well as Pat Dougherty and the Second Hand Opera, Kelly Jo Mitchell, Anders Ponders and Jezebel Jones and Her Wicked Ways. Plus there’s something special. We can’t even tell you yet. We have to wait till the end of this message, it’s so weird and cool.

Remember how Olivia Muzzy stunned everyone with her loop-pedal, stand up bass cover of Bjork’s Unravel? Or how TruthMaze made the show an instant party with his out there hip-hop version of Jack and Diane? These things really happen in this world.

Our celebrity judges must not be revealed yet. But they are really pretty famous.

A mere five dollars gets you in the door, and the money goes to publish local authors via Northeast Minneapolis literary non-profit Spout Press. We are a collective, all-volunteer, grass-roots literary organization. We do it for the love of literature and community. And for the parties. So we’ll see you there, right? Doors at 8:30, music starts at 9:00. Be prompt! You might miss the cover song that will fill your body with heavenly light. Outside, there will be white Oktoberfest tents – big empty rooms of polka fantasy. Inside, we promise there will be sublime moments.

We’re going for the whole event as kind of a model of the universe thing.

We’ll see you Thursday, Sept. 30th at 8:30. Tell everyone!

Love Always,

Spout Press

PS Here’s the special thing: our headline act this year (11:00ish) is Jailbreak!, a Thin Lizzy Cover band. Oh my god yes.



The State of Poetry

Poets weigh in on the state of contemporary poetry, and about publishing, MFAs and the engines of poetry production and consumption. Worth checking out.

Spoutstock has moved

Spoutstock Has Moved!

Who: The lovely people at Spout and all their talented
musician friends

What: Spoutstock 2010 with a hint of Oktoberfest

Where: Mario’s Keller Bar (Gasthof’s)

2300 University Ave NE

Minneapolis, MN 55418

When: Thursday, September 30, 2010

More details coming soon…….