NEW RELEASE: Five Kinds of Fences, by Toby Bielawski

We at Drafty Attic Press are pleased to announce the release of Toby Bielawski's new chapbook, Five Kinds of Fences.  Thanks to everyone who submitted to the New Word Order contest and to our gracious sponsors for the opportunity to release this quality work of literature.  Read what other authors are saying about the book:


Toby Bielawski’s poems survey the landscapes of earth and sky and the inner landscapes of the mind with a clear-eyed curiosity. Whether contemplating five kinds of fences or the terrors and consolations of the stars,  whether sorting and weighing the scrap metal of the past or celebrating the molten metal of sexuality, she is committed to learning “how the taproot lives.” She regards the surreal terrain of insomnia with quiet humor and brings a sense of grateful wonder to the “cabin” of “safe space” inside the poet's mind. The poems in this debut collection range widely, but Toby Bielawski’s compass needle seeks and finds “true north.”

Chana Bloch,

author of Blood Honey

Her poems brim with a reverent buoyancy for nature, with the affirmation of the true, often splintered self, and with the hidden meaning behind everyday things in the palm of one's hands.

Deema Shehabi,

author of Thirteen Departures From The Moon

[SOLD OUT!]

New Word Order CONTEST WINNER

Our contest judge, Darla Crist, has officially chosen Toby Bielawski's Five Kinds of Fences as the New Word Order Publishing Project winner!  Here's what Crist had to say about the book:

Meaningful poetry manages to be simultaneously universal and deeply personal, and this difficult goal is certainly accomplished in Five Kinds of Fences.  This is a highly imaginative collection of poems, perhaps best described in “A Crown of Safe Spaces,” where the poet writes, “It’s as if I’m in a cabin in my head, with one glass wall/Looking out over a setting that changes whenever my pen/Decides to shift mood or meaning…”   And indeed, there are reality shifts in these poems, where the audience is asked to reconsider what constitutes a fence, or what would happen if letters were landscapes.  Careful attention to form, language, and metaphor directs the work in this collection, even if “Truth is terrain that cannot be steered.”  But truth can be found in “Scrap,” where the speaker is sorting her father’s belongings in the basement:  “All of this (interstate rebar, toilet-tank float ball)/All of this (fittings, fan blades, copper spike)/Was for all the things you would have fixed/In your depression-era dreams./Now, with nicked hands I sort and deal --/Called all around/It's just a penny a pound for steel.”  And truth can be found in “Rectification of Names”: “Resilience is bread broken and shared,/Jealousy the meat and the wine/And patience a stone herm/Listing towards the spine’s left side. /Souls are a thick mystery, mine and/Yours the same, just your mystery/Is a few inches more strange.” Here’s to truth, and here’s to mystery, two key elements in life, as well as in Five Kinds of Fences.

Here are our runners up:

A World Called Little Jimmy, by Christine Ong Muslim

Postcards from the Less than Important West, by Brent Schaeffer

Randonnées, by Adrienne Drobnes

We want to thank all 36 people who submitted chapbooks-- your interest has inspired us to look into a reprise of the contest in the future!  Additionally, thanks to our contest sponsors:

Great People ($5+)

Jamie Lushbaugh

Chris Dolle

Awesome People ($10+)

Taylor Lampton

Brad Walrod

Great Honored Benefactors ($25+)

Tom Carbaugh

Linda Boan

Travis Durbin

Haley Salitros

We couldn't have done it without you.  The books will be headed to the printers soon-- stay tuned!

Haiku Dictionary Review in The Ides of March

It may be July, but Miller's New England Haiku Dictionary was just recently reviewed in The Ides of March literary journal.  Check it out!

New Word Order CLOSED

The New Word Order project is now officially CLOSED.  We received 36 submissions, and the Drafty Attic team is now busily at work plowing through them, getting ready to send a handful to our judge, Darla Crist, to find one winner.  Thanks everyone for participating!

Fiddler Crab Review

We've just gotten Miller's New England Haiku Dictionary reviewed over at Fiddler Crab Review!  Check it out!


In other news, we're up to 13 submissions for the New Word Order contest.  Keep 'em coming all month long.

Marketing and Solicitation Intern Kaiulani Anderson-Liggett

As we're preparing for our second printing of Miller's New England Haiku Dictionary, our chapbook contest, and a new work from poet Britt Burgeson of Notre Dame, let me introduce to you the newest member of the Drafty Attic team, Kaiulani Anderson-Liggett:

KAIULANI ANDERSON-LIGGETT (Terre Haute, IN) is currently a Senior at Indiana State University pursuing a BS in English. She works at Double Oak Farm in Columbus, Indiana selling yummy organic and local produce to the city. In her spare time she interns for Drafty Attic Press creating press, and friendships with the company and others out there. Her interest includes knitting, reading, cats (a certain one-eyed kitty in particular), red-velvet cake, and wandering around aimlessly.

She'll be our new marketing and solicitation intern, spreading the word about the cheap-as-hell chapbooks we can put out and finding the newest upcoming poets to publish.

New Word Order LAUNCH

As a fledgling press, we need your backing to get our first outside-the-house publishing venture!  Read more at our Kickstarter page...

Upcoming Events

Hey everyone!  Just wanted to inform people of some upcoming events we've got in store for you.

Saturday. March 26: Haiku for Kids at the Stockbridge Public Library
Stockbridge, MA - 11:00 AM [map]

Author Mike Miller will be teaching kids how to write their first poems in a friendly and fun-filled session.  Parents are encouraged to attend and even to write along with their kids!


May 19: Poetry Reading at Mason Library
Great Barrington, MA - 6:30 PM [map]

Author Mike Miller will read some of his snarky and amusing poetry from earlier works as well as his new chapbook, Miller's New England Haiku Dictionary.  A small workshop and book signing will follow.

Breaking Even... or at Least Getting Close

Well, it looks like a few of you have started to order your copies of Miller's New England Haiku Dictionary!  Because our goal here at Drafty Attic is to keep costs to a minimum, this means we're already about a third of the way to breaking even on our initial print run of 50 copies.  The sooner we break even, the sooner we can find a new book to publish by a new author!

Thanks for all of your interest.

New Beginnings!

Drafty Attic Press is exactly what it sounds like: one man (well, woman now), alone with roommates in his her attic apartment with a sweet-as-hell stapler and a laser printer that's starting to run out of toner.  This is bare-bones publishing and we love it.  We being me, Emily Miller.  Spending this much time alone in the attic gets me talking as an "us."  *eye twitch*

We're going to be focusing on doing small runs of chapbooks, mainly to help out friends who are looking for ways to get published, but perhaps expanding at some point to take on outside submissions.