“Tavern Books is a press that is performing an important function in American letters, and its commitment to international writers in translation as well as undervalued American writers makes it especially remarkable in comparison to the world of commercial publishing.”
A small press like Tavern Books is a wonderful resource for poetry hidden by distance and language that we do not know, poetry worth reading in editions worth keeping. Poetry from other cultures widens our horizons and deepens our understanding of the human condition.
Read MoreHow did Tavern Books start?
Tavern Books started in 2009 with the idea that books are public events that happen in solitude. We wanted to model the press after a public space and create an open dialog with readers and writers. Our vision was—and still is—to make beautiful, lasting books and offer an old-world subscription series by mailing books directly to readers’ doorsteps.
Read MoreFor years, Tavern Books, a small independent publisher out of Portland, has been quietly producing excellent, exquisite books. Their mission is to bring high quality projects that may have flown under the radar—by foreign and domestic authors—to American readers. Everything Tavern does is top shelf, especially their two-volume translation of The Fire’s Journey, a 1957 epic poem by the famed Costa Rican poet Eunice Odio.
Read MoreA nonprofit poetry press based in Portland, Oregon, Tavern Books exists “to print, promote, and preserve works of literary vision, to foster a climate of cultural preservation, and to disseminate books in a way that benefits the reading public.” Led by founding editor Carl Adamshick and managing editor Natalie Garyet, the press publishes original poetry collections; works in translation; and select reprints through its Living Library series,
Read MoreTavern is well aware that books are more than words and pay close attention to the design and printing in an effort to “create books that are exceptionally beautiful and a joy to hold. ” They commission original artwork for every title they publish, and rightly believe that “the dialog between image and text is an essential, meaningful element of a reader’s experience.”
Read MoreTavern Books, headquartered in Portland, Ore., has announced a new poetry series for women writers that honors the memory of late poet Greta Wrolstad. The Wrolstad Contemporary Poetry Series will begin reading original manuscripts by women poets under 40 years old this autumn.
Read MoreRachel Pass: What is Poetry State?
Natalie Garyet: Poetry State is Tavern Books’ ongoing campaign to build and sustain the circulating poetry collections in Oregon libraries. We collect donated poetry books from publishers, individuals, and bookstores (in addition to purchasing new titles) and then distribute them free of charge to libraries across the state.
Read MorePortland publisher Tavern Books, and its catalog The Living Library, is rooted in reverence for sustaining the voices of poets, reviving notable out of print books, and printing them in perpetuity so that their content does not diminish to bits and pieces of memory but remains viable and intact and available to be read.
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