3/30-4/2 2016 AWP Conference & Book Fair @ Los Angeles Convention Center & JW Marriott Los Angeles

Provided we make it there intact, Six Gallery Press will be representing at #AWP16 this weekend. Sharing scenic table 558 will be 6GP scribblers Daniel McCloskey (A Film About Billy), Elwin Cotman (The Jack Daniels Sessions EP, Hard Times Blues), & Robert Isenberg (Wander), plus Jess Simms of nascent literary institution The Haven.

In addition to books by this sick crew, we’ll have recent selections from Ally Malinenko, Che Elias, Joseph Musso Jr., Chuck Kinder, Don Wentworth, & Jason Baldinger, plus a selection of hits from the back catalog.

We’ll also have books by a duo of fellow Pittsburgh small presses, Low Ghost & Coleridge Street, featuring the poetic stylings of Adam Matcho, Scott Silsbe, Bob Pajich, & John Grochalski, PLUS the Good Noise! anthology by Thrasher Press, featuring even more Pittsburgh poets writing on musical themes.

Feel free to visit us & buy all the books so we don’t have to lug them all home on the Greyhound!

Odds & Ends, Winter 2015

So far, 2015 has brought some very nice articles about/by Six Gallery scribblers:

A Film About Billy reviewed & Dan McCloskey interviewed by Rachel Mennies for PANK Magazine.

Jonathan Moody interviewed by Melody Nixon for The Common.

Elwin Cotman writes about (sometimes inadvertently) writing about Pittsburgh for Grist.

Ally Malinenko has been doing a lot of excellent blogging lately; this post also links to three recently-published poems.

These folks are all working on fantastic-sounding new projects, by the way. If you’re not familiar with them, check out their previous work!

The Old Year & the New

So, 2014 was a year. A good one in that The Lower Forty-Eight by Jason Baldinger, Yield to the Willow by Don Wentworth, Imagination Motel by Chuck Kinder, &, most recently, the blue 2nd edition of A Film About Billy by Daniel McCloskey saw the light of print; & a devastating one in that we lost a luminary, Victor Navarro, on June 30.

On the slate for 2015 is a follow-up to Victor’s collection Short Works, which he asked demanded be released immediately the day before his death, but which will actually be released on June 30 of next year. Juggling as fast as I can here, Vic!

Gloom Hearts & Opioids, a new collection of poems by John Thomas Menesini, who will also be in town at the end of January to perform at at least two readings.

Hungry by Daniel Parme, a self-published novel which has recently been worked over by two editors & given a polish by the author.

The Apartment Building by Joe Musso, a bizarre novel about the inhabitants of, yes, an apartment building.

An untitled collection of poems by Stephanie Brea, whenever she’s done fiddling with it.

Aaand, in all likelihood, several other books from the back burner. Stay tuned & happy New Year!

Writer on Writer: Daniel McCloskey & Bradley Spinelli

The latest in Karen Lillis’ Writer on Writer interview series:

Bradley: Early on, Dan brought Billy back to life, so to speak, through the video for his funeral, yet Collin starts over. It’s obvious that you, as a writer, wanted to bring someone back to life in writing this book. Do you think it’s possible? Or did it at least help your own process of mourning, paying tribute, and moving on?

Daniel: You can’t bring someone back to life. You can’t even keep anyone alive. Everyone you know will die, and you will die. Again, that is the basic truth revealed in a suicide apocalypse.

Though I think there are certain truths humans will never stop needing to hear. We will die, love matters, greed kills, hubris makes and breaks our heroes, other people are whole other people, etc, etc. That’s why the one funeral in your book is so touching. You aren’t burying “remains” when you bury your friend. You bury part of yourself. You’re giving your idea of them a place to go.

Part 1, McCloskey Interviews Spinelli

Part 2, Spinelli Interviews McCloskey