$10.00
January 2024
5.5 x 7.25 inches | 36 pages
bilingual edition
150 numbered copies
Cover printed from hand-carved linocut block
Gold Metallic Ink on 80 lb. Neenah Environment (30% PC Recycled) Cover Stock in Wrought Iron Grey
Digitally Printed Interior on French Paper Co. Whitewash Construction 70 lb Text
Hand sewn in natural twine
Thank you, readers, for your incredible support of Bloof’s handmade series. Full series subscriptions are sold out, but you can create your own custom bundle with the books that remain!
Note: Individually printed by hand in small batches, no two covers will be exactly alike. Expect some variation in color and placement across the edition. Preordered copies will begin shipping in late January.
Bloof’s first release in the new year comes to us all the way from Brazil: Bruna Beber’s romance in twelve lines. We’ve been working as a guest printer over at Kennedy Press in Belfast, Maine to print up these covers from our hand-carved linoleum block in gold metallic ink on wrought iron gray paper.
This sequence of poems appears in both English translation by Sarah Rebecca Kersley and in the original Portuguese in the chapbook’s second section. As the titular relationship tumbles through its inevitable phases, Beber’s imagery shifts from the giddy tick tock of anticipation into days of “doubts and lilies” and metaphorically overdrawn accounts. We’ve all been there, and this handful of poems captures each point in love’s arc in deeply observed detail.
Chapbooks are in stock—take a look back at the process of printing and assembling them on Instagram—and are limited to 150 hand-sewn copies. Orders are shipping now, and you can mix and match it in your own custom chapbook bundle. You’ll also find copies at our partner bookstores like Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee, Grolier Poetry Bookshop in Cambridge, and Open Books in Seattle!
romance in twelve lines is the fifth chapbook in the fifth series from Bloof Books. Each series chapbook is released in a limited edition of at least one hundred numbered copies, followed by a digital release, and eventually in a combination volume called Bound.
Bruna Beber (Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, 1984) is a Brazilian poet and translator. She is the author of six books of poetry, including a fila sem fim dos demônios descontentes (the endless line of unsatisfied demons) (7Letras press, 2006); balés (ballets) (7Letras press, 2009), the critically acclaimed Rua da padaria (Bakery Street) (Editora Record, 2013), and Ladainha (Litany) (Editora Record, 2017), and her most recent work, Veludo rouco (Husky Velvet) (Companhia das Letras, 2023). She is also the author of a children’s book, Zebrosinha, illustrated by Beta Maya (Editora Record, 2013). Her translations into Brazilian Portuguese include books by Eileen Myles, Sylvia Plath, Dr. Seuss, Shakespeare (a new Brazilian translation of Hamlet, published in 2019), Louise Glück, Mary Gaitskill, Lewis Carroll, Agatha Christie, Neil Gaiman, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Anne Sexton (forthcoming in 2023, Sexton’s first ever work to be published in Brazil, translated by Beber with support from a residency grant from Translation House Looren, Switzerland), and others. Her work has been translated into several languages and has appeared in journals and anthologies in Germany, Argentina, Italy, Mexico, and the United States. She is based in the city of São Paulo and in 2021 completed a Master’s degree in literary history and theory from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). Her Master’s dissertation, a pioneer study focusing on the poetics of Stella do Patrocínio, was adapted into a book and published in 2022, entitled Uma encarnação encarnada em mim: cosmogonias encruzilhadas em Stella do Patrocínio [An incarnation incarnated in me: Crossroad cosmogonies in Stella do Patrocínio] (Editora José Olympio).
www.brunabeber.com.br / Instagram profile: @brunabeber_
Sarah Rebecca Kersley is a translator, poet and editor, originally from the UK and based in Brazil for over a decade. Her work has appeared in places such as the Elevation Review, Asymptote Journal, Denver Quarterly, Isele Magazine, and elsewhere. She co-runs Livraria Boto-cor-de-rosa, a bookshop and small press focused on contemporary literature, in the city of Salvador, Bahia, where she is based.
Instagram profile: @sarahrebeccakersley
79 in stock
Excerpt
4. airhead in the circus
when you lose
at the dodgems
let all
your clothes fall off
you’ll bounce back
onto doubts and lilies
as you see yourself pure and full
of urgent issues
you’ll feel happy
and tired
of every
body
so unnecessary
everybody.
| Author | Irène Vazquez |
|---|
