THE ART OF THE CHAPBOOK
presented by Bloof Books for the Belfast Poetry Festival
THE ART OF THE CHAPBOOK is an exhibition curated by Shanna Compton of Bloof Books for the 19th annual Belfast Poetry Festival, October 17–20, 2024. The exhibition consists of two parts—THE CABINET contains 40+ chapbooks, and a secondary BROWSING STATION nearby offers 60+ chapbooks available for visitors to read on site. The exhibition is open throughout the weekend during Waterfall Arts hours.
Waterfall Arts
2nd Floor + Dance Annex
256 High Street
Belfast, Maine
Shanna will present a brief introduction during the festival’s kickoff event at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 17. The exhibition is open throughout the weekend during Waterfall Arts hours.
WHAT IS A CHAPBOOK? A small booklet of writing, often staple-bound or sewn. Length may be anywhere from a single folded page with multiple panels to a bound format of 35–40 pages, much shorter than a traditional book. In contemporary scenes, chapbooks typically contain poetry, but also short stories, poetry comix, and hybrid creative texts. (Informational/nonfictional works in short form are more likely to be called pamphlets or tracts.) Unlike traditionally published poetry collections, chapbooks offer poets a more accessible opportunity to be inventive, spontaneous, and variable about how they choose to publish. Chaps are often illustrated, created from repurposed or unexpected materials, and may incorporate other features traditional books tend not to accommodate. Akin to zines, their distribution is also a bit unorthodox—poets and small presses offer them for direct sale at readings, through group exchanges, and by annual subscription, though they can also often be found at bookfairs, artist markets, and indie bookshops that know what’s up. (Check the Local Author section!)
HISTORICALLY, as far back as the 12th century, street peddlers known as chap men traveled town to town, offering a variety of small objects for sale, including (eventually, a few centuries later) small books and pamphlets, or single sheets printed on both sides designed for the buyer to fold and bind themselves. The word chap (from Middle English chep, from Old English cēap, meaning trade) over time took on the connotation of bargain as well, resulting in the English word cheap. (Skipping a lot here, obviously.) By the 1850s, traditional books and newspapers had become more readily available, making the chapbook format obsolete . . . unless you’re a poet, that is.
Chapbooks have ecstatically persisted as a vibrant element within various poetry scenes, because their immediacy, authenticity, and quirky appeal endures. Countless self-published and small-press titles continue to be released and collected year after year. These days chapbooks are sometimes cheap and sometimes not, ranging in materials from photocopies on plain paper bound by a couple of staples to handset letterpress sheets sewn into specialty covers. I hope this exhibition inspires you to collect (or create!) some of your own.
BEFORE, BETWEEN, & BEYOND BOOKS As you explore the collection you’ll find poets publishing chapbooks before their first books, between their longer books, and as a site for more experimental projects that require going beyond the confines of a traditional book.
LIST OF WORKS—CABINET Left to right, beginning at lower shelf
(Links TK, please check back!)
1. The Gertrude Spicer Story (Act Two), Jared Hayes (self-published for Dusie Kollektiv, 2010) // PDF AVAILABLE HERE
2. Writing in the Margin, Matvei Yank-elevich (Loudmouth Collective, 2001)
3. Residence, Meredith Clark (self-published for Dusie Kollektiv, 2010) // PDF AVAILABLE HERE
4. going going, Jen Hofer (self-published for Dusie Kollektiv, 2007)
5. trouble, Jen Hofer (self-published for Dusie Kollektiv, 2010) // PDF AVAILABLE HERE
6. Memory/Incision, Joseph Cooper (self-published for Dusie Kollektiv, 2007)
7. Hounds, Alli Warren (self-published, 2005)
8. Conversation with the Stone Wife, Natalie Eilbert (Bloof Books, 2014) // PDF AVAILABLE HERE
9. To Do in the New Year, Anna Lena Phillips (self-published for Dusie Kollektiv, 2013)
10. the roof of locked shields, Kaia Sand (self-published for Dusie Kollektiv, 2010) // PDF AVAILABLE HERE
11. First the Burning, Catie Rosemurgy (Bloof Books, 2018 ) // PDF AVAILABLE HERE
12. Friendship with Things, Elaine Equi (The Figures, 1998)
13. Into the Darkness We Go, Mimi White (The Cougar Press, 1982)
14. Psychic Head Set, Mike Hauser (Mitzvah Chaps, 2008)
15. Now See Here, Homes, Horace Mungin (Brothers’ Distributing Co., 1969)
16. Is Holy, Matthew Henriksen (Horse Less Press, 2006)
17. Out of Bounds, Harry Mathews (Burning Deck, 1989)
18. Mountain Sparrow, Jessica Powers (Carmel of Reno, 1972)
19. Red Book in Three Parts, Bernadette Mayer (United Artists Books, 2002)
20. Spells for Black Wizards, Candace Williams (The Atlas Review / TAR Chapbook Series, 2018)
21. The Woman, the Mirror, the Eye, Maureen Thorson (Bloof Books, 2015) // PDF AVAILABLE HERE
22. 13 Osips, Maureen Thorson (Big Game Books, 2006)
23. Postcard Poems, Stephanie Young & Cassie Lewis (Poetry Espresso / Cassie Lewis, 2002)
24. I Hate Telling You How I Really Feel, Nikki Wallschlaeger (Bloof Books, 2015) // HARDCOVER VERSION HERE
25. Slaves of Christo, Julia Hall & Chrissy Leggio (Brooklyn Artists Alliance, 2005)
26. All the Aldas, Daniel Kane & Gillian Kane (Evil Twin Publications, 2002)
27. something else the music was, Eric Baus (Braincase Press, 2004)
28. Falling Forward, Sara Veglahn (Braincase Press, 2003)
29. Drummer, Chad Reynolds (Greying Ghost, 2015)
30. Self-Portrait as a Dictionary of Symbols, Shannon Holman (self-published, 2002)
31. 99-Cent Heart, Ada Limón (Big Game Books, 2006)
32. Le Animal & Other Creatures, Metta Sáma (Miel, 2015)
33. O New York, Trey Sager (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2004)
34. Diary, Carrie Hunter (self-published for Dusie Kollektiv, 2010) // PDF AVAILABLE HERE
35. Route, Julia Cohen & Matthias Svalina (Immaculate Disciples Press, 2012)
36. Mental Commitment Robots, Sueyen Juliette Lee (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2007)
37. 100 Multiple Choice Questions, John Ashbery (Adventures in Poetry, 2001)
38. Tachistoscope, Stanley Donwood (The Hedonist Press, 2003)
+ a few bonus/unnumbered things! (aka, a rotating handful of out-of-print Bloof Books chaps, 2015–2023) including I Prefer the Forests Making Blankets from Themselves, CAConrad (PDF COMING SOON); Take Me to the Water, Irene Vázquez (PDF AVAILABLE HERE); Hymn: An Ovulution, Mel Coyle & Jen Marie Nunes (PDF AVAILABLE HERE).
BROWSING STATION Too many to include in this exhibition guide, but we will post the full list and links online here after the festival has concluded. Please check back!
BLOOF CHAPBOOKS are available to order here
ABOUT BLOOF BOOKS
Bloof Books is a collective poetry press founded by Shanna Compton in 2007 in Brooklyn, NY to publish the second books of three poets she’d worked with at Soft Skull Press in the mid 2000s. The press relocated to Blue Hill, Maine, in 2021 after about a dozen years in the Delaware Valley (New Hope, PA/Lambertville, NJ). The collective consists of all the poets we have published to date, who are invited to read submissions, suggest new projects, and enthusiastically advocate for each other by reviewing, teaching, and sharing other members’ work. We publish paperback poetry collections and handmade poetry chapbooks, usually with linocut covers. Bloof is more akin to a group art project than to a business. We are/will always remain an independent small press—a micropress, in fact. We are “tiny by design.” bloofbooks.com @bloofbooks
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Shanna Compton is a poet, printmaker, and book artist in Blue Hill, ME. She is the author of five books of poems, most recently Creature Sounds Fade (Black Lawrence Press) and Midwinter Constellation (coauthor, Black Lawrence Press). Her poems have appeared in publications such as the Nation, American Poetry Review, the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series, and The Best American Poetry anthology series. As a visual artist, she works in linocut, collage, monotype, screen print, and mixed media. She also freelances as a book designer for many of your favorite indie publishers. shannacompton.com @hiwaterpress
