In this episode, it was a thrill to speak with Katherine Packert Burke about her captivating debut novel, Still Life (Norton, 2024). ”Katherine Packert Burke’s Still Life is everything you want from a Künstlerroman: smart, sexy, funny, sly, and exceptionally queer. With biting insights and heartbreaking attention, this debut captures the daunting thrill of becoming an artist while becoming yourself.” — Isle McElroy, author of People Collide This was such a fun, tender and insightful...

We’re thrilled to announce that we are currently open for submissions! In this episode, we discuss what’s new about this year’s open reading period, our tips and tricks for submitting your work, and what our vision for Host’s 2025 publishing program holds!

In this episode, we discuss the works by women in translation that have been blowing our socks off this month. We talk about literary celebrities in the small press world, how their books have opened our minds, and taught us something new about literature. The books we discussed in this episode are: Tentacle by Rita Indiana Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon

In this episode, we chat with mónica teresa ortiz, author of book of provocations, the inaugural winner of the Joe W. Bratcher Prize for Poetry. mónica teresa ortiz (they / them) is a poet, memory worker, and critic born, raised, and based in Texas. In this conversation, we talk about the origins of mónica’s radical poetry, and how their work has evolved since we published their chapbook autobiography of a semiromantic anarchist in 2019.

Considering themes of liberation, we take a close look at the work of three queer poets whose work we admire, Host’s very own m. mick powell (author of threesome in the last Toyota Celica & other circus tricks,) Destiny Hemphill, and Cedar Sigo.

This episode dives head first into the age old question: how the hell do you end a poem? Investigating the endings of three poems by poets we admire, we discuss the various strategies poets use to make a grand (or subtle, or repetitive, or mysterious) exit.

To kick off season 5 (!!) we has the chance to chat with the winner of the Spring 2024 Host Publications Chapbook Prize, Stephanie Niu about her incredible chapbook, Survived By: an Atlas of Disappearance.  Stephanie is a Chinese-American poet, digital humanities scholar, and ecology enthusiast from Marietta, Georgia. She is the author of She Has Dreamt Again of Water, winner of the 2021 Diode Editions Chapbook Contest, and the editor of Our Island, Our Future: A Zine of Youth Poetry from...

In this episode, we had the immense pleasure of talking with our forthcoming poet and author of the chapbook threesome in the last Toyota Celica & other circus tricks m. mick powell! We talked about everything from digital collage and it’s relationship to mick’s poetry practice, to the way the organization of a book of poems can be inspired by the way an album is composed. mick’s brilliance and depth as a poet is undeniable, and their warmth as a conversationalist made for an uplifting...

Hello Wildlings! In this episode, Claire and Annar discuss the idea of the primal in poetry, how and why we might tap into our most raw and instinctive urges in the making of a poem, to explore ”the unknown capacities of the mind and heart” (Dean Young). In a sprawling but intimate conversation about fueling the fire of imagination, empathy and a spirit of desire unhindered by doubt, this episode dives in head first, discussing the work of these brilliant poets: The Art of Recklessness by...

In this episode, Annar and Claire celebrate one of their favorite literary months, Women in Translation Month, by turning to the work of a couple of the podcast's favorite poets - Yi Lu and Alejandra Pizarnik. Discussing themes of loss, eco-poetry, drama and surrealism, these two poets were a perfect pairing for the celebration of women in translation.  The books featured on this episode are: Yi Lu's Sea Summit (formerly featured on the Earth Day episode with Host Poet Julie Howd!) Alejandra...

In this episode, the second in our Adventures in Cover Design series, Managing Editor and cover designer extraordinaire, Annar Veröld, gives us her personal masterclass in all things color! We talk about everything from the ways to use the Pantone wheel to create the perfect color combinations, to the prehistoric origins of Barbie Pink (yup, you heard that right!)  Here are the color design resources that Annar recommends from this episode: Werner's Nomenclature of Colours Dictionary of Color...

This episode asks the age old question: What the Hell is an Em Dash? As the first punctuation mark Annar and Claire cover in the WTH series, it is a fan favorite among contemporary writers, as evidenced by this tweet from author Alexander Chee: “Em-dash is the ‘just belt it and go’ of punctuation. Thus my devotion to it.” There’s even a (particularly nerdy) Distracted Boyfriend Meme circulating.  So what distinguishes an em dash from other dashes? Why do poets in particular have such a...

In this episode, we had the abundant pleasure of talking with the Spring 2023 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Bianca Alyssa Pérez!In this conversation supercharged with Bianca's charm, we talked about  all things Gemini Gospel, from the inspiration behind the cover art to the poems themselves, full of spirit, grief and healing. We know you'll be charmed, too, by this lovely conversation with Bianca!  If you're listening before April 8th, 2023 and you live near Austin, Texas, please...

For this episode, Claire and Annar each brought "something old" and "something new" - a mashup of very old and very contemporary poems to learn a little more about what poetry can do, what it has always done, and how it speaks remarkably clearly to us through the centuries.  Annar's Mashup: "Darkness" by Lord Byron and three poems from the book Blood Snow by dg nanouk okpik.  Claire's Mashup: "Field-Song" by Anachreon, (from Stone Garland: Six Poets from the Greek Lyric Tradition edited by...

In this episode, Claire and Annar get into the nitty gritty of where, how and what to submit when sending your writing out for publication, whether it be to a literary magazine, a chapbook prize, or to a press for full-length manuscripts.

Welcome to Season 4 of The Host Dispatch!!  We’re kicking this season off with another pressing question: What the Hell is Dada? Annar and Claire dive into the absurdity, revolution, and anti-art of the Dada movement, and share some of their favorite writings from the likes of Tristan Tzara, Til Brugman, and Mina Loy.

In this episode, we had the immense delight of chatting with the Fall 2022 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Sophia Stid! We discuss her prize winning chapbook, But For I Am a Woman, and much more.

In this episode, we reminisce about all the good times we shared with our publisher, friend, and ultimate fan of Spooky Season, Joe Bratcher.  Carrying on the tradition, we discussed two spooky reads that we’ve been enjoying this year: A Phantom Lover by Vernon Lee (Creature Publishing) Three Streets by Yoko Tawada (New Directions)

In this new minisode series, Managing Editor and cover designer extraordinaire, Annar Veröld, divulges all of her secrets to making the most striking book covers for Host Publications. In this first episode of the series, we focus on what it means to be inspired, and how to carry that inspiration through to the finish line.

We offer this episode in loving memory of our publisher, mentor, and dear friend, Joe Bratcher III, who loved literature and was a champion of translated works, especially those written and translated by women. We celebrate Women in Translation Month this year in his honor.    In this episode, we discuss: Shapeshifter by Alice Paalen Rahon Extracting the Stone of Madness by Alejandra Pizarnik Please visit our website where currently, all of our works by women in translation are 50% off! 

This Pride Month, we are celebrating by making donations to the following organizations that support the LGBTQIA+ community: The Okra Project - a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People wherever we can reach them. Out Youth - Out Youth serves Central Texas LGBTQIA+ youth and their allies with programs and services to ensure these promising young people...

In this episode, Host editors Annar and Claire go back to the basics of poetry, to investigate one of the seemingly simplest yet most elusive poetic elements: the line break.  The poems discussed in this episode come from the following books: Ariel by Sylvia Plath Mistaken for Loud Comets by lily someson Little Girl Blue: Poems by Sequoia Maner

In this episode, Annar and Joe had the chance to sit down with Fernando A. Flores, author of Death to the B******t Artists of South Texas, the short story collection that revived Host Publications as we know it after taking a brief hiatus.   We always like to say that Death to the B******t Artists of South Texas is a psychedelic romp through the Rio Grande Valley music scene. It is collection of 10 punk rock fairy-tales about artists and misfits trying to make noise and live forever in the...

In this episode, Host editors Claire and Annar, and publisher Joe celebrate National Poetry Month by reading a few poems they've been returning to again and again to find inspiration this month.    The poems discussed in this episode are: "Poetry" by John Keene "Sailing to Byzantium" by W. B. Yeats "Black Star Line" by Henry Dumas "Reading Darwish in Vermont" by Zaina Alsous