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Image of Et Alia Press Director Erin Wood by Cary Jenkins/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Et Alia Press in Sunday Style Section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
“A shipment of Sarah-Catherine Gutierrez's new book But First Save 10: The One Simple Money Move That Will Change Your Life was on the way to Et Alia Press one afternoon early in July and publisher Erin Wood was preparing for the onslaught.
"We've got 650 pounds of books coming today," she says. "My daughter is going to be helping put return address labels on all the packages and my husband is printing the address labels in his office."
“This is how things are run at Et Alia, the ambitious, Little Rock-based ‘small press for big voices’ that has published memoirs, children's books, anthologies, poetry, books on fashion, nature and Wood's award-winning 2019 collection of interviews and photography "Women Make Arkansas: Conversations With 50 Creatives," which also spawned the annual Women Make Arkansas Market.
“In the past five or six years, I've really wanted to make this a full-time thing," Wood, 42, says during a telephone interview. "It also became really clear to me that if you were going to publish three to five books a year, why not make them in Arkansas? This is my native state, and we've got lots of stories to tell.
“Georgia author Megan Volpert edited Closet Cases: Queers on What We Wear, which was published by Et Alia in March.
"‘I see Erin at the forefront of this new South we are all trying to build together, something that is a little more progressive, a little more diverse," Volpert says. "If you look at the types of writers she's publishing, it's a very diverse bunch and it's mostly women. She gets a lot credit for being a small, one-woman operation, but not a lot of people look at the very quiet and useful way that her selections have been political.’"
To read the rest of the article by Sean Clancy, CLICK HERE.
Untold Arkansas Launch Party Wednesday at White Water Tavern
Join us Wednesday, December 5 from 6-8 pm at Little Rock’s White Water Tavern. Readings will go from about 6:30-7 pm and contributors’ art and photography will be on display. Books will also be available for signing and purchase. This is a free event. Hope to see you there!
Dennis Vannatta, author of The Only World You Get: Arkansas Stories, in his office.
Creative Space: et alia author Dennis Vannatta
Dennis Vannatta is a recipient of The Porter Prize, presented annually to an Arkansas writer who has accomplished a substantial and impressive body of work that merits enhanced recognition. He has published stories in many magazines and anthologies, including Chariton Review, Boulevard, Antioch Review, and Pushcart XV. In 2016, Et Alia published The Only World You Get: Arkansas Stories, which features twelve new and previously published stories, all set in Arkansas.
Dennis lives and writes in Little Rock, where he is retired from three decades in the English Department at The University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Where do you write? Basically, I can write anywhere: sitting in the car on a parking lot, in a spare bedroom in my in-laws’ house, in a fast-food restaurant, wherever. Most of the revision, though, happens in my office before the computer. I don’t necessarily feel more creative one place rather than another.
Are there any books on your shelves that are particular inspirations for your own work? Early in my writing days, yes, of course (Hemingway, Faulkner, the usual suspects), but now, no.
You have so many student fans from your years of teaching . . . are there particular texts or authors that you really enjoyed teaching? Or were perennial student favorites? So many. Hemingway, Faulkner, Borges, Garcia Marquez, Kafka, on and on. I’ll leave it to the students to comment on how much they enjoyed them.
Do you generally write first drafts on those yellow legal pads before typing up? Or what part of your process involves yellow pads? I always hand-write first drafts, generally on yellow legal pads, but whatever blank paper is at hand works for me.
Are those the “Rascals, Andrew and William” to whom your book is dedicated in the background/on your screen saver? You know the answer to that. Of course.
What was it like to win the Porter Prize? Nice. What else can I say?
Other recipients of the Porter Prize include three women who will be featured in Et Alia's forthcoming book, Women Makers of Arkansas: Padma Viswanathan (fiction, 2017), Sandy Longhorn (poetry, 2016), and Jo McDougall (poetry, 2000), as well as well-known names like Kevin Brockmeier (fiction, 2003) and Shirley Abbott (non-fiction, 2005), among many others who have made tremendous contributions to our state's literary landscape.
Vannatta will read this Saturday, January 27, with John Vanderslice as part of the Argenta Reading Series at Argenta United Methodist Church. Order his book on Et Alia's website through Friday 1/26 with code "BOGO" to buy one, get one free.
“At 10:51 in the morning (I looked at my watch so that I’d always remember the time), our mother stopped breathing. Those of us around her bedside—me, my sister Janice (everyone called her Ruby because of her red hair), our little brother Bobby, and our Cousin Harlan Lee—stopped breathing, too. Then Bobby opened his mouth to let out that wail we all knew would come to herald our mother’s death because even at fifty-five he’d never been able to stop himself—crybaby, crybaby—but it wasn’t Bobby who broke the silence. It was our mother. She opened one eye and said in a voice that was stronger, clearer than it had been in days, “Had you going there for a minute, didn’t I?”
A Canine Christmas Interview
Louie and Knox, adopted by UA Little Rock professor Sherry Rankins-Robertson and family from Rock City Rescue, and their older sister, Lola, have sniffed out a great read in Grace Vest's Home Sweet Home: Arkansas Rescue Dogs & Their Stories.
Et Alia Press met with Louie and Knox during the holidays to ask them what they thought about the project.
Louie barked, "It is tremendously uplifting to see that the stories of Arkansas rescue dogs like us have been given a platform. Dogs like us are often neglected and rejected, so it feels good to see our canine companions being celebrated in flashy, glossy style."
Knox panted, "I agree with my brother, and hope that the dogs to whom Grace Vest has given voice will serve as examples to other human families that rescue dogs rescue humans, too."
Wrinkling his brow, Louie yelped in return, "Yes! Please take more of us into your homes, and feed us only high-reward treats! We will love you forever and make your lives better."
We hope every species at your house is enjoying snuggling up with their Et Alia reads this holiday season and into the New Year!
Small Business Saturday Starts Now!
SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY, NOW THROUGH 11/26!
- 10% OFF ANY ORDER WITH CODE SMALL10
- 20% OFF ORDERS OVER $60 WITH CODE SMALL20
- 30% OFF ORDERS OVER $100 WITH CODE SMALL30
With any order:
- Free Giftwrap and Tag
- Free Shipping (as always)
- Free Hand-Delivery to 72205 and 72207 Area Codes
Thank you for purchasing from Et Alia Press! When you buy direct from independent publishers, you make an immediate impact on our ability to support Arkansas authors and bring exciting titles to your bookshelf.
CD Wright Women Writers Conference
The inaugural CD Wright Women Writers Conference at University of Central Arkansas in Conway, AR on November 2 and 3 was a smashing success.
Below, Et Alia's Erin Wood visits ESSE Purse Museum in Little Rock's SoMa District on Friday with Emily Shearer of Minerva Rising Press. The two became friends at AWP 2017 in D.C. in February.
Erin participated in an engaging writing workshop at ESSE along with a dozen other women, who grew to know one another and each other's writing through the contents of our purses.
Tayari Jones was Friday's keynote speaker, who captivated the audience with a reading from her forthcoming novel, An American Marriage.
Below, Eliza Borne, senior editor of The Oxford American Magazine, speaks on "The Topography of Contemporary Publishing," and Poet/Memoirist Jo McDougall speaks as part of the panel "A Call to White Women: Because the Warp is Everywhere."
During the conference, McDougall joined Erin's Women Makers of Arkansas project.
Below, Erin Wo-mans the Et Alia booth at left, and gets a shot with friends Emily Shearer and Kim Brown at Minerva Rising at right.
Thank You for Coming out to Handmade in the Heights!
Thanks to all who came out to Handmade in the Heights on Saturday, May 6! We had a great time speaking to readers and writers, slinging paperbacks, and sharing the excitement of past and current Et Alia projects.
Author Grace Vest and Champ share news about the FALL 2017 release of HOME SWEET HOME: Arkansas Rescue Dogs and Their Stories. We even got a visit from the cover dog herself! The photoshoot for the final dog featured in the book was complete yesterday. Et Alia is thrilled for Grace and all these special doggies as enthusiasm builds for the release!
HOME SWEET HOME: Arkansas Rescue Dogs and Their Stories author Grace Vest and her resuce dog, Champ.
Et Alia author Philip Martin (The President Next Door: Poems, Songs, and Journalism) wife Karen, and their fur kids; Et Alia author and co-owner Erin Wood with her mamma; and a fun customer sharing her new poster, purchased just down the way from Yella Dog Press.
New Orleans' Times-Picayune Features Can Everybody Swim? on Katrina's 11th Anniversary
On August 30, 2016, Times-Picayune writer Robert Mann says, "On this 11th anniversary of Katrina, let us resolve never to forget the thousands of heroes in the Dome and those trapped at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center who bravely endured and maintained their dignity and humanity in the most inhumane of circumstances."
"Bruce S. Snow, a resident of the Dome that week . . . has published an engrossing memoir of his family's ordeal, Can Everybody Swim? A Survival Story from Katrina's Superdome, (Et Alia Press, $16.95). Snow vividly describes each day in the Dome. It's grim and depressing at times. . . . however, what shines through are those individuals who cared for each other.
Snow's retelling of his stumbling across a double-length cot holding 13 overheated babies, each wearing only diapers, is poignant. "Before them stood a black man in his thirties wearing a do-rag and an oversized, brightly colored Polo shirt," Snow wrote. "He just stood there waving a piece of cardboard from a box that once held MREs. READ MORE.
The Moon Prince and The Sea Now Available for Sale!
Following its Monday June 6 launch at The University of Utah School of Medicine, medical student Daniela Rose Anderson's stunning debut book for children and families facing terminal illnesses, The Moon Prince and The Sea is now available for purchase from Et Alia Press. All preorders have been filled, and we thank our customers for the outpouring of early interest in this moving and important children's book.
The Moon Prince and The Sea is based on the true story of a bond formed across an ocean between two children who found joy despite terminal illnesses. In a hospital in India, Sumit is surrounded by children who call the hospital their home; in a hospital in America, Marina is surrounded by her loving family and friends. The book is named for Sumit, the moon prince, who paints a map of two moons that the children will later find on their adventure, and Marina, whose name means “of the sea.” The pair embarks on a magical adventure that raises questions about love, life, and death in a manner designed to be accessible to and comforting for children and families. This book is intended for children and families experiencing sickness, grief, or loss, and for any child who is curious about these topics. Written in memory of Sumit and Marina, author Daniela Rose Anderson is generously donating her royalties from The Moon Prince and The Sea to support children otherwise financially unable to access the medical care they need.
Support Daniela's efforts to provide children's access to medical care by ordering your copy today, and stay tuned for a more expansive reading and resource list for children and families facing terminal illnesses.
The Moon Prince and The Sea author, Daniela Rose Anderson, with Sumit in India.
Author Daniela Anderson reads from The Moon Prince and The Sea at its June 6 book launch in Salt Lake City, Utah.