Recorded on Nov 29, 2021

Visit Coven Editions https://www.coveneditions.com/ and buy chapbooks.

We discuss the beginnings of Coven Editions, the collaboration between the founders, Emilia Morgan and Stephanie Meloche. We discuss individual chapbooks, broadsides and the online magazine, deathcap. We share our love for handmade chapbooks, paper and all things small press. Emilia and Stephanie talk about how their vision and work of the press has been affected by the pandemic. We discuss forthcoming chapbooks and blue sky plans for the press, and we talk of the importance of community.

We talk about the female agency in the idea of witches, and the collaborative aspect of a coven. “Stephanie and Emilia – a little bit spooky.”

Emilia and Stephanie praise the Avant Garde Bar where they hosted their first event.

We discuss how Coven Editions does its design and creates the books affordably and how they work with authors to match the design to the work, the influences of Apt 9 Press and others.

“It’s a bigger needle, bigger thread and it’s just paper, so i guess we can fucking figure it out.” Emilia on hand-stitching the binding of the Coven Edition chapbooks.

We discuss the importance of going beyond just publishing what we like, and the joys of publishing first-time writers.

“We always pride ourselves on trying to source most of our materials locally.” Stephanie.

New and forthcoming chapbooks by Dessa Bayrock and Katie Stobbart, Aedan Corey and Ellen Chang-Richardson.

“Don’t look at me with those deadline eyes.” Emilia.

We discuss the ideas and long term plans for Coven Editions, including book launches in Waterloo, Ottawa and Toronto.

“Next year book launches are coming back.” Emilia

Thank you to Stepanie and Mia for being on the show. Thanks to Charles Earl for processing, to Jennifer Pederson for assistance with the intro and outro, to all of you for listening and sharing the episode. In December, I’ll speak to Kristine Snodgrass, the editor of WAAVe Global Gallery, a new visual poetry anthology, and Jennifer Mulligan about the poetic elements of film. We’ll talk small press and reading series in 2022 with numerous presses from Canada, UK, Europe, and USA. Stay tuned!

postscript: thank you to Jérôme Melançon for this generous and attentive essay on the Small Machine Talks published in Periodicities Journal. and thanks to rob mclennan for continuing to make space for conversation on literary stuff. https://periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2021/12/jerome-melancon-sense-of-experiment-on.html