Episode 92, Season 7 Opener with Paul Hawkins of Hesterglock Press

https://hesterglock.net/

https://www.instagram.com/hesterglock/

Paul Hawkins

Each What Studio

Recorded on August 2, 2022

Paul and I discuss his background as poet, publisher, visual artist, member of bands, protestor, squatter, refuse collector, office worker, builder, labourer, recovering drug addict, person with borderline personality disorder, survivor and how these different experiences molded him and Hesterglock Press.

https://hesterglock.net/Sarer-ScotthorneI ask where the name for the press came about. Paul talks about co-running the press with Sarer Scotthorne.
Note that Hesterglock Press is not open for submissions. It’s friendly, experimental and celebrates differences. We talk about UK publishers, such as Richard Capener of Hem Press and the Babel Tower Noticeboard. I talk about Canadian vs UK experimental writing.

We talk about the traditional publishing model and how Hesterglock is different. Paul mentions Prote(s)xt imprint books, which leads to a conversation about print on demand. I discuss the grant system in Canada for small press publishers and how restrictive it is.

Paul discusses Partial Leaves from The Gospel of John – Volume 1 by John Murry with Will Russell https://hesterglock.net/John-Murry-Will-Russell-1

I ask about what determines design for Hesterglock Press publications.

Writing Utopia 2020

editors: Sally-Shakti Willow & Sarer Scotthorne with cover art: Joe Evans https://hesterglock.net/WRITING-UTOPIA-2020

We discuss Disrupted Blue and other poems on Polaroid by Vik Shirley https://hesterglock.net/Vik-Shirley.

Aletta Ocean’s Alphabet Empire by SJ Fowler https://hesterglock.net/SJ-Fowler-AOAE

The Perambulator: Should we Meet at the Crossroads, Keep Walking

Poem Brut is a movement started by SJ Fowler that Paul is part of. Hesterglock Press has published work from those in Poem Brut, done some workshops, been part of exhibitions and events.

Paul discusses forthcoming and recent publications:

Weaving Light: Writers & poets on the woven art of Rezia Wahid, edited by Khaled Nurul Hakim and
featuring cris cheek, Geraldine Clarkson, Kelvin Corcoran, Dr Catherine Dormor, Sasha Dugdale, John Goodby, Khaled Hakim, Moustafa Hassan. Dr Alexandra Makin, Imogen Reid, Yasmine Seale and Rose Sinclair https://hesterglock.net/Weaving-Light

dancing in the womb by Rezia Wahid

SJ Fowler – Poetos and Phoems: Selected Photopoems (a publishing collaboration w/The Aleph)
Paul Hawkins & Julia Rose Lewis – Postcards From Mental States
Tim Gaze – Cascade (due 2023) and Patrick Cosgrove, BIROS

Paul talks about his studio, Each What Industries. EWI Studio has been made possible by Hypha Studios, a charity that matches artists with empty spaces. https://hyphastudios.com/

We talk about the importance of listening to one’s imagination.

Note of Praise

Hesterglock Press is probably one of the most far reaching, border blurring small presses I’ve encountered. From photos to music to visual poetry, low-fi collage, textiles and hand drawn art to dub poetry, sound poetry, humour with mathematics and the tesseract, literary psychedelic realism, there’s such a vast expanse of work being published. Hesterglock Press disrupts mainstream publishing irreverently, and joyously. Some of the work that intrigues me: The Perambulator: Should we Meet at the Crossroads, Keep Walking https://hesterglock.net/The-Perambulator i’m not quite sure what this is: a play, a novel, a response to experimental music? Kindertotenlieder: Collected Early essays and letters and confessions by Daniele Pantano, this gorgeous vispo… Cocktail Kafkaïnem by Mustapha Benfodil / Joe Ford (translator.) I found myself going thru the Hesterglock catalogue in a state of wonder and perplexion as I read through the descriptions of the work and watched the videos of readings and listened to bits of electronica. I think the publisher must be a multi-eyed, tentacled creature with a high functioning alien brain and the ability to do many brilliant things at the same time. That’s the only explanation for this whimsical assemblage of far out and groovy works.

Thank you to Paul for being on the show, to Jennifer Pederson for the intro and outro, to Charles Earl for processing and to you for listening to and sharing the episodes each month.

Stay tuned for future episodes with above/ground press, Beir Bua, Ethel Zine, and Hem Press.