still here ...

So, 20 years ... granted, the last 5 have hardly been prolific, half being year-end posts on a year's worth of good reading (graciously linked by The Literary Saloon); the demise of the Best Translated Book Award accounts for some of the lack, though there's some promise of replacement by the indie-bookshop driven Cercador Prize. FWIW, I intend to increase posting frequency: more on that later.

While much of my reticence has been to avoid repeating myself, current circumstances (such as the cancellation of NEA grants) compel me to reiterate what I posted back in 2011, with updated linkage (linkrot why I don't link it directly):

Support Your Local Bookmaker

As the year goes into the home stretch, what remains but to remind you to remand a consideration for those who keep independent nonprofit literary publishing in the running? What's at stake is their continuing ability to get dark horses out of the gate: individual donors are important for direct funding, but I'd wager they also improve the odds for winning foundation support.

The publisher I put my money on is Archipelago Books [and joined their board the following year; I've read over 3/4 of their list, children's imprint Elsewhere excepted]. They've long been on a winning streak; the last time I broached this topic was appended to my take on one of their earlier successes, and its successors haven't let me down. With my abiding interest in literary translations, they have the inside track, and annual donation is my means of following the tip to "think global, act local". (And tax-deductibility isn't limited to offsetting gambling winnings.)

Of course, you may want to back a different entrant, or more than one, from the field below:
Archipelago Books
BOA Editions
Coffee House
Copper Canyon
Dalkey Archive now an imprint of:
Deep Vellum
Dzanc Books
Graywolf
Library of America
Milkweed
Open Letter
Restless Books
Sarabande Books
Transit
Two Lines
Ugly Duckling
White Pine
Zephyr

(or you could play the field with Words Without Borders but I think that's off-track betting.)

add 6.8.25: lithub on the future of small presses ...