Chax Press
Encyclopedia
Chax Press is a publisher of experimental and avant-garde poetry run by bookmaker and poet Charles Alexander
. The press publishes trade paperback and handmade fine arts editions. Chax is the oldest and most important publisher of poetry in Tucson, AZ
, a city where the press was initially founded in 1984, continuing the work of Black Mesa Press that Alexander had begun in 1981 in Wisconsin. The first book published was the influential work French Sonnets, by Jackson Mac Low
. Chax Press continues to publish about 10 titles a year. Chax Press is funded by grants from the Tucson-Pima Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts
, the Fund for Poetry, and other organizations, as well as by its earned income from book sales and by donations from individuals.
and Kit Robinson, an accordion-bound volume featuring a collaborative poem in which each poet's contributions are bound as separate cards to be read in any order, separately or together. The fact that the book may be stood and fanned out in a circular manner on a table provides additional possibilities for reading, and this kind of embodied awareness of the reading process is typical of the accomplishments of the press. Chax is also known for being a publisher of the Language poets
.
Influential books published by Chax Press include Traffic by Gil Ott, when new time folds up by Kathleen Fraser
, "tv eye" by Todd Baron, Art Facts: A Book of Contexts by b.p.nichol, A Reading 8-10 by Beverly Dahlen
, and Demo to Ink by Ron Silliman
. Chax publishes the New West Classics series which attempts to redefine "western" writing. This series has included The Architextures by Nathaniel Tarn
, As in T as in Tether by David Bromige
, A-Reading Spicer and 18 Sonnets by Beverly Dahlen, Trascendental Studies by Keith Wilson, and Erased Art by Tenney Nathanson. Chax has published the only volume of criticism and commentary on the work of the late poet Gil Ott, The Form of Our Uncertainty, edited by Kristen Gallagher. The press currently publishes an annual book series in memory of Gil Ott called the Gil Ott Award, which is edited by Charles Alexander, Eli Goldblatt, Myung Mi Kim, and Nathaniel Mackey
. The first volume to be published in this series is Since I Moved In, by Tim Peterson.
Noted authors published by Chax Press include Joe Amato (poet)
, Bruce Andrews
, Charles Bernstein
, Kass Fleisher
, Nathaniel Mackey
, Nick Piombino
, Patrick Pritchett, Jerome Rothenberg
and Mark Weiss.
The Chax Press Board of Directors features Charles Alexander, Heather Nagami, Ken Bacher, Cynthia Miller, Tenney Nathanson, Hank Lazer, Cythia Hogue, Laynie Brown, and Barbara Henning
. Chax Press has hosted the literary journal EOAGH (edited by Tim Peterson with Alexander in an advisory role) since the journal's inception in 2004. The title of the journal comes from a poem in Alexander's book near or random acts in which the neologism EOAGH appeared as the "sonic graph of a word" in a dream.
Charles Alexander (poet and book artist)
Charles Alexander is an American poet, publisher, and book artist. He is the director and editor-in-chief of Chax Press, one of the only independent presses which specializes in innovative poetry and the book arts. Alexander also served as the Director of the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts...
. The press publishes trade paperback and handmade fine arts editions. Chax is the oldest and most important publisher of poetry in Tucson, AZ
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, a city where the press was initially founded in 1984, continuing the work of Black Mesa Press that Alexander had begun in 1981 in Wisconsin. The first book published was the influential work French Sonnets, by Jackson Mac Low
Jackson Mac Low
Jackson Mac Low was an American poet, performance artist, composer and playwright, known to most readers of poetry as a practioneer of systematic chance operations and other non-intentional compositional methods in his work, which Mac Low first experienced in the musical work of John Cage, Earle...
. Chax Press continues to publish about 10 titles a year. Chax Press is funded by grants from the Tucson-Pima Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, the Fund for Poetry, and other organizations, as well as by its earned income from book sales and by donations from individuals.
Notable Books and Influence
The press is known for its innovative work in combining avant-garde poetics with unusual book forms which create new types of reading experiences, such as Individuals by Lyn HejinianLyn Hejinian
Lyn Hejinian is an American poet, essayist, translator and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is well known for her landmark work My Life , as well as her book of essays, The Language of Inquiry .-Life:Hejinian was born in the San...
and Kit Robinson, an accordion-bound volume featuring a collaborative poem in which each poet's contributions are bound as separate cards to be read in any order, separately or together. The fact that the book may be stood and fanned out in a circular manner on a table provides additional possibilities for reading, and this kind of embodied awareness of the reading process is typical of the accomplishments of the press. Chax is also known for being a publisher of the Language poets
Language poets
The Language poets are an avant garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
.
Influential books published by Chax Press include Traffic by Gil Ott, when new time folds up by Kathleen Fraser
Kathleen Fraser
-Early years:Fraser was born in 1937 and grew up in Oklahoma, Colorado, and California.-Her works:Kathleen Fraser's published works include What I Want , Magritte Series , New Shoes , Each Next, narratives , Something in the foreground, a lake , Notes Preceding Trust , When New Time Folds Up ,...
, "tv eye" by Todd Baron, Art Facts: A Book of Contexts by b.p.nichol, A Reading 8-10 by Beverly Dahlen
Beverly Dahlen
Beverly Dahlen is an American poet who lives and works in San Francisco, CA.-Life and work:A native of Portland, Oregon where she attended public schools, Dahlen moved with her family to Eureka, California after World War II. In 1956, she resettled in San Francisco where she has lived for many years...
, and Demo to Ink by Ron Silliman
Ron Silliman
Ron Silliman is an American poet. He has written and edited over 30 books, and has had his poetry and criticism translated into 12 languages. He is often associated with language poetry. Between 1979 and 2004, Silliman wrote a single poem, The Alphabet...
. Chax publishes the New West Classics series which attempts to redefine "western" writing. This series has included The Architextures by Nathaniel Tarn
Nathaniel Tarn
Nathaniel Tarn is an American poet, essayist, anthropologist, and translator. He was born to a French mother and a British father. He lived in Paris until age 7, then in Belgium until age 11.-Education:...
, As in T as in Tether by David Bromige
David Bromige
David Mansfield Bromige is a Canadian poet who resided in northern California from 1962 onward. Bromige published thirty books, each one so different from the others as to seem to be the work of a different author...
, A-Reading Spicer and 18 Sonnets by Beverly Dahlen, Trascendental Studies by Keith Wilson, and Erased Art by Tenney Nathanson. Chax has published the only volume of criticism and commentary on the work of the late poet Gil Ott, The Form of Our Uncertainty, edited by Kristen Gallagher. The press currently publishes an annual book series in memory of Gil Ott called the Gil Ott Award, which is edited by Charles Alexander, Eli Goldblatt, Myung Mi Kim, and Nathaniel Mackey
Nathaniel Mackey
Nathaniel Mackey is an American poet, novelist, anthologist, literary critic, editor and Professor of Literature at UC Santa Cruz. Mackey is a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets. Mackey is currently teaching a poetry workshop at Duke University....
. The first volume to be published in this series is Since I Moved In, by Tim Peterson.
Noted authors published by Chax Press include Joe Amato (poet)
Joe Amato (poet)
Joe Amato is an American writer best known for his poetry and his work in poetics. He has also authored a memoir and two novels...
, Bruce Andrews
Bruce Andrews
Bruce Andrews is a U.S. poet who is one of the key figures associated with the Language poets .-Life and work:...
, Charles Bernstein
Charles Bernstein
Charles Bernstein is an American poet, theorist, editor, and literary scholar. Bernstein holds the Donald T. Regan Chair in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is one of the most prominent members of the Language poets . In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the American...
, Kass Fleisher
Kass Fleisher
H. Kassia Fleisher is an American writer best known for her fiction and creative nonfiction. She holds degrees in English from Dickinson College , University of North Dakota , and Binghamton University...
, Nathaniel Mackey
Nathaniel Mackey
Nathaniel Mackey is an American poet, novelist, anthologist, literary critic, editor and Professor of Literature at UC Santa Cruz. Mackey is a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets. Mackey is currently teaching a poetry workshop at Duke University....
, Nick Piombino
Nick Piombino
Nick Piombino is an American poet, essayist, artist and psychotherapist. He has been associated with poets from both the New York School of the 1960s and the Language Poets of the 1970s, though his work is not easily classified...
, Patrick Pritchett, Jerome Rothenberg
Jerome Rothenberg
Jerome Rothenberg is an internationally known American poet, translator and anthologist who is noted for his work in ethnopoetics and poetry performance.-Early life and work:...
and Mark Weiss.
The Chax Press Board of Directors features Charles Alexander, Heather Nagami, Ken Bacher, Cynthia Miller, Tenney Nathanson, Hank Lazer, Cythia Hogue, Laynie Brown, and Barbara Henning
Barbara Henning
Barbara Henning is an American poet and fiction writer. She is the author of eight books of poetry, three novels, a series of photo-poem pamphlets and most recently a collection of interviews, . Her work has been published in numerous journals...
. Chax Press has hosted the literary journal EOAGH (edited by Tim Peterson with Alexander in an advisory role) since the journal's inception in 2004. The title of the journal comes from a poem in Alexander's book near or random acts in which the neologism EOAGH appeared as the "sonic graph of a word" in a dream.