On July 15th, the BACKWORDS Press team gets the extreme pleasure of re-releasing the work of our Fall 2015 poets, Jeff Alessandrelli, Wes Solether, and W. Vandoren Wheeler—this time in collaboration with graphic designer, Maria Regine Cabbab. In keeping with the continual expansion of our own artistic vision for the press, working with Maria on our Fall 2015 Issue seemed the perfect partnership for us at Backwords. We’re delighted to share redesigns with you all; it’s our hop

On July 15th, the BACKWORDS Press team gets the extreme pleasure of re-releasing the work of our Fall 2015 poets, Jeff Alessandrelli, Wes Solether, and W. Vandoren Wheeler—this time in collaboration with graphic designer, Maria Regine Cabbab. In keeping with the continual expansion of our own artistic vision for the press, working with Maria on our Fall 2015 Issue seemed the perfect partnership for us at Backwords. We’re delighted to share redesigns with you all; it’s our hop

For a while now, I’ve been debating the merits of Pride, and had all but decided this year to not make an effort to attend. The performances and shows, the exhibition, the commercial enterprise that is Pride, and Pride month in June, can feel overwhelming and stripped of the real reason to have such an event amidst the abs, sponsored vodkas, and glitter. It’s easy to neglect the older I get, that Pride was an event I used to come out. It was how I got the conversation really

If you ever need a good cry, read The God of Small Things. I read it for the first time in a literary theory course as an undergrad, taught by a new (to Idaho State University) professor. Over the course of the semester, we read a theory text book, the novella A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid, dozens of short stories and critical essays, Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Arundhati Roy has had

I don’t normally blog about things so soon after they happen, but sometimes a song like Rihanna’s “Work” will follow you and your homie for an entire night. The DJ will play it multiple times at the after-party, it will come on once or twice in two different Ubers, and again at your last stop of the evening, the Plaid Pantry, where you buy Cheddar & Sour Cream Ruffles–which you have not done since your mid-twenties! But, you were out on a Saturday night, which doesn’t really

I was seated in the balcony of the First Congregational Church of Christ in Downtown Portland, a little soggy because I had waited an hour in the rain to claim my seat. It was Wordstock and the chamber was buzzing after Cheryl Strayed interviewed Diana Nyad and drew a standing ovation. But I was ready for what I thought to be the main event. John Irving was being interviewed by Dave Miller of OPB’s Think Out Loud. After another ecstatic round of applause, Irving – cleanly dre

May 1st, when BACKWORDS Press releases its Spring 2016 Issue, is just two weeks away! This time, we’ve been working behind the scenes with our poets, and a few select designers, to bring to life these poems in a way that we haven’t before – BACKWORDS Press is expanding our artistic vision and we can’t wait to show you. Until then, please enjoy this final interview with one of our three new poets: Laura Walker (laura-walker.com) is the author of story (Apogee Press, forthcomin

The Spring 2016 Issue is fast approaching and will be released on May 1st. Between now and our launch date, the editors at BACKWORDS Press sat down with each of our three new writers to talk about the upcoming issue, their work, and to let them reveal a little bit of their unique voices. Last week was Armin Tolentino (click here for his interview), and this week we’re excited to speak with Lourdes Figueroa. Lourdes, our second poet from the Spring 2016 Issue, is the author o

With the Spring 2016 Issue fast approaching its release date of May 1st, the editors at BACKWORDS Press sat down with each of our three new writers to talk about the upcoming issue, their work, and to let them reveal a little bit of their unique voices. Over the next three weeks. Interview-style. Today, BACKWORDS Press would like to introduce you to Armin Tolentino, the first of our new featured writers, and author of the poem, “Pilot to the Photo on the Dashboard Before Cras

Billboard’s Paley Martin claims that Daughter’s latest album, Not To Disappear, enables “each lyric [to morph] the melancholic into an expansive and visceral soundscape” and the album as a whole “contemplates fate & presence.” This fate & presence is something I see as an extension of the mission of BACKWORDS Press’ Blog – exploring the intersection between history & presence – and I would have to agree with Paley’s review. Collaborating “with the BAFTA-nominated Iain Forsyth