The Host Dispatch: A Literary Podcast

In this episode, Host editors Annar and Claire go back to the basics of poetry, to investigate one of the seemingly simplest yet most elusive poetic elements: the line break.    The poems discussed in this episode come from the following books: Ariel by Sylvia Plath Mistaken for Loud Comets by lily someson Little Girl Blue: Poems by Sequoia Maner  

In this episode, Annar and Joe had the chance to sit down with Fernando A. Flores, author of Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas , the short story collection that revived Host Publications as we know it after taking a brief hiatus.   We always like to say that Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas is a psychedelic romp through the Rio Grande Valley music scene. It is collection of...

In this episode, Host editors Claire and Annar, and publisher Joe celebrate National Poetry Month by reading a few poems they've been returning to again and again to find inspiration this month.    The poems discussed in this episode are: "Poetry" by John Keene "Sailing to Byzantium" by W. B. Yeats "Black Star Line" by Henry Dumas "Reading Darwish in Vermont" by Zaina Alsous  

In this episode, Claire and Annar interview the Spring 2022 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Maryan Nagy Captan.  Maryan is a poet, screenwriter and educator living in Austin, Texas. She is a 2021 graduate of the Michener Center for Writers and attended the Disquiet International Literary Conference in 2017 and 2019. Her first book, Copy/Body , was published in 2017 by Empty Set Press and,...

Hello, and welcome to *Season 3* of The Host Dispatch! What an honor it is to share the first episode of Season 3 of The Host Dispatch with you, in conversation with poet, educator, community organizer and founder of TORCH Literary Arts, Amanda Johnston . Amanda has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the fu...

This year, the Host team is celebrating the holidays with the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflöd, which translates to "great book flood," in which loved ones exchange books on Christmas Eve, curl up by the fireplace and sip on hot cocoa while reading their new books each year.   The books we gifted each other in this episode are: Other Peoples's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night by Morgan Parker Touch...

In this episode, Claire and Annar interview Cecily Sailer, a freelance writer writing coach, and the founder of Typewriter Tarot . Growing up an only child in a quiet home, she fell in love at an early age with ghost stories, hidden realities, and anything mysterious and inexplicable. In 2017, she finally picked up a Tarot deck and quickly discovered the power of Tarot as a tool for self-examinati...

Happy Spooky Season! In this episode, The Host Team dives into a spooky short story anthology titled The Women of Weird Tales , the second book in the series "Monster, She Wrote" by Valancourt Books , which resurrects fiction written by women who were pioneers in the speculative and horror genres. The Women of Weird Tales includes thirteen fantastic tales originally published between 1925 and 1949...

We are beyond excited to share this incredible conversation with the Fall 2021 Host Publications Chapbook Prize Winner, Sequoia Maner! Sequoia is an Assistant Professor of African American Literature at Spelman College. She is a co-editor of the critical-creative book Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era (Routledge, 2020) and at work on a forthcoming book regarding Kendrick Lamar's a...

This year, we've put together the first official Host Publications Women In Translation Month Reading List , which includes many of our all-time favorite WIT titles, some new faves, a few books that are on our "to-read" lists, and even some books translated by women.  In this episode, we discuss our beloved WIT reading list, before diving into three amazing books we wanted to highlight: A Ghost in...

The Austin Youth Poet Laureate program has landed in Austin! We here at Host Publications are thrilled to partner with the Library Foundation  and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program led by Urban Word, with additional support from the Austin Public Library, Creative Learning Initiative, and Learn All The Time.  In this episode, we discuss the details of this exciting new program for young wri...

In this episode, the Host team deconstructs and reimagines the idea of a "Beach Read," offering three unlikely candidates for this year's summer reading list that don't quite fit in with the mass-marketing schemes of the "Beach Read" convention:    Wild Milk by Sabrina Orah Mark The Hour of The Star  by Clarice Lispector and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

In this episode, Claire and Annar chat with poet and writer extraordinaire, Julie Poole. This episode airs on June 1st, 2021, which is the publication date for Julie's first full-length collection of poetry, Bright Specimen , published by fellow small Texas press, Deep Vellum.  We had an enchanting conversation with Julie about her poems in Bright Specimen , which were inspired by her exploration...

Welcome to the 1 Year Anniversary Episode of the Host Dispatch!    In this episode, we are celebrating the 1 year anniversary of The Host Dispatch with so much joy in our hearts! We are grateful for the opportunity to connect more deeply with each other, with poetry, great literature, and with you, our dear listeners.

In this episode, we had the pleasure of talking again with poet, Julie Howd.  Julie defines her term "Eco-Surrealism" in this episode, and we discuss the intersection of avant-garde poetry and the ever-pressing fight for the health of our planet.  In this context, we discuss the work of Argentinian poet, Silvina Ocampo, specifically her selected poems published by NYRB. Julie's Eco-Surrealist Reco...

In this episode, Host editors Claire and Annar, and publisher Joe celebrate National Poetry Month by reading a few poems and discussing how they serve as examples of how each of us as individuals find access, or entry points into poems, and why we love poetry.  The poems we discussed in this episode are: “Diving Into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich from Diving Into the Wreck  “Poem for an Antique Kore...

Just a quick PSA announcing that the submissions window for the Host Publications Chapbook Prize will be closing at 11:59pm CST on Monday, March 15th!  Submissions guidelines and more information about the prize can be found on our website. We can't wait to read your work!

Welcome to Congress of the Spirits: a poetry ritual and performance. We wanted to create a sacred space in the airwaves for us to commune in, focusing on nourishing our depleted spirits with poetry that stimulates the imagination and crosses over into the dreamworld in which we can imagine a better future.  Before this magical reading, Claire and Annar offer a short meditative ritual to enter the...

In this episode, we celebrate Black History Month with a reading and discussion of the anthology African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song  edited by Kevin Young, Poetry Editor of The New Yorker. This incredible anthology is described as "A literary landmark: the biggest, most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the pres...

Welcome to Season 2 of the Host Dispatch! We're so thrilled to kick off Season 2 conversing with the warm and magical poet, lily someson. lily is the Spring 2021 Host Publications Chapbook Prize winner for her chapbook called mistaken for loud comets, forthcoming in February 2021. lily someson (she/they) is a poet and essayist from Chicago. She has obtained a B.A. in Poetry from Columbia College C...

We are delighted to announce that the Host Publications Chapbook Prize will be open for submissions from January 20th-March 15th. Two selected manuscripts will be published, one in the Fall of 2021 and one in the Spring 2022. Prize winners will be announced May 15th.  ABOUT THE HOST PUBLICATIONS CHAPBOOK PRIZE The Host Publications Chapbook prize awards a womxn writer $1000 + 20 author copies, ded...

In this episode, we discuss the age-old tradition of reading ghost stories on Christmas! Here are the books we discuss in this episode: The Green Room by Walter de la Mare Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk by Frank Cowper The Diary of Mr. Poynter by M. R. James The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol This is the last episode of Season 1, and we want to thank you for listening from the bottom of...

In this minisode, Host editors Annar and Claire offer ways in which to pay respect to native people during the ever-problematic Thanksgiving holiday and its frightening capitalist cousin, Black Friday, which has been deemed Native American Heritage Day. This is a time to honor indigenous cultures, and to educate ourselves about the history of this land, and the challenges Native people have faced...

In this episode, Host editors Claire and Annar converse with the delightful poet, Julie Howd. Julie is a poet and educator from Massachusetts. She is the author of Threshold winner of the Spring 2020 Host Publications Chapbook prize. Julie’s poetry is a delightful force, and the poet has come to consider herself an “eco-surrealist” writing poetry that is deeply in tune with the threats facing our...

In this episode, the Host Publications team chats about the scary books they've been reading get into the spirit of Halloween from home this year. They discuss the new HBO Series Lovecraft Country, the Horror genre and subgenres, & what makes a book scary.  The books discussed in this episode are: Dracula by Bram Stoker R E D by Chase Berggrun Rogomelec by Leonor Fini (“ROGUE – MELL- IC”) The Grea...