It's been a difficult and challenging year for all of us. Writers and publishers alike have felt the pressures of a dramatically altering landscape and 2025 is not going to be much easier.
Small indie presses have seen closures and sales are unpredictable, leaving authors and poets, especially those on the publishing margins, particularly hard hit. And yet we keep at it. Serious journalism across the globe too is grievously threatened, with over 100 journalists losing their lives on the job this year. The shadow AI looms large over artistry and threatens Intellectual Property and Copyright across all artistic disciplines and threatens to leave societies culturally voiceless. Despite this gloomy scenario, readership and patronage still thrives in its own way and I thank you each, with a profound sense of gratitude for your support and encouragement; it means the world.
It is fondly reassuring each time I walk into a bookstore these days to find it crowded with eager readers of all ages. So, thank you. Each of you drives my desire to be ever better at this mysterious and beguiling craft of language.
For the first time, I am releasing work as a limited, signed edition of collectible broadsheets: ARRANGED WOMEN is one such collection and will be available as single orders and as sets. More information will be released in January.
Also as of January, after several false starts this year, FROM THE HEART series will kick off in the new year with an in-depth conversation about all things literary, with the indomitable Mike Fox who has enjoyed so much success and released his book THINGS GROWN DISTANT with CŌNFINGŌ PUBLISHING.
Publishers are often our most underrated readers. They should never be: Of all the lovely people who encourage and support my work, I'd be remiss not to mention Robert Frede Kenter of ICE FLOE PRESS who published two pieces from my short story collection Songs From Quarantine Bay and Mark Antony Owen for selecting La Gioconda for AFTER POETRY in 2025.
And to Sam Rasnake, for all our years of quiet collaboration, for your attentive gracious reading, thank you.
I appreciate you for reading. Thank you for caring. As 2024 comes to a close, stay beautiful and be kind out there.
Stay safe
x
Amantine
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