Soft Skull News

Greetings, Soft Skullians!

As introduced by Anne a couple entries ago, I’m Charlotte, yours truly when it comes to exploring our books for sale on this site. I’m happy to announce this year’s subscription lists. What does this mean, you ask? Well, it means a hefty discount for you: Pay $100 plus shipping for a fantastic collection of books that at retail would total over $150. Plus, each subscription comes with a bonus book or two we carefully selected. Check them out:

FICTION 2009

NONFICTION 2009

MUSIC 2009 – In case you missed Record Store Day this past weekend, consider taking a stroll to your local favorite record shop to take part in supporting music... on your way to your local favorite indie bookshop, of course. ;)

Segue:

In addition to checking us out here, be sure to friend us on Facebook and MySpace. We like to take part in frenetic posts about our authors—events they’re throwing, awards they’re being nominated for and winning, grand reviews their books are receiving, etc. We want your comments, which this blog doesn't have the capacity for. Plus, you’ll see our authors posting there, too, so you can friend them as well.

Now go feast your eyes on those subscriptions, and tell us what you think on Facebook and Myspace!

Yours,
Charlotte

Posted by Charlotte Williams at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm so pleased that Denise Oswald will be joining Soft Skull as editorial director, beginning April 20. Here's a good article on the subject in the New York Observer, talking about Denise's prior experience and her plans for Soft Skull's future (and featuring a quote from me that somehow ended up sounding horrifyingly snarky, much to my distress).

Denise has a strong and intriguing publishing background, much of it at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where she began her career as an editorial assistant and worked her way up to senior editor. I'm looking forward to working with her and learning from her as Soft Skull benefits from her expertise, energy, and creativity. Denise has already made it clear that she intends to publish a wide range of books that take Soft Skull in interesting new directions while also honoring its distinctive identity and very special backlist, which she admires. Very good news for us and our authors and readers!

But I don't want this blog just to be about internal happenings at Soft Skull. What's more interesting is what's going on with our authors. Michael Muhmmad Knight, five of whose books we are publishing in 2009, is all over the web this week, writing about the Five Percenter culture, and you should check him out. Killing the Buddha is featuring an exclusive essay by Mike, entitled The Man I Call Allah, and Mike also has an essay up here, entitled "Yes, White People are Devils, and Yes, That Includes Me." Mike is also Powell's guest blogger this week.

And before I sign off, some news about Jack Sargeant, 1970s underground culture in NYC, and the Cinema of Transgression. Jack will be featured in Blank City, screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film explores some of the same territory that is the subject of his pioneering book Deathtripping just out from Soft Skull last year. Featured alongside Jack in Blank City are Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi, Lydia Lunch, Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, and John Waters. We're looking forward to seeing the film.

I have much more news, so I'll need to make a point of blogging more frequently to keep these entries short and sweet!

Posted by Anne Horowitz at 07:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)