CLMP Fair at Housing Works

A few years ago, the editors of the literary journals Fence and Literal Latté thought that literary journals in the New York area could maximize their promotional efforts and readership if they pooled their resources and held a joint fair. Over half a decade later, the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) Literary Magazine Fair at Housing Works Café on Crosby Street in Soho is going strong. (It was actually Lit Mag Marathon Weekend in New York, with a "Magathon" reading last night--I missed it!--at Bryant Park.) I dropped by this afternoon, and chatted with editors and authors representing journals and magazines from North American Review to Rattapallax. All of the journals were on sale for $2, and the main floor and wrap-around balcony of the café were packed with people. many of whom were loading up not only on journals but on books from Housing Works's ample used stock selection, which is good news for the AIDS charity, Housing Works, that the café's proceeds benefit.

The view on the floor

Poet David Mills in conversation

Some of the journal displays from the balcony

One bit of great news I culled from the CLMP site is that the organization will be joining in a strategic partnership with Small Press Distributors (SPD), the US's only other national non-profit organization "devoted to serving independent literary publishers," to expand their reach and make their publications available to a broader array of potential readers.