A while back I mentioned a marvelous new project that was underway up in Providence, Encyclopedia. Three talented, intrepid culture workers, Tisa Bryant, Miranda F. Mellis and Kate Schatz, established the journal, The Encyclopedia Project, and a sister press, Encyclomedia, because they "saw the necessity of increasing visibility not just of 'the arts' but of the arts that are continually marginalized because of social and cultural biases against work considered 'experimental' or 'avant-garde.'" They "also wanted to challenge the ways in which traditional literary journals and anthologies segregate arts and artists rather than connect them and their ideas, and to offer a venue for new, innovative works." One of their aims that I find particularly significant, compared to other innovative projects, is that they intend for 50% of the contributors to be people of color.The first issue of the Encyclopedia Project (the comely volume is pictured above), Vol. 1 A-E, is out. It's 336 pages of original fiction, paintings and drawings, essays, plays, photos, lists, prose poems, video stills, rebuses, and more. Contributors include Layla Ali, Ron Athey, Jorge Luis Borges, Samuel R. Delany, Matthew Derby, Rikki Ducornet, kari edwards, Thalia Field, Robert Glück, Pato Herbert, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Ana Lara, Dawn Lundy Martin, K. Silem Mohammad, Eileen Myles, Akilah Oliver, M. Nourbese Philip, Christine Schutt, Gail Scott, Prageeta Sharma, Christopher Stackhouse, Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop, and Ronaldo Wilson. An early version of one my analytical stories also appears in the volume.
You can purchase Vol. 1., for $25, here. A début party will take place tomorrow night, Friday, June 9, in Providence. If you're interested, please contact kate@encyclopediaproject.org for more info.
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