Jacar Press defines themselves as a “Community-Active Literary Press.” This clearly defined purpose influences all their decisions, from which authors to publish to where the proceeds go.
For example, their newest title, Yes, We Be by Patrick Howell, is an “integrated-design poetry book that connects with the Black Arts Movement, Harlem Renaissance, and Afro-Futurism. Proceeds will benefit Black Lives Matter, SistaWRITE, and COR AME community programs.”
Interweaving poetry, literary criticism, and memoir, Ghazal Cosmopolitan by Shadab Zeest Hashmi bridges eastern and western literary traditions and is described as “a smorgasbord of aesthetic pleasures viewed through the prism of the majestic Ghazal.”
And the 2016 anthology Resisting Arrest collects poems that bear witness to the “maladies of a nation whose so-called founding begins with brutality and policing; begins with genocide, confiscation and death in the name of profit, greed and expansion.” Proceeds continue to benefit a scholarship fund for African American youth, administered by the Urban League in Washington, D.C.
Other publications include collections by North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductees Betty Adcock, Kathryn Stripling Byer, Jaki Shelton Green, and Shelby Stephenson.
Order books here.
Part of being active in the community includes hosting literary events and workshops.
Based in Cary, “Writers Teaching Writing” offers low-cost workshops led by highly acclaimed and oft-published authors, as well as free workshops that facilitate writing for social impact and healing.
Part of being active in the community also includes being conscientious of one’s environmental impact: Jacar Press titles are printed by a “printer that is run 100 percent by solar and wind power.”
Does this sound like the kind of publisher for you? Jacar Press produces an online poetry magazine, One, which is open for submissions year ’round.
Other opportunities include the annual chapbook and full-length poetry competitions (open now through April 30!) and the annual Julie Suk Award, which honors the best book published that year by a small press. The New Voices Series (accepting submissions through July 1), aims to bring “diverse voices and perspectives to print” and is open to poets globally.
Browse their entire front and backlist on the web at www.jacarpress.com or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.