The core of Q Ave Press began to take shape in the late 90s, in the early years of 7 Carmine, the New York based writing collective. Initially the collective published chapbooks to document the readings and gatherings; the chapbooks made to be sold at the readings, literally embodied the gathering of poets in the collective.
Q Ave Press, in its current incarnation, began in 2004 as a documentary of the writers who participated in the Spring Writers’ Conference at William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa. The four founding members of Q Ave Press were participants in the conference and their chapbooks the first Q Ave Press titles.
Curtis BauerA native of Iowa, Curtis Bauer was raised a son of farmers and artists and has lived in England, Mexico, Spain and the Eastern and Southwest United States. He is the author of two poetry collections: his first, Fence Line (2004), won the John Ciardi Poetry Prize; and his second, The Real Cause for Your Absence was published by C&R Press in 2013. A bilingual collection of his poetry, Spanish Sketchbook was published in Spain in 2012. Bauer is also a translator of poetry and prose from the Spanish; his publications include the full-length collections Eros Is More (forthcoming from Alice James Books in 2014) and Talisman (Editorial Anantes, 2012), as well as individual poems and prose from numerous Spanish and South American writers in The Southern Review, Two Lines, The Indiana Review, and The American Poetry Review, among others. He is the publisher and editor of Q Ave Press Chapbooks, the Spanish Translations Editor for From the Fishouse, and “Emerging Spanish Poets” Series Editor for Vaso Roto Ediciones. He teaches Creative Writing and Comparative Literature at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. |
Ross GayRoss Gay was born in Youngstown, Ohio, and grew up just outside of Philadelphia. He is the author of two books of poems, Against Which (CavanKerry Press 2006) and Bringing the Shovel Down (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011), and he is co-author, with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, of the chapbook Two Gardens. His poems and essays have appeared in American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, Massachusetts Review, and The Sun, among other magazines and anthologies. He is also the co-author, with the painter Kimberly Thomas, of the artists’ books The Halo, BRN2HNT, and The Bullet. Ross is an editor with the chapbook press, Q Avenue, which has published early work by Matthew Dickman, Simone White, Chris Mattingly, and Layli Long Soldier. He has been a Cave Canem fellow and a Bread Loaf tuition scholar. Ross is also a founding member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a publicly owned, volunteer-run, free-fruit-for-all, organic orchard, where he serves as the co-chair of the education team. In this capacity he teaches or co-teaches ten classes a year on various aspects of orcharding, from pruning to propagation. Ross is currently at work on a non-fiction book about African American farming, in addition to his poetry projects. Ross is an associate professor in the M.F.A. program at Indiana University and in Drew University’s Low-Residency M.F.A. program. He is the recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship. |
Rebecca Gayle HowellRebecca Gayle Howell is Curator, Assistant Editor, and Letterpress Printer at Q Ave Press. Howell is the author of Render /An Apocalypse, which was selected by Nick Flynn for the 2012 Cleveland State University Poetry Center's First Book Prize and is a finalist for ForeWord Review's 2013 Book of the Year. Howell is also the translator of Amal al-Jubouri's Hagar Before the Occupation/Hagar After the Occupation (Alice James Books, 2011). Among her awards are two fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center and a Pushcart Prize. Her homeplace is Lexington, Kentucky. |
Sebastian MatthewsSebastian Matthews is Curator and Advisory Board Member of Q Ave Press chapbooks. He is the author of the memoir, In My Father’s Footsteps, and co-editor, with Stanley Plumly, of Search Party: Collected Poems of William Matthews. His chapbook, Coming to Flood, was published by Hollyridge Press in 2005 and, since then, he’s published two collections of poems with Red Hen Press, We Generous (2007) and Miracle Day(2011). Matthews lives with his family in Asheville, North Carolina, and is currently at work on a novel. |
Elaine SextonElaine Sexton is Curator, Advisory Board Member, and Editor at Q Ave Press chapbooks. She is the author of two poetry collections, Sleuth (2003) and Causeway (2008), both published by New Issues Press (Western Michigan University). Her poems, reviews, and essays have appeared in numerous journals including American Poetry Review, ARTnews, Art in America, Poetry, New Letters, Prairie Schooner, The Women's Review of Books, the Writer's Chronicle (AWP), and online with Poetry Daily. Her visual work in mixed media, “Containers, Contained,” is the subject of a 2014 exhibit at Dumbo Sky Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, and has appeared in numerous journals, among them You Are Here: The Journal of Creative Geography, and Sinister Wisdom. She is the founder of the 7 Carmine poetry collective and chapbook series. She teaches text and image, bookmaking, and poetry workshops at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute, in the graduate writing program at City College (CUNY), and privately. |
Ryan WalshRyan Walsh is Curator and Advisory Board Member of Q Ave Press chapbooks. He is the author of the collection The Sinks, winner of the 2010 Mississippi Valley Poetry Chapbook contest (Midwest Writing Center Press). His poems have appeared in Ecotone, Field, Green Mountains Review, Ink Node, Narrative Magazine, and elsewhere. He has received grants and fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and he teaches in the University of Michigan's spring-term New England Literature Program (NELP). |