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Spiral Thought started out as a small, photocopied magazine in the late 1980s. You can take a look at our 5th issue if you go to the top of this page and click on Issue 5. In the mid 1990s, the project transitioned to a live performance series based in Brooklyn, incorporating music and prose along with the "standard" poetry format. The performances continued for just over 10 years. We received support for some of the readings from the Brooklyn Arts Council, and were listed in their directory. Please note that (over time) some links that used to work may no longer work or the content may have changed... I'll be fixing this soon.

We also produced 5 annual Small Press Fairs, promoting small press publishing in Brooklyn. 

Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair was begun in 2002, and has been expanding steadily since then. It is a six hour event where local small publishers exhibit their publications and information about their organizations, and authors perform live readings throughout the course of the event. The goals of the Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair are to provide a marketplace for local small presses, poets and writers who have created distinctive publications, recordings and electronic presentations; to increase public awareness of the high quality and diversity of contemporary small press publishing and self-publishing, and to provide an opportunity for networking with the public as well as within the local literary community. Live performances throughout the day are an integral part of the event because this draws a different level of attention from the public attending the event - a live performance can be far more engaging than a static display of publications. The public is invited to sample a diverse selection of small press publications from local small presses, chapbooks made by writers, and poets, as well as examples of electronic publishing, spoken word CD recordings, literary crafts, and much more.

SEEKING PARTICIPANTS!

The Fifth Annual Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair is scheduled for Saturday, June 17, 2005 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and will take place at Camp Friendship, located at 339 Eighth Street near Sixth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I am currently recruiting participants and sponsors for the event. The participant fee is $10. Potential participants need not be based in Brooklyn; it is open to any small press or author able to attend. The deadline for participant applications and fees is April 30, 2005.

RELEVANCE OF EVENT

Small publishers of all varieties share several common features, including a dedication to promoting contemporary literature of high or unusual quality, at some financial risk to themselves because of the large financial investment they make (often accompanied by a considerable investment of “sweat equity”) with frequently low financial return on their investment. Often the real “return” on their investment is the involvement in the promotion of a sector of the arts and humanities they have a passionate interest in and the exposure to new and atypical voices. Many emerging writers find that this market is the one most likely to consider publishing and promoting their work; the list of currently recognized, established authors who were once published by the small publishers includes most of the authors whose books may now be found in the major bookstores, published by the large publishing houses. While the small presses do not merely exist in order to serve as a transitional stepping stone for authors, this is one of their important roles in the hierarchy of the publishing world. The Annual Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair is a timely and very relevant project that I intend to continue coordinating and promoting because it helps boost business for and local awareness of local entrepreneurs - the small and alternative presses based in Brooklyn; because it helps forge connections between local authors and their potential publishers and may help the authors’ publishing careers; because it helps forge connections between the local small presses themselves and may encourage collaboration between them on a number of levels and may help them share expertise and resources, potentially aiding their success. One measure of the potential success of this year’s fair are the first four fairs that I organized between 2002 and 2005; many of the people who participated in the original fair also signed up again for subsequent Fairs, and many additional presses participated in the subsequent Fairs as well because word had spread and I had found additional ways to promote the event. Previous Fairs have had more than 200 visitors each, including people who represented other small presses or related endeavors who had heard about the event at the last minute and who would have signed up to participate if they?’d known earlier. I’ve established an extensive mailing list based on previous participants and those who have expressed interest in the event over the years. Participant interest in the event had expanded so in previous years that I found I had to turn some potential participants away because I had reached maximum capacity for the venue used for the second and third fairs; the event has essentially outgrown the spaces I’d originally used. I’ve found a new venue (Camp Friendship in Park Slope) that is not only larger (1600 square feet), but less expensive to rent, and tables and chairs are part of the package at the new venue.

Here's a link where you can find more information on the event:

Here's the event's listing in the Brooklyn Arts Council's Directory (they generously supported the event for all five years): 

Now we're exploring podcasting, virtual performances, and other electronic possibilities, and will be presenting more information here. Check back soon!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS TO PODCAST

May, 2021:  We've just made it easier to submit audio to the podcast - call and leave a message on our Podcast Hotline! The number is 347-850-2283. Your message can be downloaded on our end as an mp3 file.

Please submit the following:

⦁ Audio files (wav or mp3 format preferred) of you reading your poems or short stories, and/ or original music Let me know if you're also interested in doing this via Zoom (I can record the conversation, and edit the file).

⦁ Graphic files (jpeg or bitmap preferred) of your artwork

⦁ Include a brief bio (Rich Text format or plain text format preferred) and a photo, if you like

The email address for the project is spiralthought@gmail.com . Put podcast in your subject line. 

Feel free to plug your publications, reading series, upcoming performances.

Don’t forget to formally give me permission to use your recording and image in the podcast. State your name, and then say:

"I give permission to Emily Brown to use my voice (& image) for her Spiral Thought podcast in perpetuity.

I understand that this is with no implied promise of present or future compensation."

The local newspapers helped spread the word about the Small Press Fairs with some very complimentary profiles.

Courier-Life Publications - Headlines Across Brooklyn - 04/12/2006 - Big Ideas Spring From Small Alterna-Press: Read All About It At 5th Annual Fair

04/12/2006

Big Ideas Spring From Small Alterna-Press: Read All About It At 5th Annual Fair

By Emily Keller

Emily Brown is the founder of the Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair, which will take place for the fifth consecutive year, on June 17

For Emily Brown, earning a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Bard College was only the beginning of her worldly explorations.

She went on to start her own magazine and reading series while working a variety of jobs doing administrative work for museums and historical societies, freelance research, grant writing, and computer support.

Now, at 45, she is the coordinator of the Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair, which is approaching its fifth anniversary, and as she prepares for the June 17 event she is making a concerted effort to have the fair reflect a greater diversity of cultures than in years past.

The uncharted territory she is venturing into is: the rest of Brooklyn.

“When I started doing this it was easy to get people from Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights to participate,” said the 12-year resident of Park Slope, and West Village native who has also lived in Flatbush and Bay Ridge. “Every year it’s become ‘how do you reach out to other parts of Brooklyn?’”

Disappointed that most participants have been white, Brown said, “One of the goals that I really want to incorporate into this is other languages and other ethnic groups.”

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She is also venturing into new artistic territory, seeking to expand the diversity of products that writers and publishers bring – literally – to the table for the six-hour event, which begins at 10 a.m. at Camp Friendship, 339 Eighth Avenue, in Park Slope.

“It’s been pretty poetry heavy but it’s open to all categories. I’m looking for as many categories as possible. I’m hoping people surprise me with categories that I haven’t thought of yet,” she said.

Brown is expecting at least 40 authors and publishers to display their work, which they can do for $10 each, and space is available on a first-come first-serve basis until April 30.

Planning the fair, which she does for a full year prior, is a one-person operation, Brown said, although volunteers sometimes help run it.

Brown’s experiences publishing a literary magazine called Spiral Thought on and off since 1985, and hosting a monthly reading series in Cobble Hill since 1996, prepared her well for the personal initiative required by such an undertaking, and she says the fair is a “logical extension” of those projects. But she also adds, “I don’t really have credentials for doing this except that I’m doing it.”

Brown was inspired to start the fair by participants in her reading series, which takes place twice a month – once at Shakespeare’s Sister, 270 Court Street, and once at the Fall Café, 307 Smith Street – who repeatedly showed up with the same question: how do I get published? “I didn’t have a lot of answers,” Brown said.

At the fair, authors and publishers can network and converse on the topic, and, starting this year, can listen to presentations from distributors who do have the answers to their questions about sales and marketing.

Networking is one of the fair’s main attractions.

Pete Dolack, publisher or EastWaterfront Press, which is based in Greenpoint, will exhibit his work at the fair for the third time this year, and said he does so because, “It’s a good opportunity to see a lot of other publishers. I think it’s important to keep the small presses in front of the reading public’s eye. There’s a lot happening at the local level – Brooklyn included.”

Thomas Hubschman, who runs Savvy Press, which is based in Park Slope, is also signed up.

Last year’s fair drew about 40 participants, including Brooklyn-based African Artistic Ventures, the literary magazine Ballyhoo Stories, the multi-focused performance and publishing venture Action Direction Creations, and Vince Militello, the self-published author of “Nicholas the Naked Sicilian.”

Brown said four to five hundred people passed through last year’s fair, and she expects a similar turnout this year. Unlike at the fair’s previous venues, people in wheelchairs will be able to enter with ease, which is one of the reasons Brown chose Camp Friendship for the second year in a row. The large space and reasonable price were also factors.

Although she tries to do everything as cheaply as she can, the cost of promoting and operating the fair is still significant, and Brown is fortunate to have a $750 grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council to offset her expenditures. Brown has received grants from BAC three years in a row. “They’ve just been wonderful,” she said.

Brown’s small press fair is the only one in Brooklyn of its kind that she knows of, and she said, “I think one of the reasons it is good to bring something like this [to] Brooklyn is because when I started doing readings here there were a few things going on, but there weren’t that many. All the readings are going on in Manhattan. We have people writing right here. Why should you have to get on the subway to present what you’re doing?”

Although the details for this year’s fair have yet to be ironed out and most of the participants are still unknown, there is one thing Brown knows for sure about the fair. “It’s never been boring.”

To reserve a table for $10, call (718) 832-2310 or visit www.geocities.com/emilybrooklyn/smallpressfair. The reservation deadline is April 30.

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©Courier-Life Publications 2006

Back in 2006, Yahoo offered free websites through Geocities, and I built a very basic website for the Fifth Annual Brooklyn Alternative Small Press Fair.  The Geocities feature is long gone now, but here's a list of who participated that year (over time, websites and links sometimes stop working...)

Here's the credit line for that year's event:

CREDIT LINE: This program has been sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC). Other sponsors include  The Park Slope Civic Council, Independence Community Foundation, the coordinator and the participants.