Sarah Gorham, Editor-in-Chief of Sarabande Books
Jendi Reiter conducted this exclusive email interview with Sarah Gorham, the president and editor-in-chief of Sarabande Books. Founded in 1994, this Louisville, KY-based independent press specializes in poetry and literary short fiction. Poets in their catalog include Cate Marvin, Rick Barot, Simone Muench, Eleanor Lerman, Jeffrey Skinner, Baron Wormser, and Mark Jarman. Their mission statement says, "The Sarabande is a gracious, elegant dance with a sensual, wild underside: gracious and elegant thanks to the Germans and French, sensual and wild thanks to its origins as an Aztec mating ritual. Sarabande Books looks for work that is, like the dance, both graceful and provocative."
Sarabande offers two annual book-length manuscript contests, the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry and the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. Both contests offer $2,000 and publication, and accept entries between January 1 and February 15. Sarabande also holds an open reading period in July for book-length manuscripts of poetry and prose by Kentucky authors, and a poetry contest for Kentucky college students.
Sarah Gorham is the author of three books of poetry: The Cure, The Tension Zone, and Don't Go Back to Sleep. New work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Gettysburg Review, Five Points, Quarterly West, Fourth Genre, and Best American Poetry 2006. Gorham is Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Sarabande Books.
Q: Tell me about Sarabande's genesis and artistic mission. What was the catalyst for starting your own press?
A: We wanted to offer good news to writers at a time when both commercial and independent presses were closing their doors to poetry and short fiction. Our mission: To publish poetry, short fiction, and literary nonfiction, genres which increasingly have trouble finding a place in the for-profit publishing world. Sarabande established itself early not only as a showcase for exceptional literary works, but as an educational resource for writers and readers.
Q: How is the press funded? If you were advising other small poetry publishers, what would you say were the pros and cons of that business model?
A: We are funded by multiple means: donations, contest entry fees, book sales, grants from foundations and governmental organizations, fundraising parties, and subrights sales. We resemble a typical independent nonprofit literary press in that we spread the net as wide as possible since we cannot rely exclusively on sales for operational support. It's a demanding model, but successful.
Q: Sarabande appears to take a special interest in providing opportunities for Kentucky authors. How does a "sense of place" inform the style and subject matter of the work you choose to publish, or any other aspect of the press's aesthetic?
A: Out of ten titles published each year we publish one book by a Kentucky author. Occasionally, we'll publish two. Outside of that, sense of place, or geographic location, doesn't really factor into our decision-making process. Talent is number one. We have a map in our mailroom that shows how our authors are distributed nationally, and it follows population distribution for the most part (lots of authors in the New York/New England area, as well as the West Coast.)
Q: How is the Kentucky literary scene different from other areas of the country, and what role does Sarabande play in that community?
A: Kentucky's literary scene is rich and varied. It's also growing astronomically. We've made a particular effort to help with this by training interns, teaching workshops, hosting readings, and special events for National Poetry Day and other occasions.
Q: Sarabande publishes 8-10 titles a year, according to your website. Aside from the two contest winners, how do the other accepted manuscripts come to you? (E.g. by invitation, Kentucky open submissions period, slush pile...?)
A: As mentioned before, we select one manuscript from July submissions for our Kentucky Literature Series (currently funded by Linda Bruckheimer). There's an open submission season during the month of September, but by that point in the year, most of our publication slots are filled. We publish additional entries from both literary contests, so that remains the best way to send work to us. We read every submission thoroughly. Finally, once in a while a distinguished writer or current Sarabande author will recommend a book to us.
Q: Once authors have been published in your contest series, are they likely to have a long-term relationship with the press? Do you see your mission as primarily discovering new writers or as nurturing a few writers through various stages of their career?
A: We try to make our relationship with an author an ongoing one. For example, Baron Wormser won our Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry and we went on to publish three more of his collections. However, literary excellence remains our first priority, and we don't publish subsequent manuscripts that aren't at least of the same quality as the initial book.
Q: Some literary publishers automatically consider an author's subsequent book for publication once she has won their contest, whereas others insist that she go back into the general contest submission pool for each manuscript. What is your policy?
A: Once an author passes muster and wins our contest, she can submit manuscripts to me directly. This is true of all our authors.
Q: What publicity or other support does Sarabande provide for its titles? Does that get scaled back once the book is no longer new, or do you still actively promote titles on the backlist? Share some strategies that are working for your authors.
A: We do more marketing than is customary. This includes advertising, catalog, newsletter, website, press releases, book review follow-ups, help with an author tour, color-covered bound galleys, postcards, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. We devote a minimum of $3,000 to each title. Backlist titles are promoted on our website, Consortium's website, and in our catalogs.
Q: One often hears the lament that the market for literary short fiction is disappearing. What challenges and opportunities do you see ahead for publishing in this genre? How has the landscape changed, if at all, since Sarabande was launched?
A: Short fiction remains difficult to sell. We do better with poetry, actually. Agents don't want to look at you unless you have a novel as well. We just love the work and will continue to publish it regardless, as long as it interests us.
Q: How did you choose the namesakes for your contests (Morton, McCarthy) and what does that say about the type of work you are seeking?
A: Kathryn A. Morton was my mother and a great lover of literature. She died in 1980. Mary McCarthy is an admired author. It really doesn't say much about the work we publish.
Q: Talk about some recent winners of your fiction and poetry prizes and what made their books stand out.
A: I use four words when I want to describe the kind of qualities that make a winner. They are:
Obsession:
It's not enough to write. We distinguish between literature that had to be written, or was written under an inescapable pressure to redeem a life. And literature that was written on sabbatical in Provence.
Strangeness:
Writing that makes us look at objects, people, places and makes us wonder how we could not have seen this all along? Writing that shows us a hidden room, which may be dark or light.
Unexpected Moves:
We dislike knowing exactly what's coming next.
Language (and structure) Bent by Gravity:
We are not impressed by wild, clever pyrotechnics in syntax, grammar, vocabulary or structure, because doing so is hip by some political or other exterior measure. We look for a poem or story that magnetically possesses a combination of music, thought and feeling. The syntax, grammar, etc. grow naturally out of that combination.
Q: How many manuscripts do you receive for each contest? Who screens the entries, and how many are passed on to the final judge? Are they blind-judged?
A: All of this information is available on our website, under contests. Last year we received about 1,000 manuscripts of poetry and 500 of fiction. I used to screen all the poetry, but stopped seeing clearly. Now we send the manuscripts out to first readers who have all published books and are well-educated in the field. They select 50 poetry and 20 fiction. We pare these down to 10 poetry and 5 fiction, which go to the judges. They are all read anonymously.
Q: What great books of poetry or fiction would you recommend to aspiring authors as role models or masters of the craft, to study how a short story or poem should be written?
A: I would take a look at our book Planet on the Table: Poets on the Reading Life, which directly addresses this question and offers poets an excellent introduction to what they should be reading. My list would be too long and wouldn't necessarily fit the needs of all aspiring writers. I can tell you whom I love: W.S. Sebald, Anne Carson, Zbigniew Herbert and most other Eastern European writers, Louise Gluck, Robert Frost, Vladimir Nabokov, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marilyn Robinson's Housekeeping, Lorrie Moore, Ian McEwan, and more.
Winter 2007-2008
