Recently Garrison Keiller published the New York Times Op-Ed piece “The End of an Era In Publishing” which discusses how self-publishing will irrevocably change the publishing industry. His somewhat tongue-in-cheek assessment prompted Minnesota Public Radio’s MidMorning program to devote an hour to discussing the topic of whether or not book publishing as we know it is … Continue reading »

In honor of Bob Dylan’s 69th birthday today, Spout strongly encourages you to play your favorite Dylan album. For me that might be Blood on the Tracks.  You can watch Bob perform a song from the album here. A good introduction to Dylan for children is the book “Forever Young” which was published in 2008. … Continue reading »

I was reading a book of poetry at my neighborhood library, when a red piece of paper caught my attention. Upon further inspection, this was not any ordinary scrap of paper used as a bookmark. I had stumbled upon a broadside of the poem “Dreams” by Adrian Manning, printed letterpress and slipped into the book as … Continue reading »

At Spout, we are always amazed at the volume and quality of the submissions we receive, and wish we could publish more work than we do. According to a recent article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, there are plenty of publishing opportunities out there, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. The growing number of … Continue reading »

Coleridge famously wrote that “friendship is a sheltering tree.”  But what kind of shelter is provided by digital branches? In an online world, is it necessary to deploy finger quotes when using the term “friend?”  Am I the only one who finds the use of the term  “followers” on Twitter slightly creepy? Is the process … Continue reading »

The annual Best of the Twin Cities issue of City Pages is on the stands, and we want to send a shout out to some Spout friends who were winners. Congratulations to Micawber’s Books, voted best bookstore. We were also thrilled to see Spout featured poet and performer extraordinaire Dessa voted best local album, best … Continue reading »

Intermedia Arts recently announced the winners of VERVE Grants given to spoken word artists to help them get to the next level in their careers. Among the winners is  Spout contributor and comrade Jeff Skemp. Congratulations to Jeff and the other VERVE recipients. Continue reading »

Tomorrow is Record Store Day.  Like National Bookstore Day, it is an opportunity to bring awareness to the importance of independents.  Without independents, publishers like Spout Press would not be able to compete. The same is true with music. How many local or independent bands are you aware of because a local music store in … Continue reading »

I recently had the good fortune of visiting the Folger Shakespeare Library and viewing  a first folio. While Shakespeare is never entirely “off the radar,” the recent  book “Contested Will” by James Shapiro reinvigorates the ongoing authorship debate. You can read a review from the Chronicle here. I learned from a wonderful staffer at the Folger library … Continue reading »

Yesterday Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning program featured a discussion on  book reviews and the state of literary criticism. The conversation between the host and guests takes a few interesting turns, and is worth a listen. Guest Dwight Garner mentions George Orwell, and if you haven’t read “Confessions of a Book Reviewer” you can find it … Continue reading »