Interview with Ken Edwards, Editor of Reality Street Press
Dane: What are the most common mistakes made by poets that send you unsolicited submissions?
Ken: They have not bothered to find out anything about the press or what kind of poetry it publishes.
Dane: You’ve published work by Jeff Hilson and Peter Jaeger, two lecturers that we’ve already interviewed – what was it about their work that stood out to you, and how did Stretchers/Rapid Eye Movement/The Reality Street Book of Sonnets come about?
Ken: Jeff Hilson’s poems are adventurous, witty, sharp and sophisticated. Peter Jaeger’s REM sequence appealed to me because I have a common interest in dream narratives and their absurdities, and I liked the rigour with which he pursued the project. The Reality Street Book of Sonnets came about following a discussion with Jeff after one of my own readings when I presented some radical takes on the sonnet that I had written. Jeff thought there was an anthology to be done of poets similarly deconstructing the form, and he convinced me of this, and of his own expertise in putting such a book together.
Dane: It’s been said that the difference between poets and novelists is that novelists have agents – in your experience, how true is this?
Ken: Where there’s money to be made, there will be agents. Where there isn’t (and in 99% of poetry there isn’t) there won’t be.
Dane: How important is a poet’s reputation to you, as a publisher? Are you more likely to publish a writer if they’re well-known on the local scene or an established performance poet, or do you try to let the work speak for itself?
Ken: I try to focus on the writing, not the reputation. Realistically, I couldn’t publish only first-time or completely unknown writers, but I do try to ensure that the press doesn’t just publish a coterie of writers with ‘reputations’. Reality Street doesn’t specialise in ‘local’ poets or performance poets, though.
Dane: Tricky question – which Reality Street poet do you most enjoy reading and why?
Ken: Not going to answer this! I enjoy them all.
Dane: How many unsolicited submissions do you receive (on average) per year, and of these, how many do you usually publish?
Ken: I seem to get solicitations (mostly by email these days) almost daily. So let’s say maybe 365 a year. It may be that over a year one or at most two proposals from writers previously unknown to me will interest me enough to want to publish them.
Dane: Why do you think that small presses are important for the present and the future of poetry?
Ken: Small presses can take a chance on new concepts which would not interest those whose main motivation in publishing is to make a profit. They are therefore vital for the continuation and renewal of poetry, which would otherwise atrophy and die.
Dane: In general, what attracts you to potential Reality Street poets and how do you usually come across their work?
Ken: Usually, I read their work in online or print magazines or in other small press editions, or I hear them at readings. I am looking for all the usual things: intelligence, imagination, innovation, a feeling for structure, a unique concept.
Dane: What are the best and worst parts about working as the editor for Reality Street?
Ken: Reality Street is my project for creating a community of writers and readers. Those I publish inspire me in my own writing. I also enjoy editing and designing books. Those are the good bits. Like many small press operators, I am less keen on promotion and publicity, and the mechanics of selling books are tedious, though I do have a reasonably good business brain I think.
Dane: In your experience, how has the advent of the internet changed the way that small publishers operate, and has it been beneficial for you?
Ken: Without a doubt. With the disenfranchisement of small presses from the retail book trade (now dominated by the big conglomerates), the internet has been a lifeline for us to promote and sell books and to get authors and their work known.
Dane: If you could publish your dream anthology and attract your choice of living and dead poets to create original work for it, who would you ask to appear in it and why choose them?
Ken: Blake, Lorca, Rimbaud, Rilke, William Carlos Williams, Olson, and oh, why not Dante? He would be good, and Homer, and why not get Sappho to write more than the odd fragment? Probably they would quarrel among themselves though.
Dane: Do you feel that it’s possible for (particularly underground) poetry to break in to the mainstream and still maintain its artistic value and merit?
Ken: I think it would be very difficult. What is ‘the mainstream’ looking for? I don’t think it’s actually poetry. Having said that, I’m quite heartened by Rae Armantrout winning the Pulitzer prize, and Christian Bök’s Eunoia becoming a bestseller.
Dane: Which Reality Street publication has caused you the most problems? What problems were they, and how did you overcome them?
Ken: There have been various technical problems, for instance in trying to put together a collection of Maggie O’Sullivan’s out-of-print works from the 1980s. They were originally composed on a typewriter, and while not actually concrete poetry, these texts depended crucially on the look of a typewriter face. So we ended up scanning hundreds of pages, which was a chore but worth it.
Dane: How important is networking for both poets and publishers? How many poets have you published after meeting them at readings, book signings and similar events?
Ken: I am not a very good networker, but readings do provide an opportunity to meet people.
Dane: What’s your best piece of advice for young poets that are seeking publication by a small press?
Ken: Read as much as you can. Learn from other poets and writers, living and dead, and also from film-makers, artists, musicians. Attend readings. Make contacts. Submit your work to magazines that publish the kind of work you are interested in. Subscribe to magazines and buy small press books. Write and write. There are no short cuts.
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