Button Poetry Update 7/21/2016
Hey Button fans!
We’re here to give you an update on some of the exciting stuff that’s been happening in the last few months at Button, as well as what you can look forward to in the near future.
First of all, we’re thrilled to announce that alongside this year’s 5th Annual Button Poetry / Exploding Pinecone Chapbook Contest, we’re launching the first ever Button Poetry video contest, where anyone can submit their own video for a chance to be run by Button! Over the last year, we’ve increasingly realized the limited nature of our film work: we can only really film poets in specific physical spaces where we’re present each year. We intend for this to be the first of many opportunities for people around the world to get on the ever-larger digital stage for poetry. Both contests are now open for submission; you can check out all the details here.
Button Poetry Live has been running strong, packing out CAMP Bar in Saint Paul every single month (we had to turn away over 50 people at our last show, so if you’re in the Twin Cities, get your tickets EARLY for the July 29th team send-off show). We’re so thankful to all the supporters who helped fund our Kickstarter Campaign last year to get the matching grant from Knight Foundation. In addition to the amazing poems we’ve been filming and running on the Button channel, we’ve also been livestreaming the show to thousands of viewers each month. Keep an eye out on our social media (or sign up for our mailing list) to stay up to date on the next one!
Speaking of Button Poetry Live, we’ve been churning out new audio albums over at the Button Poetry Bandcamp! Our “Best of Button” series highlights the top poems from YouTube each month, while the “Button Poetry Live” series offers exclusive tracks and live material available only on the album. Check it all out here, and subscribe to get our full back catalog and all new releases, as well as exclusive subscriber-only content.
Finally, in June and July we’re celebrating two major book releases, with Jacqui Germain’s chapbook When the Ghosts Come Ashore released June 7th, and Hanif Willis Abdurraqib’s full-length debut, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much, released earlier this week. Hanif’s book has already reached the #2 spot on the Small Press Distribution bestsellers list (you can find some other familiar titles there as well!) and #1 in new literature on Amazon!
That’s all for now. We hope you’re enjoying your summer, and we can’t wait to share some more big news with you all soon.
-The Button Team