The Enthusiast is a publisher of handmade books and zines focused on affordable and unique
bindings that draw on a punk and camp aesthetic. And while our About Statement has been criticized on rather specious grounds — compared to a Dr. Bronner's
soap label — we really are a socialist political project that advocates for the creation of literary
space outside the restrictions of traditional institutional control! We are run out a small alcove built into the wall of a boarding house in
Queens and are committed to no less a cause than the welfare of animals, plants and people as well as the continuation of democracy itself. We find solace
in the work of writers who, far from being able to thrive in the mainstream, haven't necessarily found their footing in a subculture. So if you're part of
an underrepresented community, constitutionally constrained, have something to say, are desperate to air your grievances, or are tired of people harboring
so many resentments and airing them in public, then we are probably looking for your work.
To submit, please email geoffreybridgman@proton.me or visit our submissions page.
The Enthusiast is dedicated to the creation of camp bindings, and in queer fashion, will leave the specifics of its hydra-headed
opposition to the stultifying conformity of the ideological state open to its authors — not wanting to impose our vision on your work. We stand as a statement
of alterity in what has been called the “extreme conservatism” in the history of the book, and we see ourselves as a populist venture vested in an
anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist agenda, aiming at the cultivation of art outside the stranglehold of an increasingly isolated, ludicrous (but hopelessly
self-satisfied) cultural elite.
Furthermore, we are not isolated crackpots ranting and raving from a forgotten corner of our society — we have a
Master’s of Library and Information Science! A librarian, our founder has been to Rare Book School twice. He is literally paid to work with books — at no less than $25 an hour! They are the author of a much-downloaded Master’s
thesis “Virginia Woolf: the Bookbinder and the Bibliophile,” which is currently being repackaged as a bibliomemoir and political manifesto, railing against the well-mannered (and not so well-mannered) fascism of the American elite.
Some of that thesis will be presented at a pair of academic conferences in the UK, this summer.
That said, their bindings do reflect some abbreviated sewing practices. There are times when the gatherings are stapled and not sewn, held together
by sawed-in hemp cords. While these practices do transcend the rules of conservation and preservation, we assure you that the transgression is perfectly harmless! Staples are a 19th
century horror widely known to degrade paper—but our staples are manufactured with an alloy that their Sunset
Park manufacturer assure us will not rust even in the harshest of environments. Our books also use split-board attachments and other aspect of library binding and represent a heartfelt
and wholly earnest effort to combat the disposable, machine-made aesthetic so characteristic of a predatory late-capitalist regime.
COLLABORATORS (AND CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS)
KERIN NICOLE is an artist who has helped with the press insignia and the beautiful hot air balloons
that are doubling as buttons at the very top of this page. She is an American Painter & Poet. Born and raised on the East
Coast and shaped by a career in complementary health. She paints to process the contradictions of American culture and
reconnect with a more compassionate and sustainable source of inspiration and livelihood. Her pieces often feel both
intimate and mythic, rooted in truth, imagination, and the occasional controversial take. To learn more, you can visit
kerinnicole.com
or email her at studio@kerinnicole.com.
JÖYCE is a native Philadelphian of Amish descent based in New York whose satire is published by McSweeney's Internet Tendency online and in their printed
compendium, Keep Scrolling Till You Feel Something: 21 Years of Humor from McSweeney's Internet Tendency. She was among the writers featured at the Brooklyn Powerhouse
Arena book launch in October 2019, has written viral pieces that ascended to their Top Ten Most Read Articles of the Year in a matter of weeks, and was mentioned in AfterEllen and
Autostraddle. Published works include Bluebird (Bottlecap Press, 2023), Pyramid Scheme (2023), John (Bottlecap Press, 2024) and inclusion in the anthology.
LAVENDER COYOTE is a writer/bookbinder, born in New Jersey, raised in Los Angeles, but living now in New York, who writes dissociated, verge-of-surrealist fiction and works as a
proto-assistant librarian and cataloger, having just graduated from library school. Their birthname is Geoffrey. They have a relatively uncheckered past — being no more put upon and besieged
than anyone else in the hellscape we all have to call home, living, like everyone else, amidst the rusting machinery of an empire, which is no less emphatic for having long ago lost any justification
for being, stubbornly insisting that it continue to shape our lives.
A MacDowell Fellow, CHAVISA WOODS is the author of four books: 100 Times (A Memoir of Sexism) (Seven Stories Press, 2019) Things To Do When You're Goth in the Country ( Seven Stories Press, 2017),
The Albino Album (Seven Stories Press 2013) and Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind (2009, Fly by Night Presss (first edition), Second Edition, Autonomedia Press/Unbearable Books, 2013).
Her work has received praise from the New York Times, The LA Times, Publisher’s Weekly, The Stranger, The Seattle Review of Books, Booklist, Lambda Literary Review, Lit Hub, Electric Lit, The Feminist Review,
The Rumpus, and many other media outlets.
Woods was the recipient of the Shirley Jackson Award, the Kathy Acker Award in Writing, and Cobalt ‘s Zora Neale Hurston Prize for Fiction. She is a three–time Lambda Literary Award finalist for fiction, and in 2009
she received the Jerome Foundation Award for emerging authors.
She has appeared on The Young Turks, NPR’s 1A in conversation with E. Jean Carol.
She has also appeared on Tell Me Everything with John Fugelsang, NPR Saint Louis, Season of the Bitch, The Electorette, and many other shows. Actress Emma Roberts (American Horror Story, and Scream Queens) promoted
Things To Do When You're Goth in the County through her book club.
Woods has presented lectures and conducted and workshops on short fiction and poetry at a number of academic institutions, including: New York University (NYU), Mount Holyoke College, Penn State, Sarah Lawrence
College, Bard College, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn Tech, Hugo House and the New School. She currently leads select writing workshops throughout the year through Hugo House and Catapult.
Her writing has appeared in such publications as Tin House, LitHub, Electric Lit, Full Stop, The Brooklyn Rail, The Evergreen Review, New York Quarterly, Cleaver Magazine, Jadaliyya, Tribes Magazine, and other
publications. She has appeared as a featured author and performer at such notable venues as The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Mid– Manhattan Public Library at 42nd Street, City Lights Bookstore, Town Hall
Seattle, The Brecht Forum, The Cervantes Institute, Eliot Bay, and others.
She currently serves as the Executive Director of A Gathering of the Tribes, a nonprofit art and literary organization and small press, founded by Steve Cannon. In this role, Woods also serves as Editor in Chief of A
Gathering of the Tribes Magazine Online.
