Because we love the challenge at the end of every year to select six of the best pieces we published—and it’s so difficult: this year we published 4 books, featuring 87 authors!—we’re thrilled to have nominated the following for the 2021 Best of Small Presses:
Sara Post: “Libations, HIPAA Style” / watch | read
Michael Warr, trans. by Chun Yu: “To Your Assailant” / watch | read
Jessica Barksdale: “When I Wash Raspberries” / watch | read
Tomas Moniz: “Masks On, Pants Off” / watch | read
Ernest White II: “Challenger” / watch | read
Emily Dezurick-Badran: “Ghosts” / watch | read
You can read and watch our previous nominations below:
2020
Karla Brundage: “Alabama Dirt” / watch | read
Madeline Cash: “Hostage #4” / watch | read
Alia Salim: “Deep State” / watch | read
Alex Maceda: “Purple is a Late Blooming Color” / watch | read
Halim Madi: “As Home Became Metaphor” / watch | read
Robyn Carter: “Excelsior” / watch | read
2019
Shelley Wong: “To Yellow” « watch | read
Donna Laemmlen: “The Dangers of Helium” « watch | read
Lisa Galloway: “Mercy” « watch | read
Mairav Zonszein: “A Birth Story” « watch | read
Maddy Raskulinecz: “Intruders in Ms. Hansen-Knudsen’s Class” « watch | read
Kevin Dublin: “Argument” « watch | read
2018
Cassandra Dallett: “Jails Have ATM Machines Now” « watch | read
Ruth Crossman: “Tom Petty” « watch | read
Emily Dezurick-Badran: “The Werewolf in Love” « watch | read
André Le Mont Wilson: “The Ass Wiper” « watch | read
Clare Lilliston: “Coelacanth” « watch | read
Sarah Henry: “2017” « watch | read
2017
Charlie Getter: “Geography Lesson” « watch | read
Kate Folk: “Funeral Requirements for Thwarted Children” « watch | read
Jenny Xie: “Wendy Beside Herself” « watch | read
Kazumi Chin: “The Very Last New Year’s Resolution” « watch | read
Jason Bayani: “Antidepressants” « watch | read
Eric Kurhi: “The Snake Guy” « watch | read
2016
Ploi Pirapokin: “David, the Cephalopod” « watch | read
David Welper: “Garlic” « watch |read
Susanna Kwan: “Up, Apart, Away” « watch | read
Yxta Maya Murray: “The Whitney’s 2016 Max Mara Anniversary Bag Designed by Renzo Piano’s Building Workshop” « watch | read
E.C. Messer: “The Poet” « watch | read
Brynn Saito: “How to Prepare the Mind for Lightning” « [vid + text coming soon]
2015
Claire Williams: “The Man Who Drank the Sea” « watch | read
Kristina Ten: “Milkless” « watch | read
Maggie Tokuda-Hall: “Miri and the Squid” « watch | read
Hugh Behm-Steinberg: “Mouse-Colored Penduline Tits” « watch | read
Maw Shein Win: “Score” « watch | read
Bonnie Kwong: “The Moon from the Corner of Her Eye” « watch | read
2014
Elena Mauli Shapiro: “December 25, 1989” « watch | read
Matthew Zapruder: “To Sergio Franchi” « read
Peter Orner: “Shhhhhh, Arthur’s Studying” « watch | read
Kai Carlson-Wee: “Holes in the Mountain” « watch | read | bonus
Christine No: “Mattress Man” « watch | read
Colin Winnette: “Ghost Mountain Island Murder Mystery” « read
2013
erica lewis: “Bodies Dream of Themselves” « watch | read
Susan Steinberg: “Spectator” « watch | read
Brandon Brown: “My Favorite Things” « watch | read
Molly Giles: “Harm Done” « watch | read
Jarett Kobek: “#YOLO” « read
Charlie Getter: “Untitled (I live on an iceberg)” « watch
2012
Cassie J. Sneider: “Romance” « watch | read
A.D. Winans: “Fourth of July Poem” « watch | read
Toni Mirosevich: “The Right Spot” « watch | read
Siamak Vossoughi: “Not A Party” « watch | read
Sean Taylor: “It Sings Us Both to Sleep” « watch | read
L.J. Moore: “Fig. 23: Wrecked” « watch | read
2011
Jesús Castillo: from “Remains” « watch | read
Graham Gremore: “Happy Birthday (Sorry You Missed It)” « watch | read
James Warner: from All Her Father’s Guns « watch | read
Siamak Vossoughi: “Don’t Ask Me” « watch | read
Joseph Lease: “Lost Highway” « watch | read