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donors WE THANK THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS FOR THEIR GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR 2009-2010 FUNDRAISING APPEAL Sponsors: $2500 or More Anonymous David Harvey Patrons: $1000-$2499 Anonymous Celia Gilbert Anne Marie Macari Peter Waldor Benefactor: $500-$999 Matthea Harvey Gloria Robinson Donors: $250-$499 Catherine Barnett Nina Nyhart Dorothy Robinson Marc Waldor Contributors: $149-$249 Robert Ellis Joan and David Grubin
Harriet Feinberg Theo Kalikow Alice Mattison Supporters: $75-$149 Anonymous Hugh Coyle and Maynard Yost Beverly Davis Carl Dennis Jeannine Dobbs Laura Edwards Joan Joffe Hall Hugh Hennedy Alice Jones James Joslin James Longenbach Diane Macari Jane Mead Idra Novey Jean-Paul Pecqueur Joyce Peseroff Donald Revell and Claudia Keelan Bill Roorbach Thomson-Shore, Inc. Rita Waldor
Readers: $1-$74 Elizabeth Ahl Lewis Ashman Clifford Bernier Raymond Berry George Blecher Henry Braun Lisa Breger Ronald Cohen Joanna Penn Cooper Adam O. Davis Amy Dryansky Denise Duhamel Lynn Emanuel Dobby Gibson Renee and Robert Gibson Mimi Gilpin Michael Glaser Jim Haba Rhonda Hacker Beata Hayton Judy Hendren Nancy Jean Hill Maurice Hirsch Michele Anne Jaquays Ruth Lepson Julianna McCarthy
THE ALICE FUND
...preserving the legacy of
THE MISSION OF THE ALICE FUND is to ensure the long term financial stability of Alice James Books. Goals include publishing more titles per year, more “anchor” authors, and publishing translations. We want to guarantee that AJB will continue to make a significant contribution to literature and that the press continues to thrive! James Books is proof of the “...Alice adage ‘the older you are, the better you get.’ ” — Publishers Weekly
Make a Lasting Impression: Call us to discuss your opportunities to give the gift of preservation.
Margaretta Jill McKay Kamilah Aisha Moon Judith Pacht Shelli-Jo Pelletier Carol Potter Mike Puican Lia Purpura Ruth Ann Quick David Radavich Janet Robinson Kimberley Ann Rogers Beth Ann Royer Sue Standing Jody Stewart Alice Taylor Mona Toscano Ellen Doré Watson Dara Wier Mary-Sherman Willis Eleanor Wilner Ken and Lois Wisman Marilyn Zuckerman
A lice J ames B ooks
Alice Fund Donor Levels: Alice $10,000 or more Henry up to $10,000
William up to $5,000
Robertson up to $1,000 Wilky up to $500
from the cooperative board
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Ellen Doré Watson
We sat down recently with the longest standing cooperative board member, Ellen Doré Watson, to glean some valuable information about her experience with Alice James Books. Watson has served on the AJB cooperative board for 12 years. In Watson’s career as a poet, she has published four books, two of which, We Live in Bodies (1997), and Ladder Music (2001), were published by Alice James Books. Alice James Books: What changes have you seen in AJB throughout the years that you view as positive transformations? ELLEN DORÉ WATSON: Oh, how we’ve grown!! When I first came on the board, there was no full-time staff, no ad budget, no presence at AWP. The press had published and was continuing to publish really wonderful writers—for twenty years running—and was deeply respected by those in the know, but it was a bit of a mysterious secret. Formed as a cooperative, in the early years the authors did everything: set type, stuffed envelopes, they ran the whole show. By the time I came on in 1996, the poets acted as an editorial board and participated in their book design but did little else; the books were shepherded through production by a part-time director, who worked tirelessly (for peanuts), but did not have the budget to do much more than to get the books out into the world. Over the next decade, thanks to the generosity of individual donors and the University of Maine at Farmington, and to a series of skilled and enthusiastic directors and board members, Alice James Books grew to take its place among the premiere “small press” poetry publishers, with a full-time director, a small staff, and a big presence. Our poets, our ads, reviews of our books—demonstrations of AJB’s vitality are everywhere. And the poets on the cooperative board now function not only as advocates for their own books and as members of an editorial board, but are also members of a board of directors of a non-profit corporation, participating in policy decisions, fundraising, shaping the course of a visible and valued entity in the world of letters.
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ur poets, our ads, reviews of our books—demonstrations of AJB’s vitality are everywhere.
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AJB: Has your role as an AJB board member affected the way that you view and create poetry? WATSON: Dipping into hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts at screenings provides an amazing snapshot of the huge range of poetry being written. Deep reading and discussion of the semifinalists is a bracing sort of “continuing education.” It’s terrific to refine one’s own criteria for what makes great poetry and also to have one’s predilections challenged, to learn to see things by others’ lights. My enrichment as a reader can’t help but open new paths for me as a writer.
AJB: You are the longest standing board member! What is it about Alice James Books that has captured your attention and dedication? WATSON: The community of Alices! I’m extremely happy at Tupelo Press and value the friendships with fellow Tupelonians, but there are fewer and less intense opportunities for them to meet. Over several years of service at AJB, we buddy each other in the editing process, and gather as Alices five times a year, over-nighting at each other’s houses, wrestling with aesthetic and institutional issues, feasting and sharing late-night wine and early-morning caffeine. We become a kind of family. AJB: What has been most rewarding about being on the board of AJB? WATSON: All that I described above, plus getting to see book after wonderful book go out into the world and knowing I’ve played a part in making that happen. AJB: What advice could you give to new AJB board members? WATSON: At the risk of sounding like an old fart: honor AJB’s history. Let this experience be about more than your own book. Work hard and listen hard. It’s a privilege and a responsibility to be asked to think not just as a poet with deeply-held preferences, but as an editor and caretaker of a national treasure. AJB: You have certainly immersed yourself in the writing world, from translating poetry, to writing four books, to serving on the AJB cooperative board, to directing the Poetry Center at Smith College. What is it that compels you to continually be a part of such rich and diverse writing communities? WATSON: I’m utterly fruitcake and also very, very fortunate. AJB: Do you find that translating poetry enhances your own craft as a poet? WATSON: Yes: sharpens the tools and opens the eyes.