The A3 Press and Review

The A3 Press and Review

The A3 Press and Review

The A3 Press is no longer accepting submissions

A3 Press and Review is based in London, contact details are:

PO Box 65016, London, N5 9BD
020 7193 7642

Website: https://writingmaps.com/collections/a3-chapbooks
Email: a3@writingmaps.com
Twitter: @WritingMaps
Facebook: Writing Maps
Instagram: writingmaps

Editor: Shaun Levin

I received a lovely little package from A3 Press a while back now full of chapbooks, lovely little essays and all presented so well, from the initial packaging all the way down to each individual book.

I love how these are presented and it’s great to have a beautiful, hand-crafted work to read amongst all the books, an experiment, an essay, a poem, take your pick and while away twenty minutes in peoples beautiful words/worlds.

The Unit

by Jason Jackson

Past, present and future of a working class psychogeography.

A place that has different meanings through time, that gradually decays through time, changes purpose and importance.

How we fabricate lives intermingled with truth and exaggeration, until we grow and forget the important geographies of our youth.

My New Car

by Alan Sincic
A magnificent green with the art work reminiscent of a children’s road mat, play and childhood combine with desire for a status symbol.

There is a hint of Marinetti and the Futurists to this text, the worship and fetishisation of a mechanical object, repetitive noises (words), the experimentation with word and sentence structure, and speed.

But there is a certain rot to this text that takes us past all that out to the other side of gross consumerism, familial break up due to obsession and fetishisation in a car culture.

Almost a beat poem.

the abyss of the other

by cecilia cavalieri
Poetry and art works combined in a beautiful A3 page, greys and neutral tones frame and support mother and child in their exploration of a grey square with an abyss crossing it.

Exploring, examining, reacting, feeling, the poetry reacts to the relationship between mother and daughter, pregnancy and society, childhood and limitations, beautifully stated, anger, hurt, confusion all spill out.

Realities and the expectations of others bear down, uneasiness and love intermingle.

Palatable

by Solange Leon Iriarte
Words and art work, the black and white drawing and photographs echo the words that speak of food and hungers.

Exploring the relationship we have with food through a personal journey of getting to know intimately what she eats, drawing and exploring (consuming) before eating (once more consuming), Solange seeks to personalise the death of animals for our benefit once more, to step over that remove that industrial food production has created.

The depiction of food in art is also explored discussing the development away from naturalistic representation to abstract representation.

A great project which speaks a truth about our relationship with that which sustains our own life.

MASH

by Lena Ziegler
A maze of hopes and dreams, eighteen passages of desires and thoughts on a hand-crafted A3 fold-out page.

Each passage gives you a choice of where to go next, almost like an adventure but nowhere near as determined, there are loops and feedbacks which can often leave the reader going round in circles. It almost reminds me of those paper fortune tellers, which I think the art work alludes to.

Wonderful, dreamy, the prose pulls you into the world of this college girl and her thoughts on herself and relationships.


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Bad Betty Press

When I saw the images that I had been emailed for this feature of the beautiful chapbooks and pamphlets that Amy and Jake produce through Bad Betty Press I had an immediate feeling of desire for them. A well produced pamphlet is always a thing of beauty and it looks as though various award judges agree with that.

MICHAEL MARKS PUBLISHERS’ AWARD, Shortlisted, 2018
SABOTEUR AWARDS: Most Innovative Publisher, Shortlisted, 2018
SABOTEUR AWARDS: Best Pamphlet, Solomon’s World – Jake Wild Hall, Longlisted, 2018
LONDON’S BIG READ: The Dizziness of Freedom, Shortlisted, 2019

I now have another pile of goodies added to my ongoing wish list for birthday and other occasions.

Website: badbettypress.com
Facebook: @badbettypress
Instagram: @badbettypress
Twitter: @badbettypress

In their own words…

When did you start publishing?

We published our first book of poems in July 2017.

What made you want to start publishing?

We’re both poets who perform but also love the page. We have a big network of artist friends and peers writing excellent work, and loved the idea of creating a platform to help their work reach more readers. We felt that there was space in the world of poetry publishing for some more exciting, fresh and diverse voices.

What do you specialise in?

Poetry. We mostly put out pamphlets / chapbooks (short collections of around 10-20 poems), but also publish full-length collections, anthologies, and a series of mini-pamphlets called Bad Betty Shots.

Where are you based?

Tottenham, north London.

Do you have a submission window, if so when?

October – January for pamphlet / collection manuscripts, Feb – April for anthology poems.

Who are you (team photo if possible)?

Amy Acre and Jake Wild Hall. Writers and parents, we set up Bad Betty the year our daughter was born.

Background in the book industry?

Amy came from the world of copywriting, so had a background in editing, art direction and creative production. We’ve both written and performed poetry for over 10 years, working with indie publishers and picking up what we could about the process along the way, as well as running and promoting events.

Talk about some of your books if possible?

Our mental health anthology, The Dizziness of Freedom (2018), was shortlisted for a couple of awards, and is our bestseller to date.

While I Yet Live by Gboyega Odubanjo is our bestselling pamphlet.

She Too Is a Sailor by Antonia Jade King and Raft by Anne Gill are two of our most recent books, respectively exploring womanhood and trauma with delicacy and wit.

The Death of a Clown by Tom Bland and TIGER by Rebecca Tamás were both featured on the ‘Poetry School Books of 2018’ longlist.


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