Every once in a while, we will profile what’s currently inspiring a particular staffer or intern at Lookout. Today’s victim is intern Toni Blackwell. This girl does it all: design, grant-writing, promotion, and more. Here’s what she has to say about what’s on her nightstand.

“Right now I’m reading One Morning in Sarajevo by David James Smith. It is a history of the events of June 28, 1914, surrounding the actions of Gavrilo Princip and the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which kicked off WWI.

The design of the book suits the topic: the cover is grainy and uses actual photographs of the involved parties and the assassination. There are another two sections of photographs, four glossy sheets with pictures of the assassins, their relatives, the guns used, and the memorial to the assassins (who are regarded by some as heroes).

The writing style is functional — no frills — but it gets the job done. It may not be the most artistic or creative, but this topic is so rarely addressed that Smith still comes off original.”

art399:

Lupton, Ellen. Indie Publishing: How to Design and Produce Your Own Book. New York, Princeton Architectural Press. 2008.

One of my favorite books to have in The Publishing Lab!

– John M., Lookout Intern

Last week we were busy bees here in the Pub Lab! Edith Pearlman is coming to North Carolina for her tour soon (mid-April! Who’s ready?), and so we were getting together her press kits. They are so very beautiful, filled with reading guides, stickers, posters, Binocular Vision, and much more! All right, all right, enough ogling, it’s back to work for us!

– Sally J. Johnson, Lookout Intern

What We’re Reading :: Pub Lab Assistant Edition

The Lookout staff and interns wouldn’t accomplish much without the genius and faithfulness of the Publishing Laboratory teaching assistants. These lovely people actually know how to operate the scary machinery that makes our quality products, they keep track of where all our books are going, and so much more. In their honor, here’s a “What We’re Reading” that’s all about them!

“I am reading Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman. It’s certainly not a fun read, but these days World War II history has a hold over me that I can’t shake. If the old adage ‘those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it’ is true, I think the public should never stop looking at the events of WWII. That being said, the style of this particular book so far is pretty interesting, since it interweaves perspectives but follows one particular American soldier. Ink drawings, actually produced by that soldier, intersperse the sections and add some visual character to the book.”

– Lee Cannon, Publishing Laboratory Teaching Assistant

We interns are lucky for a number of reasons. One being: The Publishing Laboratory has THE best signs.

– Sally J. Johnson, Lookout Intern

Today our Executive Director and some of our interns would like to share a few books and journals that inspire us here at Lookout.

Executive Director Emily Smith read A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash (April, William Morrow) en route to AWP. “I was so engrossed that the friend I’d arranged to meet during the layover had to stand directly in front of me, wave, and say my name twice before I even looked up. A smart, riveting debut.”

Edith Pearlman

• In case you haven’t heard, Edith’s Binocular Vision won the National Book Critics Circle Award last week.
• She is also nominated for The Story Prize. The winners will be announced tomorrow, March 21!
• Her next reading tour begins April 15 at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, with stops in Charlotte, Durham, and other cities to be announced.

Steve Almond

• This guy writes like it’s his job. Well…you know what we mean. The Newer York
• Steve also continues his “The Week in Greed” articles in The Rumpus.
• His collection of short stories, God Bless America, received an honorable mention from The Story Prize.
• (www.theneweryork.com) just published a flash fiction piece by Steve, as well as a featured quote we’re particularly fond of: “Stay horny for art.”

John Rybicki

• First, you need to know that John’s astounding poetry collection, When All the World Is Old, will be available April 10. Pre-orders get it early, so be sure to visit www.lookout.org.
• He will join Edith at the April 15 reading to celebrate the first year of our little press doing big things.

Shelf-Life: “National Book Critics Circle fiction prize goes to Edith Pearlman”

Short story author Edith Pearlman took the big fiction prize at the National Book Critics Circle awards last night for her book Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories.

Congratulations Edith! We are so proud of you.

Read more.

Lookout Books was in Chicago for AWP last week! We were so excited to be part of such a great experience.

First, we flew in and were welcomed to cold, cold Chicago. Turns out the Windy City is aptly named. But no fear, we were cozy in the book fair at tables N5/N6 with UNCW’s MFA program, Ecotone and Chautauqua! So many great people came by to see us and buy books, and Edith Pearlman was there signing copies of Binocular Vision!

Every Wednesday we post about what we’re reading at the Lookout offices. The books and journals you find here are what inspire us. This week we’d like to highlight some of the publishers that caught our eye at AWP. Enjoy!

“I picked up A Boy from Ireland at the Persea Books table. It’s by Marie Raphael. I was first drawn to it because the cover was striking. Then I noticed the title, and I’ve always been drawn to Ireland. I’m almost done so I can say with confidence that it is really good.”

– Livingston Sheats, Pub Lab assistant director