//MIDDEN

A NEST PACKED WITH
EVENTS, NEWS, & MORE!

poke around our mishmash to
see what catches your eye!
no trash. all treasure.

COLLAGEMOUTH 3.0 // BOCALLAGE 3.0
[una celebración de traducción // a translation celebration]

on november 26, 2022, we hosted our third annual COLLAGEMOUTH // BOCALLAGE event to celebrate the launch of cristina guzmán's zine el cuerpo del poema del cuerpo // the body of the poem of the body, which was co-translated by maryhope|whitehead|lee, claudia nuñez de ibieta, brianda torres, and ryan greene.  while we've typically held this event during september [to align with national translation month], due to hurricane fiona, this year we needed to postpone until november. the virtual reading was co-presented by palabras bilingual bookstore and our sibling project, no.good.home, who published cristina's zine!

HERE is the link to the recorded video of the full event .


COLLAGEMOUTH 2.0 // BOCALLAGE 2.0
[una celebración de traducción // a translation celebration]

on september 26, 2021, we hosted our second annual COLLAGEMOUTH // BOCALLAGE event to celebrate national translation month. this year, FIIK//BOOKS contributors marlyn cruz-centeno and félix castro provided poetic and musical curation for our reading which featured four womxn writing from puerto rico [natalia ortiz-cotto, cristina guzmán, angélica maría, carmen r. marín]. this virtual reading was co-presented by palabras bilingual bookstore and was made possible thanks to the technical assistance of FIIK//BOOKS contributor antonieta carpenter-cosand. collaborative translations of the poets' work were lovingly completed by co-conspirators mary hope whitehead lee, claudia nuñez de ibieta, and ryan greene.

to commemorate this event, we printed a hand-folded bilingual broadside featuring poems by each of the poets. to request a free copy, send us an email. 

HERE is the link to bilingual author bios.

HERE is the link to the recorded video of the full event .

HERE is the link to the spotify playlist félix created for the event.


ABALONE MOUNTAIN PRESS PODCAST

a huge thank you to amber mccrary at abalone mountain press for featuring us in your podcast series on april 22nd, 2021! it was a joy to chat with you about finding community, translation, collage, independent bookstore magic, the cardboard house press cartonera collective, and our locally-rooted publishing through FIIK//BOOKS :) we can't wait to see what people write in response to our prompt [dreamt up by mary hope]!

HERE is our podcast interview with amber.

HERE is the writing prompt that mary hope created.


INTERVIEW WITH ENTROPY

all of us here at FIIK//BOOKS are beyond grateful to have been included in the entropy small press database on april 13, 2021. bigthx to dennis sweeney for the interview and biglove to amber mccrary for putting us on entropy's radar. 

HERE is our interview where we talk about FIIK//BOOKS.

HERE is amber's interview where she talks about abalone mountain press.


POETRY PARTY @ ASU ZINE FEST

on april 03, 2021, we worked with palabras bilingual bookstore to put on a multi-lingual "poetry party" to close out the first ever ASU ZINE FEST. our reading featured ten local poets who have published with FIIK//BOOKS in our first two years [chawa magaña, mary hope whitehead lee, vida de jesus lopez, félix castro, antonieta carpenter-cosand, raquel denis, marlyn cruz centeno, claudia nuñez de ibieta, shaunté glover, and amber mccrary]. all audience members were invited to use the zoom chat to contribute to a live-designed zine created to commemorate the reading.

HERE is a video of the poetry party. [passcode: ec&pvD1$ -- starts at 00:59:10]

HERE  is an easy-to-read version of the live-designed zine.

HERE is a print-ready version of the live-designed zine. 

HERE is an audio version of the zine read by mh & rg.


JUNE POWERS // TRIPLE BOOK LAUNCH

on february 20, 2021, FIIK//BOOKS and palabras bilingual bookstore co-presented a triple launch event for local poet/photographer june powers to celebrate the release of her three self-published chapbooks: CHILD, SOUTH, & HEART [all of which are available at palabras]. to open the event, FIIK//BOOKS co-conspirator mary hope whitehead lee did a reading of poems written during the pandemic. to commemorate june's triple launch, we created a triptych brochure broadside called NOT THE SAME which features one poem from each of her three chapbooks.

HERE is a video of the launch.

HERE is the full webpage for NOT THE SAME where you can read/download/listen for free and learn more about the broadside!


COLLAGEMOUTH // BOCALLAGE
[una celebración de traducción // a translation celebration]

on september 20, 2020, to celebrate national translation month, FIIK//BOOKS co-conspirators mary hope whitehead lee, claudia nuñez de ibieta, and ryan greene hosted BOCALLAGE // COLLAGEMOUTH to share poetry by seven womxn from the americas, the caribbean, and central africa [antonieta carpenter-cosand, marlyn cruz-centeno, claudina domingo, maría nsue angüe, cecilia casanova, elena salamanca & tamara grosso]. the event was co-presented by palabras bilingual bookstore, and was held virtually [due to the pandemic]. at the beginning of the event, our friend raji ganesan led a grounding meditation with interpretation into spanish by FIIK//BOOKS co-conspirator claudia nuñez de ibieta. 

BOCALLAGE // COLLAGEMOUTH 2.0 is scheduled for september 2021, and will feature four womxn writing from puerto rico. poetic and musical curation by marlyn cruz-centeno and félix castro.

HERE is a video of the full event.


4M BOOKS: VOL 1 -- LANZAMIENTO // LAUNCH

on june 27, 2020 we hosted a virtual release reading for our four-way, bidirectional, bilingual poetry collection, 4M BOOKS: VOL.1. our friend raji ganesan led us through a grounding exercise to open the event [intepreted into spanish by FIIK//BOOKS co-conspirator claudia], and then we heard bilingual readings by the 4M collaborators: antonieta carpenter-cosand, marlyn cruz centeno, mary hope whitehead lee, raquel denis, claudia nuñez de ibieta, and ryan greene. the launch event was co-presented with palabras bilingual bookstore, and the book itself was supported by the arizona commission on the arts and the arizona community foundation.

HERE is a video of the launch.

HERE is the full webpage for 4M BOOKS: VOL 1 where you can read/download/listen for free and learn more about the project!


NUCLEAR WASTE RELEASE READING

FIIK//BOOKS co-conspirator mary hope whitehead lee performed a full reading of NUCLEAR WASTE for the first time at palabras bilingual bookstore's "POC IT TO ME" open mic night on feb. 15, 2020. she read in the hosh gallery space at palabras and shared some of the story behind her decades-in-the-making debut collection. 

HERE is a video of mary hope reading the opening three poems: "family portrait," "pater familias," and "mater familias."

HERE is the full webpage for NUCLEAR WASTE where you can read/download/listen for free and learn more about how the poems and collages came to life!


ROOT THROUGH OUR BOOKS