Talk:Kass Fleisher

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Two readings for Kass Fleisher

I've located one news reference to a Zoom reading that was held on 24 February 2023 in honor of Kass Fleisher, by ISU's Dept of English:

https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2023/02/readings-in-honor-of-dr-kass-fleisher-the-adventurous-radical-nonfiction/#:~:text=An%20online%20memorial%20in%20honor,%2C%20February%2024%2C%20via%20Zoom.

Unfortunately there's no archived video of that reading.

And I've located a Zoom memorial reading that was held for Kass on 25 October 2023, by the English Department at Indiana University Northwest, courtesy of their Dunes Literary Series:

https://iu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/t/1_hozud3oy/195960783

The readers included Mary Ann Cain, Carla Harryman, Michael Joyce, Andrew Levy, Laura Mullen, and Steve Tomasula. Notice of the latter reading is also at the following site, which lists me as a reader and does not include Steve Tomasula. I was merely present to add clarification as necessary. Cole Swensen and Caitlin Alvarez couldn't attend:

https://northwest.iu.edu/english/dunes-literary-series/index.html

I'm thinking perhaps some of this material could be cited at Kass's Wiki page as secondary references? Also, PennSound has now given Kass her own page, with links thus far to an interview, a conference presentation, and two readings:

https://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Fleisher.php?fbclid=IwAR3xLL3TmDfsGAbTrqaZhIFwy4Ugwmzc1tqRfxDDhmiUEXbdrZRRdTiREqQ

I'm hoping perhaps someone can add these links as you deem appropriate. Many thanks.

Joe Amato aka Capisce (talk) 18:51, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Capisce, I had found the memorial readings while doing earlier work on the article, and didn't see anything to do with them. Other editors might have better ideas. I added the PennSound page under external links. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 08:44, 7 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Two questions

First, I just noticed that the message at the top of the Kass Fleisher’s page begins “This biography of a living person….” She died last year.

Second, I don’t understand why the anthology Kass edited with Caitlin Alvarez, Litscapes —- which contains contributions from over 80 writers nationwide —- was removed from her Wiki page. It’s referenced at her personal website, and any number of writers with pages on Wiki are included in that 458 pp anthology. I worked on the anthology myself (my name appears on the copyright page as a consultant) so I’m happy to provide whatever additional information you might require. I would think the anthology should appear, as it did originally, under its own heading, Editorial.

Many thanks for your continuing assistance with this.

Joe Amato aka Capisce (talk) 02:59, 8 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed BLP tag on main page and living=yes tag on talk page. On the anthology, I think that notwally's concern was that it was published by Steerage, which Fleisher started and operated -- IIRC, Steerage published about 6 books over a few years span per Worldcat [1]. Were there any reviews of the anthology in reliable sources? These would indicate impact. I recall looking and not quickly finding them. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 08:36, 8 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for fixing that message!

Re Litscapes: I don't know about impact. It sold pretty well at one point. But the roster of writers in that anthology is noteworthy. Everyone from Charles Bernstein to Junior Burke to Maxine Chernoff to Andrei Codrescu to John Domini to Johanna Drucker to Thalia Field to Greg Hewett to Bhanu Kapil to the late Steve Katz to Paul Hoover to Pierre Joris to Frank Lentricchia to Laura Mullen to Aldon Lynn Nielsen to Lance Olsen to Stephanie Strickland (all of whom have Wiki entries) to -- 65 more writers! A number of these latter don't have Wiki pps -- like Jed Rasula, one of the greatest and most prolific literary critics of our time, in my view -- but should. (In fact one of Jed's books, Destruction Was My Beatrice, has its own Wiki page. Of course that book is sitting on my shelves.)

Kass and I published only six books on Steerage Press. One book, Chris Pusateri's Common Time, was a finalist for Colorado poetry book of the year in 2013 (he's in the anthology). Chris lost to the late poet Jack Collom's Second Nature (Jack is also in our anthology). See <https://www.denverpost.com/2013/04/12/2013-colorado-book-awards-finalists/>. And one Steerage book, Disappearance by Michael Joyce, was reviewed widely and sold a lot of copies, as it reached at one point a 10,000 ranking on Amazon (which anyone will tell you is no small feat). I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. :->

See, this is a micropress we're talking about. And the metric by which one establishes success or failure is not that of PRH. (In fact everyone in the know knows that the vast majority of PRH books sell under 1000 copies.)

So all of the writers in our anthology are people Kass and I knew well. And note that we elected NOT to publish our own work in that anthology. We were hoping to do a second volume, but life got in the way, as it does. The point is that we could never have assembled such a gathering if we hadn't taught in three different time zones on numerous campuses over three decades. So we gathered some moss, as it were. But that anthology was by no means some kind of vanity project. Kass saw it as our way of giving back to literary community, which is how we saw Steerage Press generally. (Yes, my first novel was published by Steerage Press -- this is how the press came to be. I got sick of waiting for a publisher, with whom I'd signed a contract four years prior, and Kass thought it was the perfect excuse to start a small press.)

Many thanks for your continuing assistance.

Best,

Joe Amato aka Capisce (talk) 20:16, 9 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]