Thanksgiving: All the Thanks, All the Giving
We have so, so much to be thankful for.
As the American holiday of Thanksgiving descends upon us (tomorrow!), we at Deep Vellum have much to be thankful for. And so let us take a moment and give thanks to everyone who has helped make 2014 such an incredible year for us so far. So without further ado, THANKS TO:
THE AUTHORS who believe in Deep Vellum and who see, understand, and want to take part in the vision of our press, all those who have been willing to sign on with us—a new, startup, indie press based in Dallas of all places—at a very early stage. These authors and their books are the whole reason Deep Vellum was set up, to bring their voices, their worldviews, their humor, their wisdom, their gift of language and storytelling into English, which brings us to:
THE TRANSLATORS, without whom none of us would be reading those amazing foreign authors. I was inspired to start Deep Vellum after translating a novel myself (Oleg Kashin’s Роисся Вперде, come on somebody publish this thing!), and have started Deep Vellum as a way to give the world’s great translators into English a platform through which to publish their work, and I’m thankful to all the translators who have signed on, trusting me, trusting Deep Vellum, respecting our mission, and an extra special thanks to all those translators who serve as tireless scouts, submitting translation ideas to publishers like me, expanding our horizons and making it all possible. Thank you. Mil gracias. Спасибо огромное. Merci beaucoups. Köszönöm.
THE DONORS AND SUBSCRIBERS AND READERS. You are literally making Deep Vellum HAPPEN. Our first book is STILL technically not published and we have over one hundred subscribers and donors who have put their faith and their money behind our mission, and without you we couldn’t do it. We are still not exactly where we would like to be in the funding from an organizational standpoint—every startup worries about money, but none more so than a startup nonprofit, since there are NO startup funding opportunities for nonprofits like Deep Vellum (few, if any, grants available to startup nonprofits; no startup capital or angel investors). We need a significant donation or grant OR a ton of donations and subscriptions to help see the mission of Deep Vellum grow into 2015. And we are working tirelessly to build that funding so that we can be around for the long haul. Here in Dallas. Publishing great books. Promoting great literature and translation. AND for all those who have already given, already made the first book happen, who have signed on for 5- and 10-book subscriptions, THANK YOU. For your generosity, for your faith, for your open-mindedness, for your love of literature, for your love of the world. We do this for you, and couldn’t do it without you.
ALL THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS who have been so supportive, lending ideas, help, sustenance, and coffee to the cause. Deep Vellum wouldn’t be here without the support of my wife, the willingness to take time and energy to mentor me from Chad Post, the advice and friendship of Deep Vellum’s board members, the sharing of contacts, time, and ideas from everyone I’ve met in Dallas and across the publishing business, and the Common Desk—the best damn place to work in Dallas.
With these thanks, if you are interested in donating, please consider a donation in any amount on #GivingTuesday, which is December 2nd this year. Originally started as a counterweight to the madness of Black Friday, #GivingTuesday is a way more positive and impactful outlet for giving back to the organizations in our communities who make amazing things happen on a daily basis, and who are in constant need of your support (way more than the corporate overlords who churn out and overhype so much ridiculous garbage this time of year).
We need your support. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation on #GivingTuesday by clicking the image below, it’ll take you to a Paypal page
If you have not already, please take a moment to watch this video laying out we will use your donation to continue to publish great books and get people excited about translation and international literature:
And since we love you and since getting stuff around the holidays IS really cool, buy anything from our webstore on Thanksgiving and Black Friday and receive 20% off!! Use the code “DVTHXGVNG” at checkout to receive the discount from 12:00am on Thursday until 11:59pm on Friday. AHHHHHHH!!!! DISCOUNTS ARE COOL!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE COOL!!!!!!!
And last week I traveled to New York on the invitation of the Americas Society for their talk with Carmen Boullosa and Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, moderated by Nicolas Kanellos of Arté Publico Press, and for the launch of the new issue of Review Magazine of Literature & Arts in the Americas published by the Americas Society. While in NYC, I took the opportunity to meet with sellers and event coordinators at some of the city’s finest bookstores, including Community Bookstore in Park Slope; WORD in Greenpoint; McNally Jackson in SoHo; and the breathtaking Albertine Books on the Upper East Side (which is inside the French Consulate & only sells French books in French & in English translation). Somewhere in there I squeezed in a meeting with Sean Bye of the Polish Cultural Institute to talk about a possible really really cool project we might work on together. And I also managed to make it to the launch party for the new issue of Music & Literature at the Scandinavia House just in time to miss what was an incredible program, but still had a great time catching up with M&L’s staff (with a surprise appearance by Daniel Medin!!!!!) and I even got to meet Naja Marie Aidt, the incredible Danish author published by Two Lines Press & Open Letter Books. And from NYC I flew to San Antonio for the ASEEES Convention (the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) to present on a panel called “Non-Academic Careers for Humanities Specialists,” which I’m always glad to do, as it’s a bit of a passion of mine to talk about the multifaceted career paths open to humanities degree holders like myself. And in San Antonio I caught up with Carol Apollonio (my professor, mentor, and friend at Duke, and translator of The Mountain and the Wall by Alisa Ganieva), met Michael Naydan (the Ukrainian translator and professor at Penn State), discussed some new publishing projects and ideas with others . . . It was a damn good trip. I am tired.