There’s a saying that if you don’t see the thing you wish existed, you should make it yourself. In 2023, this is what brooklyn baggett did with creating new words {press}, a “trans and gender-expansive nonprofit poetry press.”
brooklyn started the press out of a sense of activism. She had this feeling of responsibility to use her financial privilege and do more for her community, the trans and gender expansive community. “Grassroots organizing and that sort of thing was not necessarily my strong suit,” brooklyn told me.
Using her decades of experience in the digital world and experience from being an entrepreneur, along with time spent working on literary journals, gave her the confidence to launch a press to create a platform for more trans voices. In a world where the existence of being trans is under constant threat in America, new words {words} press does indeed feel like an act of activism. When civil rights are being destroyed, and some U.S. states take away basic dignity of identity, communities around trans and gender expansive individuals should be celebrated and protected.
As a trans poet and artist, brooklyn found that she had too few opportunities to publish her work in mainstream literary publications. brooklyn says this is due to the majority of editors of mainstream literary publications being cis and heterosexual, and typically white—certain life experiences and content of the poems get overlooked.
brooklyn told me this was her experience, and the experience of at least one poet who has been published in new words {press}. “A contributor to one of the journal issues emailed me after being accepted to tell me that they had been told by everyone that the poem they submitted would never be published by anyone.”
This is at the heart of what brooklyn is doing with her press: providing a home for trans and gender-expanding poets to publish their work in journals and with full-length books. The work itself, too, is for anyone who enjoys poetry. “I want the books in people’s hands,” brooklyn said. “new words {press} publishes trans poets who write poetry for everyone.”
Beyond publishing, new words {press} is also a community with online workshops, writing groups, and in-person events with hopes of expanding in that area.
On the latest episode of Book Stuff we get into more of why she created the journal, struggles for trans writers, literary activism, and the challenges of running a non-profit press.
Enjoy this episode on the Book Stuff website and on Apple and Spotify.
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