James R. Gapinski’s AWP Bookfair table/booth picks
With over 700 presses and organizations represented at AWP, it’s difficult to see them all. Naturally, I need to start with a self-serving plug: your first stop should be Table #2025: The Conium Review. After that, explore as many new presses and publishers as possible (that’s my gameplan). But it’s good to have a few specific tables in mind—beacons amid the storm. Here are my top ten exhibitors (in order by table number):
- Table #226: Gold Line Press / Ricochet Editions
- Table #324: Small Beer Press
- Table #343: Fiction Collective 2
- Booth #415: NewPages.com
- Table #422: NANO Fiction
- Table #439: The Review Review
- Table #925: Juked
- Booth #1007: VIDA: Women in Literary Arts
- Table #1122: [PANK] / Tiny Hardcore Press
- Table #1837: Two Dollar Radio
So if you’re a bit lost, maybe use these tent-poles as your guide too. But don’t get stuck on lists and favorites; the most interesting conversations often come from presses you’ve never heard of.
About the Author
James R. Gapinski is The Conium Review‘s managing editor. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College and teaches writing at Bunker Hill Community College. His work has appeared in theEEEL, NANO Fiction, Heavy Feather Review, Juked, Atticus Review, Word Riot, and elsewhere.