Dye Hard Interviews: John Dorsey: Hittin' the road

John Dorsey lived for several years in Toledo, Ohio. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Teaching the Dead to Sing: The Outlaw's Prayer(Rose of Sharon Press, 2006), Sodomy is a City in New Jersey (American Mettle Books, 2010), Tombstone Factory (Epic Rites Press, 2013), Appalachian Frankenstein (GTK Press, 2015), Being the Fire (Tangerine Press, 2016) and Shoot the Messenger (Red Flag Press, 2017).  More recently he has published a limited-edition chapbook titled Dying like Dogs, published by Tangerine Press.  He is the current Poet Laureate of Belle, MO. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He can be reached at archerevans@yahoo.com.

DH: When did you start writing poetry? When was your first collection published?

JD: I started writing very bad poetry about 30 years ago. My first collection, which contained much of that early work, was published in 1995 by Jesse Poet Publications, and was entitled When It's Over and Other Poems.  Read more.

The Edge of Things: South African short fiction selected by Arja Salafranca

Dye Hard Press has FOUR copies left of The Edge of Things, the short fiction anthology edited by Arja Salafranca, which was published a few years back and received much critical acclaim. The Edge of Things contains 24 short stories by Jayne Bauling, Arja Salafranca, Liesl Jobson, Gillian Schutte, Karina Magdalena Szczurek, Jenna Mervis, Jennifer Lean, Fred de Vries, Margie Orford, Aryan Kaganof, Bernard Levinson, Hamilton Wende, Pravasan Pillay, Beatrice Lakwana, Hans Pienaar, Rosemund Handler, Tiah Beautement, Angelina N Sithebe, Jeanne Hromnik, David wa Maahlamela, Perd Booysen, Gail Dendy, Silke Heiss and Dan Wylie. 

The cost is R190 per copy, including postage, for South Africa. For overseas the cost is R240, including postage. Send an email to dyehardpress@iafrica.com to order.

pushing from the riverbank by alan finlay

Dye Hard Press has just FIVE copies left of pushing from the riverbank by Alan Finlay, published in 2010.

Consisting of 19 poems, this is a beautiful production by one of South Africa's finest poets.

Other titles by Finlay include Burning Aloes, No Free Sleeping and The Red Laughter of Guns in Green Summer Rain, with Philip Zhuwao. He was editor of Blek-Sem and donga, as well as New Coin.

Available at R90 per copy, including postage, for South Africa. For overseas, R140 including postage. Email dyehardpress@iafrica.com to order.

Coming soon from Dye Hard Press: With the Safety Off by Graeme Feltham

Graeme Feltham's novel With the Safety Off is in the final stages of production, and I hope to get it to the printer later next week!

Watch this space for more details!

Copies of Beyond Touch by Arja Salafranca still available

Dye Hard Press still has copies in stock of Arja Salafranca's poetry collection Beyond Touch, which was published by Modjaji Books and Dye Hard Press in 2015.

Beyond Touch is Salafranca's third poetry collection and was co-winner of the SALA Poetry Award in 2016.

Copies are available at R145, including postage, for South Africa. For overseas orders, the price is R190, including postage. Contact dyehardpress@iafrica.com to order.

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska

A copy of the original edition of Who was Sinclair Beiles? is selling at abebooks.com for R1 400!!!!

But you can buy a copy of the revised edition for much less. Who was Sinclair Beiles?, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is now available at Balakudu.com for R170.

Please follow the link below to order. https://www.balakudu.com/9780986998249.

You can also still order directly from Dye Hard Press. Send an email to dyehardpress@iafrica.com for details.

Copies of Kobus Moolman's Left Over still available for sale

Dye Hard Press has unearthed some more copies of Kobus Moolman's poetry collection Left Over, published in 2013.

Available for R150, including postage, in South Africa. For overseas the cost is R190. To order please send an email to dyehardpress@iafrica.com.

The latest issue of Graffti

I have five short poems in this recent issue of Graffiti, published in Kolkata, India, by poet Subhankar Das.

Graffiti is a bilingual poetry journal. Other poets in the English section are Adrian Manning, Henrick Aeshna, Jayeeta Bhattacharya, Jay Passer, John Dorsey, Linda King and Neeli Cherkovski.

Shamanic surrealist

In Naked Field by Gary Cummiskey: Order details

In Naked Field is a chapbook of 20 poems by Gary Cummiskey, published by Concrete Meat Press in

Leicester, England. It is limited to 50 copies. To order click here.

Forthcoming from Dye Hard Press: With the Safety Off by Graeme Feltham

To be published by Dye Hard Press, in collaboration with altoviolet. 

With the Safety Off, a novel by Graeme Feltham.

Pravasan Pillay's Chatsworth to be translated into Swedish

Pravasan Pillay's short story collection Chatsworth, which was published by Dye Hard Press last year, is going to be translated into Swedish! It will be published by Lil'Lit Förlag in Stockholm and be out by the end of this year!

Coming soon from Dye Hard Press and altoviolet: With the Safety Off by Graeme Feltham

It’s the mid-1990s. Yeoville, along with the rest of South Africa, is in the midst of change. Enter Fig, a copywriter with a penchant for living on the edge – staying up all night, having casual sex and snorting cocaine. Drifting from seedy clubs to grotty flats, Fig continues his aimless odyssey …  until the day he falls asleep in a client presentation and is fired.

Nine months later Fig is hooked on heroin and turns to drug-dealing for survival. If his previous lifestyle skirted close to the danger zone, it’s now gloves off as he drops all pretence of respectability and descends into a world of syndicates and violence. There is no going back, but Fig doesn’t care.

From now on, he’s living with the safety off – no matter where it leads him.

At once harrowing and humourous, despairing and cynical, Graeme Feltham’s stark novel With the Safety Off plumbs the depths of mid-1990s South Africa, capturing both the exhilaration of freedom and the insecurity that comes with change.

216 pp 

ISBN 978-0-9869982-6-3

Jointly published by Dye Hard Press and altoviolet.

Pricing to be confirmed.

Cover art (provisional): James de Villiers

Graeme Feltham was born in 1965 and grew up in Uitenhage. He completed a degree in journalism at Rhodes University and moved to Johannesburg in the late 1980s. In addition to being a writer, he was an experimental composer and performance artist. His novella One Hundred Naked Beers was published by Brevitas in 2002. His work also appeared in literary journals such as New Coin and donga. Graeme took his own life in December 2017.

Mail art received from Henry Denander

Mail art received from Swedish artist, poet and publisher Henry Denander, including a stampsheet of portraits of Dr Hunter S Thompson. Am wondering whether Henry has done any portraits of Dr John, who died last week?

The stories my grandfather told me

Original collage by Bruno Sourdin

This is the original collage by French poet and collagist Bruno Sourdin that graced the cover of my latest poetry chapbook, In Naked Field, published by Concrete Meat Press in Leicester, England. In Naked Field is limited to 50 copies.