Sunstroke Press is an independent publishing house igniting the spark of printed matter. By signing up to our newsletter, you'll be the first to receive notice of new titles, projects, events, recommendations and more.
Letter 1: Print forever
Letter 1: Print foreverBy Alex Ramos Hello, Welcome to Sunstroke Press’ newsletter. This is Alex writing; you might remember me as co-Editor in Chief, alongside Birdy, when Sunstroke was functioning as a magazine. I was responsible for curating a lot of what you saw, such as the site and social media, and organizing stuff on the back end. Now, at Sunstroke Press, I’m responsible for similar tasks… including the newsletter. So, what’s in store? Our primary goal with the newsletter is to share information about new books we’re making — more on that shortly! — though we also would like to make the most of your time scrolling through this issue by sharing our thoughts, as well as recommendations of books and other media we find interesting. Hopefully, you think they’re interesting, too! I understand that this newsletter might be coming at an inopportune time, with most people in the United States, where our home base is located, and affected locations still reeling from the manipulative political theater we just witnessed. We’ll continue to see more of that over the next few years, but one thing’s for sure: art and community are more important than ever. There is even more reason for us to make art and keep in touch, from Brooklyn to Berkeley, and from the United States to Palestine. There’s no use in asking, “What now?” The answer has always been the same: we act, we move and we watch each other’s backs in the process. One thing we’re looking forward to in the new year is the release of our first title, Diaries of a Wet Bird by Sophia Cutino. The book is an obituary of sorts, collecting photographs and poems about temporal youth, the acceptance of death, and preserving the things that give life meaning. Sophia has a documentarian’s instinct and a photographer’s eye, and you’ll find the synergy between those two consistently present throughout the book. If you’re a fan of Nan Goldin or Daido Moriyama’s work, you’ll enjoy Diaries of a Wet Bird. A long time contributor at Sunstroke, Sophia is currently a graduate student at University of California, Berkeley’s school of journalism. You can find more of her work on her website, though I highly recommend spending equal parts of your time perusing her Instagram and YouTube accounts. At the moment, we are running the press on the remaining profits of the magazine. This is enough to get us started, to afford trivial commodities like domains and Google Workspace. We’re trying to keep the team small in the meantime as this is, for now, a 100% volunteer-run effort. In an effort to expand our operations and take on more authors with ease, we’ve started an Indiegogo campaign. If you’re compelled by what we’re doing, or enjoy what we’ve put out as a magazine, please consider backing our campaign. If you’re unable to, don’t worry — there’s plenty of ways to support us otherwise. To be honest with you, I didn’t think I’d be back at Sunstroke after I had quietly stepped down last year. I thought I had exhausted my editorial and operational knowledge, and that I had left the magazine in a good place if it had to go through another big change. However, when Birdy presented me with the opportunity, I had a suspicion that this would be different from the first go around, and that the press would meet us where we were now, as adults. That’s what I continue to be hopeful for whenever my phone buzzes and I get a Slack notification, at least. Believe me when I say that we have the true dream team. The people I’m working with are some of the brightest I’ve had the pleasure to read, edit and rally feedback with, and I am filled with hope and awe whenever they achieve something or put out a new project. To think this all started, for me at least, with a hundred-plus-page zine about what an ideal future might look like. I am reminded whenever I glance at my bookshelf. Print forever. With gratitude, In Our OrbitIn Our Orbit is Sunstroke Press’ recommendations section. This is just a snapshot of stuff we like right now, whether that’s an old book or a new video game. Each link directly gets you to where you can listen, watch, purchase or learn more about the recommendation. Enjoy!
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Sunstroke Press
Sunstroke Press is an independent publishing house igniting the spark of printed matter. By signing up to our newsletter, you'll be the first to receive notice of new titles, projects, events, recommendations and more.