Scrub Jay Flyer - November 2024
Hello, friends.
Welcome to Scrub Jay Flyer, the email newsletter of Scrub Jay Press, a newly revived independent book publisher based in Fresno, California. Thanks for being here!
Subscribers can expect one post a month in their inbox, with a special-occasion post every now and then. Subscription is free.
Posts will include news, essays, fragments, lists, poems, interviews, recommendations, dives into archives, calls for submissions, etc.
So, book lovers, hop in and fly with us!
News: New Publisher and Editors to Revive Scrub Jay Press
FRESNO, California (October 9, 2024) – With the aim to publish and promote the creative works of emerging writers and artists from Central California, a collective of Fresno writers has joined together to revive Scrub Jay Press, an independent press founded in 1996 in Tollhouse, California.
The first incarnation of Scrub Jay Press published seven books between 1996 and 2010, under the direction of co-founders Eugene Zumwalt and Chris Henson, both longtime educators and professors emeriti from Fresno State. The books included works from the San Joaquín Valley as well as works of national significance.
Scrub Jay Press 2.0 will be based in Fresno and directed by publisher Jefferson Beavers, with associate editors Ronald Dzerigian, Angela Chaidez Vincent, and Marisa Mata, and assistant editor Taylor Seals. All five have connections to Fresno State and the Central Valley’s broader writing and arts communities.
The first publication of the restarted press will be volume 2 of Wild Blue Zine, a small-run literary zine edited by Mata and Seals. Mata founded Wild Blue Zine and self-published its first volume in 2021. Submissions are open now; the deadline to submit is November 11. Wild Blue Zine volume 2 will be published in spring 2025. [Submit your work!]
Future publishing plans include a fourth-generation anthology of Fresno writers, a chapbook series, and more. The press will now focus exclusively on writers and artists from Central California.
Previously, most Scrub Jay Press books featured type set by hand, printed on a 19th Century platen press, and cut and bound by hand. Future works will be artfully made and digitally printed. Scrub Jay Press books will remain independently distributed.
Visit scrubjaypress.com to learn more and to explore the press’ back catalogue, which includes fine works of poetry, art, and nonfiction, with some titles still available for purchase.
Call for Submissions: Wild Blue Zine
Scrub Jay Press is currently accepting poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, photography, and art for volume 2 of Wild Blue Zine, forthcoming in spring 2025.
Deadline to submit: November 11, 2024.
Invoking the spirit of its namesake, Fresno’s Wild Blue Yonder nightclub, Wild Blue Zine creates a space for Central California writers and artists to share and archive their work and lives with one another.
List: What’s In Our Bags
Craig Davidson / The Saturday Night Ghost Club (Penguin, 2023)
From Marisa Mata, associate editor:
“The Saturday Night Ghost Club is one of the more unusual books I’ve read. The narrator is a neurosurgeon who goes between deep, vivid descriptions of brain matter and the technicalities of brain surgery, to recounting scenes from his childhood spent with an uncle obsessed with the paranormal and occult. I wouldn’t say the book is difficult to read, but it does require a high level of attention. The effort pays off, with the characters giving you interesting complexities to consider. Some sentences are crafted so beautifully that you’ll want to read them multiple times before moving forward with the story.”
Rudy Francisco / Helium (Button Poetry, 2017)
From Taylor Seals, assistant editor:
“I found Rudy Francisco through his performances with Button Poetry at a time in my life when I didn’t know I’d need it the most (alongside some other favorite writers of mine such as Javon Johnson, Sarah Kay, Wil Gibson, to name a few). As I watched him, I appreciated the softness of his anger and the intensity with which he loves. Helium is one of the first poetry collections that made home on my bookshelf; it’s the perfect title for the voice mooning on the horizon in these pages.”
Myriam Gurba / Creep: Accusations and Confessions (Avid Reader Press, 2024)
From Jefferson Beavers, publisher:
“I’ve been a fan of Myriam Gurba since reading her early story collections, but it’s her nonfiction essays that I hold in highest esteem. To those who aren’t familiar with her deftly crafted blend of memoir, journalism, and untold histories, I sometimes describe her as a Chicana Joan Didion — which is to say, Gurba is the Didion I wish was canonized. In her latest book, she collects ‘a genealogy of creeps’ so blistering and true, I feel like the boundaries of social criticism have been split apart.”
Instagram: Meet the Editors
You can follow Scrub Jay Press on Instagram to keep up with our editorial team as they’re out and about, livin’ that literary life.
To summon Uncle Walt, each of the editors leads a creative life that contains multitudes. The editors love art, engineering, filmmaking, multimedia, sculpture, writing, and so much more. And of course, we all love to read!
We hope you enjoy getting to know us. If you follow us on the ’gram, we will probably follow you back.