Belladonna* Collaborative (or Belladonna Series, Inc.) is a

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. However, when a distinction ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

publisher and collaborative organization based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City. It was founded in 1999 by Rachel Levitsky as a reading series at Bluestockings in New York, NY. The reading series quickly expanded to a matrix of readings, publications, and informal salons, featuring avant-garde feminist writing, with an emphasis on hybrid and language-focused writing. Currently, the press operates as a non-hierarchical collaborative, publishing books and hosting literary events with attention to diversity in its roster of authors and editorial board.

History

Belladonna* was started as a reading and salon series at Bluestockings, a bookstore on New York City's Lower East Side, in August 1999. The first publications were postcards by kari edwards for the May 4, 2000 reading at Bluestockings. Following the edwards postcards, and in collaboration with Boog Literature, Belladonna* began to publish commemorative "chaplets" (staple-bound pamphlets typically with fewer pages than a chapbook, produced in very small print runs) of its readers' work. In 2006 Belladonna* published chapbooks by Erica Hunt and Akilah Oliver and co-published its first full-length book, ''Four from Japan: Contemporary Poetry & Essays by Women'', in collaboration with Litmus Press. The following year, Belladonna* published its first full-length books independently: ''Open Box'' by Carla Harryman and ''Mauve Sea-Orchids'', a book of poems in Spanish and English with facing page translations, by Lila Zemborain (translated by Rosa Alcalá and Mónica de la Torre). In celebration of its ten-year anniversary in 2009, Belladonna* published The Elders Series: eight multiply authored perfect bound books highlighting the continuity and transformation of the ideas, poetics, and artistic/political concerns of its poets' circle. Each book was conceived as "an anthology and a conversation between the guest curator and the elder(s) she hosts". Since 2009, Belladonna* has published, on average, two full-length books and 14 chaplets a year.

Awards

In 2009, ''Bharat Jiva'' by kari edwards (co-published with Litmus Press) was a finalist for the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

in Transgender Literature. Erica Doyle's ''Proxy'' was a 2013 finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry and a winner of the

Poetry Society of America Poetry (from the Greek word '' poiesis'', "making") is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, literal or surface-level meanings. Any partic ...

's Norma Farber First Book Award in 2014. LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs was a winner of the 2016 Whiting Award for ''TwERK.'' ''Cancer Angel'' by Beth Murray won the California Book Award for Poetry in 2016. In 2015, Sophie Seita won a PEN-HEIM Translation Grant for her translation of Uljana Wolf's ''Subsisters''. In 2016, an excerpt of ''Subsisters'' won second place in Asymptote'
Close Approximations Translation Contest

Readings

The Belladonna* reading series is foundational to the press's history and mission, predating even the first publications. The series is run by the reading series curators. Since 1999, curators have included Marcella Durand and Rachel Levitsky, erica kaufman, Emily Skillings, Krystal Languell, Jamila Wimberly, Cara Benson, Ariel Goldberg, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Saretta Morgan, Chia-Lun Chang, Ana Paula, and Asiya Wadud. Belladonna* collaborates on the series with performance venues, academic institutions, arts and literary organizations, such as Abrons Art Center, Asian American Writers' Workshop, Berl's Brooklyn Poetry Shop, BGSQD, Bluestockings, Bowery Poetry Club, Brooklyn Art Library,

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

Brooklyn Public Library The Brooklyn Public Library is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two Brooklyn Publ ...

, Bryant Park Reading Series,

CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

, Dixon Place,

Eugene Lang College Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, commonly referred to as Lang, is the seminar-style, undergraduate, liberal arts college of The New School. It is located on-campus in Greenwich Village in New York City on West 11th Street off Sixth Avenue ( ...

, Housing Works Bookstore, La Casa Azul Bookstore, Lambda Literary, The Lesbian Herstory Archives, McNally Jackson, The Poetry Project,

Pioneer Works Pioneer Works is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit cultural arts center in the Red Hook, Brooklyn, Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City that was founded by artist Dustin Yellin in 2012. Pioneer Works includes a large exhibition spac ...

, Pratt Institute, Queen's College, St. Mark's Bookstore, Unnameable Books, and

ZieherSmith ZieherSmith is a contemporary art gallery founded in New York City in 2003 and run by Andrea Smith Zieher and Scott Zieher. In 2019, the gallery relocated to Nashville and is currently located in Edgehill at 1207 South Street. Gallery exhibitions ...

. Belladonna* documents its reading series through audio and visual recordings, as well as through the production of short-run chaplets for each of its readers. There are over 230 individually numbered chaplets in the series. The majority are single-authored pamphlets of under 15 pages. Several chaplets are multiply authored and many contain both texts and images. The chaplets are produced in a limited run of 150 copies. When copies sell out, Belladonna* uploads a reading PDF of the chaplet so that the out-of-print work is freely available. All of Belladonna's readings are recorded and available for streaming or downloading at

PennSound PennSound is a poetry website and online archive that hosts free and downloadable recordings of poets reading their own work. The website offers over 1500 full-length and single-poem recordings, the largest collection of poetry sound-files on the ...

, an online project committed to preserving audio archives of poetry. Many of Belladonna's readers and chaplet authors are noted poets and writers, such as:

Fanny Howe Fanny Howe (born October 15, 1940, in Buffalo, New York) is an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Howe has written more than 20 books of poetry and prose. Her major works include poetry ...

(#5),

Mei-mei Berssenbrugge Mei-mei Berssenbrugge (; born October 5, 1947, in Beijing, China) is a contemporary poet. Winner of two American Book Awards, her work is often associated with the Language School, the poetry of the New York School, phenomenology, and visual a ...

(#8),

Lynne Tillman Lynne Tillman (born January 1, 1947) is a novelist, short story writer, and cultural critic. She is currently Professor/Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English at the University at Albany and teaches at the School of Visual Arts' Art Cri ...

(#19),

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political acti ...

(#26),

Rosmarie Waldrop Rosmarie Waldrop (born Rosmarie Sebald; August 24, 1935) is an American poet, novelist, translator, essayist and publisher. Born in Germany, she has lived in the United States since 1958 and has settled in Providence, Rhode Island since the late ...

(#29),

Alice Notley Alice Elizabeth Notley (November 8, 1945 – May 19, 2025) was an American poet. Notley came to prominence as a member of the second generation of the New York School of poetry—although she always denied being involved with the New York Schoo ...

(#36),

Lydia Davis Lydia Davis (born July 15, 1947) is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, who often writes very short stories. Davis has produced several new translations of French literary classics ...

(#40),

Elaine Equi Elaine Equi (born 1953) is an American poet. Equi was born in Oak Park, Illinois and grew up in the Chicago area. Both her parents emigrated from Italy in the 1920s. Since 1988 she has lived in New York City with her husband, poet Jerome Sala. Sh ...

(#41),

Maggie Nelson Maggie Nelson (born 1973) is an American writer. She has been described as a genre-busting writer defying classification, working in autobiography, art criticism, theory, feminism, queerness, sexual violence, the history of the avant-garde, aest ...

(#42),

Anne Tardos Anne Tardos is a French-born American poet, visual artist, academic, and composer. Early life and education Tardos was born in Cannes, France. As a child, she lived in German-occupied Paris, later moving with her parents to Budapest, where she ...

(#47), Michelle Naka Pierce (#48),

Leslie Scalapino Leslie Scalapino (July 25, 1944 – May 28, 2010) was an American poet, experimental prose writer, playwright, essayist, and editor, sometimes grouped in with the Language poets, though she felt closely tied to the Beat poets. Writes Hejinian: ...

(#50),

Caroline Bergvall Caroline Bergvall (born 1962) is a French-Norwegian poet who has lived in England since 1989. Her work includes the adaption of Old English and Old Norse texts into audio text and sound art performances. Life and education Born in Hamburg, Germ ...

(#56),

Susan Howe Susan Howe (born June 10, 1937) is an American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among other poetry movements.

(#68), Lisa Robertson (#75),

Ann Lauterbach Ann Lauterbach (born 1942) is an American poet, essayist, art critic, and professor. Early life Lauterbach was born and raised in New York City, and earned her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin. She lived in London for eight years, working ...

(#85),

Myung Mi Kim Myung Mi Kim (; born December 6, 1957) is a Korean American poet noted for her postmodern writings. Kim and her family immigrated to the United States when she was nine years old. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa and l ...

(#86), Dawn Lundy Martin (#89),

Marjorie Welish Marjorie Welish ( ; born June 2, 1944) is an American poet, artist, and art critic. Welish is a graduate of Columbia University and received her M.F.A. degree from Vermont College and Norwich University. She also studied at the Art Students Lea ...

(#91),

Rae Armantrout Rae Armantrout (born April 13, 1947) is an American poet generally associated with the Language poets. She has published more than two dozen books, including both poetry and prose. Armantrout was awarded the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Aw ...

(#92),

Anna Moschovakis Anna Elizabeth Moschovakis is a Greek American poet, author, and translator. Early life Moschovakis was born to an American mother and a Greek father. She split her time growing up between the U.S. and Greece, where her father owned what she d ...

(#102),

Evie Shockley Evie Shockley is an American poet. Shockley received the 2012 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry for her book ''the new black'' and the 2012 Holmes National Poetry Prize. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2018. Early life and education ...

(#104), Jean Day (#114),

Dodie Bellamy Dodie Bellamy (born 1951) is an American novelist, nonfiction author, journalist, educator and editor. Her book ''Cunt-Ups'' (2001) won the 2002 Firecracker Alternative Book Award. Her work is frequently associated with that of the New Narrative ...

(#116),

Bhanu Kapil Bhanu Kapil (born 1968) is a British-born poet and author of Indian descent. She is best known for her books ''The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers'' (2001), ''Incubation: A Space for Monsters'' (2006), and ''Ban en Banlieue'' (2015). In 202 ...

(#28 and #127),

Eileen Myles Eileen Myles (born December 9, 1949) is an American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. Novelist Dennis Cooper has des ...

(#38 and #128),

Cecilia Vicuña Cecilia Vicuña (born 1948) is a Chilean poet and artist based in New York and Santiago, Chile. Her work is noted for themes of language, memory, dissolution, extinction and exile. Critics also note the relevance of her work to the politics of e ...

(#131),

Carmen Giménez Smith ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opér ...

(#132),

Renee Gladman Renee Gladman (born 1971) is a poet, novelist, essayist, and artist who describes herself as "preoccupied with crossings, thresholds, and geographies as they play out at the intersection of poetry, prose, drawing, and architecture." Her fourteen p ...

(#65 and #133),

Juliana Spahr Juliana Spahr (born 1966) is an Americans, American poet, literary criticism, critic, and editing, editor. She is the recipient of the 2009 O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize, Hardison Poetry Prize awarded by the Folger Shakespeare Library to honor ...

(#144), and many others.

List of publications

Books

* ''Sweet Dreams'' (2018), Pamela Sneed * ''Landia'' (2018), Celina Su * ''Subsisters'' (2017),

Uljana Wolf Uljana Wolf (born 6 April 1979) is a German poet and translator (from English and Polish) known for exploring multilingualism in her work. Biography Uljana Wolf was born in East Berlin in 1979. She studied German studies, cultural studies and E ...

, translated by Sophie Seita * ''Gates & Fields'' (2017), Jennifer Firestone * ''Astrobolism'' (2016), Caroline Crumpacker * ''Cancer Angel'' (2016), Beth Murray * ''A Swarm of Bees in High Court'' (2015), Tonya Foster * ''All Is Not Yet Lost'' (2015),

Betsy Fagin Betsy Fagin (born 1972) is an American poet. She is the author of ''Fires Seen From Space'' (Winter Editions, 2024) ''All is Not Yet Lost'' ( Belladonna, 2015), ''Names Disguised'' (Make Now Books, 2014) as well as numerous chapbooks including ''Po ...

* ''Theory, A Sunday (''2013),

Louky Bersianik Louky Bersianik (14 November 1930 – 3 December 2011) was the pen name of Lucile Durand, a French-Canadian novelist. She studied French literature at the Université de Montréal, the University of Paris, Sorbonne, and the Centre d'études de ra ...

Nicole Brossard Nicole Brossard (born November 27, 1943) is a French-Canadian formalist poet and novelist. Her work is known for exploration of feminist themes and for challenging masculine-oriented language and points of view in French literature. She lives i ...

, Louise Cotnoir,

Louise Dupré Louise Dupré (born July 9, 1949) is a Quebec poet and novelist. The daughter of Cécile Paré and Arthur Dupré, she was born in Sherbrooke and was educated at the Université de Sherbrooke and the Université de Montréal, receiving a PhD in l ...

, Gail Scott, and

France Théoret France Théoret (born 1942) is a Canadian feminist, author, poet, and teacher. Biography France Théoret was born in Montreal, Quebec on October 17, 1942. Although she grew up in a house without many books, she discovered she loved to write in ...

, translated by Erica Weitzman, Nicole Peyrafitte, Popahna Brandes, and Luise von Flotow, with an introduction by Lisa Robertson and an Afterword by Rachel Levitsky and Gail Scott * ''TwERK'' (2013), LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs * ''proxy'' (2013), R. Erica Doyle * ''Fifteen Poems'' (2012), Bobbie Louise Hawkins * ''Everywhere Here and in Brooklyn: A Four Quartets'' (2012), Kristin Prevallet * ''Looking Up Harryette Mullen (''2011),

Barbara Henning Barbara Henning (born October 26, 1948) is an American poet and fiction writer. She is the author of eight books of poetry, four novels and a series of photo-poem pamphlets. Her recent novelized biography of her mother, ''Ferne, a Detroit Story, ...

* ''The Wide Road'' (2011),

Lyn Hejinian Lyn Hejinian ( ; May 17, 1941 – February 24, 2024) was an American poet, essayist, translator, and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is known for her landmark work ''My Life'' (Sun & Moon (publisher), Sun & Moon, 198 ...

and Carla Harryman * ''Bharat Jiva'' (2009), kari edwards * ''No Gender: Reflections on the Life & Work of kari edwards'' (2009), Edited by Julian T. Brolaski, erica kaufman, and E. Tracy Grinnell * ''The Elders Series #8'' (2009), Jane Sprague hosts Diane Ward &

Tina Darragh Tina Darragh (born 1950) is an American poet who was one of the original members of the Language group of poets. Biography Darragh was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in the south suburb of McDonald, Pennsylvania. She began writing in 1968 and st ...

* ''The Elders Series #7'' (2009), Cara Benson hosts

Jayne Cortez Jayne Cortez (May 10, 1934 – December 28, 2012) was an African-American poet, activist, small press publisher and spoken-word performance artist. Her writing is part of the canon of the Black Arts Movement. She was married to jazz saxophonist ...

* ''The Elders Series #6'' (2009), Kate Eichorn hosts M. Nourbese Philip & Gail Scott * ''The Elders Series #5'' (2009), Jen Scappettone hosts

& Etel Adnan * ''The Elders Series #4'' (2009), Tribute to Emma Bee Bernstein with Susan Bee * ''The Elders Series #3'' (2009), Tisa Bryant hosts Chris Kraus * ''The Elders Series #2'' (2008), Erica Kaufman & Rachel Levitsky host Bob Gluck &

Sarah Schulman Sarah Miriam Schulman (born July 28, 1958) is an American novelist, playwright, nonfiction writer, screenwriter, gay activist, and AIDS historian. She holds an endowed chair in nonfiction at Northwestern University and is a fellow of the New York ...

* ''The Elders Series #1'' (2008), E. Tracy Grinnell hosts

* ''Area'' (2008), Marcella Durand * ''Alyson Singes'' (2008),

* ''Mauve Sea-Orchids'' (2007), Lila Zemborain * ''Open Box'' (2007), Carla Harryman * ''Four From Japan: Contemporary Poetry & Essays by Women'' (2006), Kiriu Minashita, Kyong-Mi Park, Ryoko Sekiguchi, and Takako Arai * ''Time Slips Right Before Your Eyes'' (2006), Erica Hunt * ''The Putterer’s Notebook'' (2006), Akilah Oliver

Articles

Belladonna* has been featured in many publications including American Review of Books,

Poets & Writers Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organizations in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. The organization publishes a bi-monthly magazine called ''Poets & Writers Magazine'' ...

, and

Rain Taxi ''Rain Taxi'' is a Minneapolis-based book review and literary organization. In addition to publishing its quarterly print edition, ''Rain Taxi'' maintains an online edition with distinct content, sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival, hosts rea ...

, among others. * In a special chapbook issue of American Book Review (Mar/Apr 2005), Corinne Robins reviewed five Belladonna* chaplets in an article called "Belladonna*: The Deadly Night Shades of Experimental Women’s Poetry” * In January 2005, Byron Coley and

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

had this to say about the Belladonna* chaplet series: "Each zine is a succinct piece by a female poet, all of whom share a common sense of adventure and active consciousness. Great writing from Anne Waldman, Eileen Myles, Nada Gordon, Lynne Tillman, Lisa Jarnot, Rosemarie Waldrop and so many others. So if you’re in the market for deadly nightshade, this is the place for you." * “Made in the Nightshade” (Poetry Project Newsletter, October/November 2005) * “Celebrating Renegade Presses in America” (Poetry Project Newsletter, October/November 2004) * “Exotic flower, decayed golds, and the fall of paganism: The 2003 Poets House Poetry Showcase” by Rodney Phillips (Fence Magazine, Fall/ Winter 2003-04)

References

External links

Official website

Belladonna* Pennsound Page

Interview with Krystal Languell

Interview With Rachel LevitskyReview of Deborah Meadows Belladonna Chaplet

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Feminist literature Poetry organizations based in the United States 1999 establishments in New York City Arts organizations established in 1999 Arts organizations based in New York City