I pretty much strong-armed Nicola Mason into giving me a chance to work with Acre for the summer. You see, I knew about Acre before I started my PhD in creative writing at the University of Cincinnati: I was working as a librarian in Providence, Rhode Island. In that job, I managed the circulating collection for the largest public library in the state, which meant I spent a lot of time (and money) evaluating the quality of the titles that publishers produced. I purchased C. T. Salazar’s Headless John the Baptist Hitchhiking for National Poetry Month in April 2022. When that book came across my desk, I believe my response was: What is this glorious book?! Then I recommended it to just about anyone who expressed even a passing interest in poetry. After that, I purchased as much as I could from Acre. I wish I could tell you the circulation figures for those titles. They are good, I’m sure.

I never thought I would have the opportunity as a PhD student to learn the ins and outs of publishing from the team who helped C. T. Salazar bring that beautiful book to our shelves. The work is pretty much a carnival of constant delight. That means I’m saying a lot of “I get to… [read Malia Márquez’s This Fierce Blood] or [write this interesting, chatty blog post] and very little “I have to…”

Except, I do feel like I have to do something: Read my way through this carefully curated catalog. Next up is Hugh Sheehy’s Design Flaw. And, if past experience with Acre’s offerings has taught me anything, it’s that I’m in for a treat.