May 2022 News
Introducing Risking a Somersault in the Air
by Margaret Randall
“This is a book that encourages and empowers those of us who are poets, those of us who write – and those of us who work to change society to fit the hopes and dreams of the common people.”
~Alice Walker
Margaret Randall's first revised edition of interviews with the activists who influenced the 1979 Nicaraguan revolution and help us understand present-day Nicaragua

First published in 1984, Risking a Somersault in the Air is a collection of interviews with fourteen of Nicaragua’s most important writers-revolutionaries. Filling in the gaps with new photographs and updates on the writers in the time since the original edition, the book looks at the sacrifices, conflicts, and solutions of the creative artists of Nicaragua’s revolution.
Randall shows how Nicaragua, like its poetry, is an expression of great love, imagination, and liberation. She notes: The book provides insight into a country where artistic creativity has always been valued, regardless of what sort of government is in power.

Paperback, 240 pages, 51 b/w illustrations
About the Author

Margaret Randall is a feminist poet, essayist, translator, photographer, and social activist. A New York native, she lived among the city’s abstract expressionists in the 1950s, Mexico in the ‘60s, Cuba in the ‘70s, and Nicaragua in the ‘80s. She returned to the US in 1984 only to fight deportation due to the controversial content of her books. She is the founder and former editor of the bilingual literary journal El Corno Emplumado / The Plumed Horn, which started an iconic bridge between cultures in the 1960s. She has more than 150 published books in several genres.
Artists in My Life
Margaret Randall's personal views and profound insights about the artists who influenced her life

Just out this April, with a dozen beautifully color-illustrated chapters, Artists in My Life offers intimate narratives about artists, many of whom Margaret Randall knew personally, who affected her spiritually, artistically, and socially. Randall’s anecdotes and revelations about both well-known and lesser-known artists also help knit together a portrait of the author herself. With forewords by Mary Gabriel and Ed McCaughan, the book is a powerful account of the impact of artists on individuals and communities.

Hardcover, 240 pages, 71 color illustrations

Cover image: Elaine de Kooning "Meg Randall," 1960.
Margaret Randall in person in NYC !
Friday, May 13, 6:00 pm ET

After more than two years of pandemic isolation, Margaret Randall is coming from her home in Albuquerque to New York! Join us in celebrating her two new books—Artists in My Life and Risking a Somersault in the Air.

Come hear Margaret and have her sign your books!

Location: Howl! Arts, 6 East 1st Street, NYC
(not at the Bowery Poetry Club as previously announced)
This month all New Village Press books can be ordered at 25% discount plus free shipping (in the United States) on our distributor's website catalog with code:
MAY25-FM
More Upcoming Events
Portraits of Racial Justice
Woodstock VT – Truth Tellers screening, conversation, & booksigning
Friday May 6, 7:30–9:30 PM ET

Pentangle Arts will be hosting a special screening of Truth Tellers followed by a conversation with the filmmaker Richard Kane and the film's subject, artist Robert Shetterly, author of Portraits of Racial Justice. Book signing to follow talk.

Location: Woodstock Townhall Theatre, Vermont
Images of Justice and Power event at the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival
Sunday, May 22, 11:30 AM ET

Hear author and artist Robert Shetterly at the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival in a discussion panel with Malaika Adero and St. Clair Detrick-Jules, moderated by Rodney Dawson.

International Civil Rights Center and Museum
134 S Elm St. Greensboro, North Carolina

Learn more HERE
Truth Tellers screening at the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival
Sunday, May 22, 12:30 PM ET

The documentary film Truth Tellers about artist Robert Shetterly's Americans Who Tell the Truth portrait project will be screened at the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival immediately following the panel discussion with Robert Shetterly.

International Civil Rights Center and Museum 134 S Elm St. Greensboro, North Carolina

For more information click HERE
Talking to the Girls
Talking to the Girls – Virtual Book Event

Thursday, May 12, 6:00 PM EDT

Museo Italo Americano of San Francisco will host a virtual book event for Talking to the Girls with Evelyn Ferraro, Edvige Giunta, Mary Anne Trasciatti, and Laura Ruberto.


RSVP HERE
Virtual Book Event hosted by Strade Dorate
Sunday, May 22 11:30 AM EST

Strade Dorate will be hosting a virtual book event at the Osservatorio di Letteratura e Cultura Italoamericana, moderated by Valentina Di Cesare and Michela Valmori with Talking to the Girls editor Edvige Giunta, contributor Annie Lanzillotto, and Silvia Suriano.

Tune into the Instagram event (in Italian) HERE
Ecoart In Action
Ecoart in Action – Fostering Social and Ecological Change
Sunday, May 22, 2022, 10:30 AM Pacific Time
(1:30PM EST; 6:30 PM UK)
Ecoart Network and WEAD member-artists Vaughn Bell, Susan Hoenig, and Loraine Leeson—all contributors to Ecoart in Action—will share creative approaches for engaging communities and learners in ecoart practices. Susan Steinman, one of the co-founders of both the Ecoart Network and WEAD, will serve as moderator for a Q&A with the presenters, book co-editors Amara Geffen, Ann Rosenthal, Chris Fremantle, and Aviva Rahmani, and event participants. Virtual event info & tickets HERE!
Authors and Books in the News
Don't miss Margaret Randall's article in Books By Women "Artists in My Life: Process and Product" on the process of writing her recent work Artists In My Life.
Contributor Kimberly Shiller's photo of her students also illustrates the book's cover.
Reviews of How Spaces Become Places: Place Makers Tell Their Stories edited by John Forester have been published in the latest issues of Cities & Health and The EJournal of Public Affairs!

Read the Cities & Health review HERE
Exhibition – WORDY: Sabra Moore
Thru August 16, 2022

Artist and author Sabra Moore came from Abiquiu, NM, to give a talk for the opening of WORDY: Sabra Moore, an exhibition of selected works of her art from the Barnard Archives at the Furth Archives Reading Room, Barnard Library. Sabra signed copies of her book Openings: A Memoir from the Women's Art Movement, New York City 1970-1992. Do catch the exhibition, if you are in NYC!

Open Friday's 11am–5pm and by appointment ([email protected])
423 Milstein Center, Barnard College
Podcast & Forthcoming Title
Bill Cleveland's Podcast: Change the Story / Change the World - Episode 47
"The broadest stroke of the mission that we've painted here with the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production is that we're trying to work with our community to redefine wealth." —Carlton Turner

Carlton Turner understands that when you can't feed yourself the imagination is the first thing to go. And if you can't "see" a different future you can't make change.

Carlton has written a foreword to Jan Cohen-Cruz and Rad Pereira's forthcoming book, Meeting the Moment: Socially Engaged Performance, 1965–2020, by Those Who Lived It.
Curated stories from over 75 interviews and informal exchanges offer insight into the field and point out limitations due to discrimination and unequal opportunity for performance artists in the United States over the past 55 years. Due out June 14th, Meeting the Moment points to more diverse and inclusive practices and gives hope for the future of the art.

Preorder HERE with our May discount code: MAY25-FM