Celebrate indie publisher Black Ocean’s 20th Anniversary and the launch of Zachary Schomburg’s Wool Moon with readings by poets Zachary Schomburg, Carrie Olivia Adams, Lisa Ciccarello, Josh Foman, Nathan Hoks, and Joshua Marie Wilkinson.
Black Ocean is an independent literary press founded in 2006 and based in Boston and Chicago. Black Ocean exists to foster a community where innovative voices in contemporary poetry and literature can thrive, offering access to boundary-pushing, transformative works that challenge conventional narratives. As a nonprofit, Black Ocean seeks to uplift underrepresented authors and create a platform for meaningful literary engagement that resonates with readers around the world.
Carrie Olivia Adams lives in Chicago, where she is the executive editor for the nonprofit press Black Ocean and the promotions and marketing communications director for the University of Chicago Press. Her books include The Book of Marys and Glaciers, Be the thing of memory, Operating Theater, Forty-One Jane Doe's, and Intervening Absence in addition to the chapbooks "Proficiency Badges," "Grapple," "Overture in the Key of F," and "A Useless Window." She writes the "Poetry & Biscuits" newsletter on Substack and curates a house reading series by the same name. When she's not making poems, she's making biscuits.
Lisa Ciccarello is the author of At Night (Black Ocean) as well as 11 chapbooks, most recently a micro-chapbook released as part of Ghost City Press' Summer Series. Her poems have appeared in over 60 journals, including the Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day, Tin House, Denver Quarterly, the PEN Poetry Series, Handsome, The Volta, & Sixth Finch, among others. She holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Arizona.
Josh Fomon is the author of Our Human Shores and Though We Bled Meticulously, both published by Black Ocean. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, including Afternoon Visitor, Caketrain, DIAGRAM, DREGINALD, The Georgia Review, jubilat, mercury firs, Poetry Northwest, TYPO, and Yalobusha Review. He lives on the unceded lands of the Coast Salish peoples in Seattle.
Nathan Hoks is a poet whose books include Nests in Air, The Narrow Circle, Reveilles, and most recently, Moony Days of Being. His poetry has been awarded the National Poetry Series, the Tomaž Šalamun Prize, and the Iowa Review David Hamilton Prize. He has also published translations of work by Vicente Huidobro, Henri Michaux, Tristan Tzara, and Christian Dotremont. He teaches poetry writing at the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and lives in Chicago with his family.
Zachary Schomburg is the author of seven books of poems, all published by Black Ocean, including the award-winning The Man Suit. He is also the author of a novel, Mammother. He is also a founding editor of Octopus Books and a painter. He lives in Portland, OR.
Joshua Marie Wilkinson is the author of Swamp Isthmus and Meadow Slasher (both from Black Ocean). The final book in his No Volta pentology, Bad Woods, will be out from Sidebrow this month. A new novel, Inner Sunset, is forthcoming from Buckman Publishing. He lives in Portland and works as a psychotherapist.