About the Press
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About Lavender Ink and Diálogos
Lavender Ink was founded in 1995 in New Orleans by Bill Lavender, who is still the Director and Editor in Chief. The Press is a sole-proprietorship funded solely by revenues from book sales and some small grants and funding initiatives for individual books. Prior to 2012 the press published only poetry, but is now publishing fiction and nonfiction also. Diálogos is the official business name (registered as a sole proprietorship in Louisiana); Lavender Ink and Diálogos are the two imprints published by Diálogos. Most Lavender Ink titles are American poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. The Diálogos imprint is devoted to literatures which have cross-cultural significance, primarily but not exclusively literature in translation.
Our mission is change the world through poetry, as most of the fiction we publish could rightly be called poetic. We believe that great literature both chronicles the age and influences the future, and we also believe that it is inherently valuable to read and study the literatures of nations, languages and cultures other than one’s own, as well as forward-looking and socially engaged work from one’s own home town. Thus we publish poets from New Orleans but also California and New York, and we have published poetry and fiction in translation from more than twenty nations in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. We hope that the eclectic nature of our collection inspires dialog, both literal and textual, across borders of all kinds.
Submissions are peer-reviewed via a large network of poets, writers and scholars around the world. Many of the authors and translators in our current list peer-review new submissions, and though the list of those who have helped out in the past is long, we single out Peter Thompson, professor of romance languages at Roger Williams University, longtime friend and supporter of the press, whose advice on matters of translation and world literature we cannot do without. It was out of conversations with Peter that Diálogos was born.
Distribution
Demise of SPD:
Lavender Ink and Diálogos were affected by the sudden demise of Small Press Distribution. For individual buyers, this should have little effect; we can still fulfill orders on this site and at Amazon.
Enter, Asterism:
We have now (April 2024) signed a distribution agreement with Asterism Books. It will take some time for all our titles to be listed there, but once there wholesale orders are easily accomplished via their web site.
Ingram:
Many of our titles—almost all of the prose and some of the poetry—are available wholesale from Ingram. Bookstores, if you only go through Ingram and you are looking for a title and don’t see it there, email us and we will find an option that suits you.
Direct Wholesale:
Our complete backlist is available on this site. Enter any title, author, or ISBN in one of the search boxes and you should find it. ISBNs should be searchable with or without dashes. To place a wholesale order, you may simply create the order on this site and choose “Check Payment” as the payment method. We will then respond with the price adjusted to your discount. You may also email us (orders@lavenderink.org) title, quantity and shipping address and we will send you back a coupon code to use.
Teachers
If you would like to assign one of our books for a class, we offer free desk copies for you and discounted prices for your students. Please email us the course title, time frame, and anticipated number of students and we’ll send you a desk copy and a coupon code for your students to use.
Submission
If you would like to submit a manuscript, email a query to bill@lavenderink.org. Please study our list and read some of the work prior to your query. Our list is diverse and we are always interested in new and distinct voices.