About
Clear Cut Press was founded by novelist Matthew Stadler and Up Records co-founder Rich Jensen in 2002. Jensen began talking to Stadler while taking a poetry class in 1997. Their mutual interest in cultural movements and the role of books lead to a discussion resulting in the press. Stadler realized that he knew about "a dozen writers who weren't reaching the audience the could--or weren't being published at all." Stadler noted that, "as a business and artistic venture, Clear Cut is inspired by early 20th century subscription presses, such as Hours Press and Contact Editions, and by the mid-century paperbacks of New Directions and City Lights." A series was available by subscription. Individual volumes were distributed to the trade.
As part of what Stadler referred to as the cultivation of "a long-term conversation that makes a community of readers (and therefore a market) that isn't reached through the national book review organs or most bookstores," Clear Cut actively participates in events in bookstores, warehouses, summer festivals, art museums, and non-traditional settings. Events included reading The Horse Hospital, MoMA PS1, Beyond Baroque, Bumbershoot, What the Heck Fest, KGB Bar, Space 1026, and Catch that Beat. In 2005, Clear Cut Press along with the Western Front Society sponsored Unassociated Writers Conference and Dance Party in Vancouver, BC, a self-organizing event in response to first Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference to take place outside of the United States.
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