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A Request to Support Our Local Orison Press

August 12, 2024

Dear poet friends, 

Last week I attended an evening of music, poetry, and fiction hosted by Orison Press. You may know that Orison is our very own local small press that aims to address the gap between spiritual literary and religious genres through its focus on the life of the spirit from a non-ideological standpoint.
Luke Hankins, founder and sustainer, has worked tirelessly to bring to life beautiful books of poetry and prose that reflect the spiritual lives of writers. The Orison website and Luke’s personal website reveal a host of amazing authors and anthologies. This week Luke personally reached out to me to ask that I spread the word about Orison and ask friends to help support the press. As you can imagine, in the age of media conglomerates and mergers and acquisitions, small presses must really reach out to keep afloat. So I am passing his request on to you, my friends, who care deeply about writing and the life of small presses. You can go to www.orisonbooks.com to check out the terrific collection of books published and to make a donation.
 
Here’s a tidbit from the Orison Mission statement you will enjoy:

We at Orison Books believe that the best spiritual art and literature call us to meditate and contemplate, rather than asking us to adopt any ideology or set of propositions. This type of art evokes the human experience of transcendence and explores the mysteries of being, and in so doing opens our minds and hearts to the divine and the possibility of becoming the fullest humans we can be. In our view, spiritual writing has little to do with subject matter. Rather, the kind of work we seek to publish has a transcendent aesthetic effect on the reader, and reading it can itself be a spiritual experience. Such work is not merely about spiritual contemplation, but itself leads the reader into profound contemplation. It is not merely about the sublime, but itself has a sublime effect on the reader. It is not merely about the mystery of being, but itself heightens the reader’s sense of the mystery underlying the fabric of our daily lives.

Orison Books seeks to be broad, inclusive, and open to perspectives spanning the spectrum of spiritual and religious thought, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

Thank you for supporting Orison!

Warmly,

Lida

 

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