Going into December
readings and a celebration/ fundraiser for jaydra johnson and fonograf editions
This Friday (tomorrow!) we’re excited to host Brian Trapp and Sara Jaffe for an evening of readings and conversation in celebration of their October book releases, Range of Motion and Hurricane Envy
Range of Motion is Brian Trapp’s debut novel about Gabe and Michael Mitchell, twin brothers, one of whom lives with cerebral palsy “…told through multiple perspectives--Gabe, the boys’ father; Hannah, their mother; and Michael…(Range of Motion) follows the Mitchell family from the boys’ infancy to the cusp of adulthood as they all try to interpret what Sal, who speaks only eight words, is thinking and feeling. The twins’ upbringing in suburban Ohio is familiar and unfamiliar, ordinary and extraordinary, as this middle-class family navigates the challenges and rewards of nurturing a special-needs human with a killer dimple who is utterly and winningly himself: sweet, stubborn, mischievous, impenetrable, and above all, very funny.” -Acre Books
Brian Trapp is director of disability studies at the University of Oregon, where he also teaches fiction and nonfiction. He has been a Steinbeck Fellow, a Borchardt Scholar, and an Elizabeth George grant recipient
Hurricane Envy is a collection of stories by Sara Jaffe that “explore the textures and tensions of contemporary life, pressing on our ambivalence, how we belong to but differ from the world around us. Characters struggle to be perceived by others as they perceive themselves--as an authentic artist, a “good white person,” a legitimate parent. Jaffe brings her keen eye and her formal ingenuity to subjects that range from queer parenting, to the rise of the algorithm in the music industry, to gentrification and institutional claims on art, to post-punk culture, anti-Zionist Jewish identity, the rhetoric and realities of American safety.” - Rescue Press
Sara Jaffe is a writer, educator, and musician living in Portland, OR. Hurricane Envy is her second book. Dryland, a novel, was published by Tin House Books and Cipher Press (UK ). She co-edited The Art of Touring (Yeti, 2009), an anthology of writing and visual art by musicians drawing on her experience as guitarist for post-punk band Erase Errata. She is a proudly anti-Zionist Jew working for Palestinian liberation
In December, help us celebrate Fonograf’s Give!Guide fundraising campaign and the one-year anniversary of Jaydra Johnson’s award-winning debut, Low: Notes on Art &Trash . Jaydra Johnson and Jessica Pedrosa will be reading from their latest work and discussing the value of experimental and challenging art
Since this event is part of Give!Guide fundraiser , there will be a sliding-scale donation of $5-$20 at the door, however, no one will be turned away for lack of funds
Jaydra Johnson is a writer, visual artist, and educator. Johnson is the author of Low: Notes on Art and Trash (Fonograf, 2024) and Refuse Report, a bi-monthly newsletter exploring the tension between high and low art, currently hosted on Substack
Jessica Pedrosa is the author of the forthcoming Encircle (Fonograf, 2026), the novel Waves, and the poetry chapbooks Scorch Blush and Death Sprouts
Fonograf Editions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit press and literary record label based here, in Portland, Oregon. They have been written up in The Paris Review Daily and Poets & Writers , and their books and records have been featured, reviewed, and named “best of the year” by publications including The New York Times, Artforum, The New York Times Book Review, Frieze, Harper’s, and The London Review of Books
We’re thrilled to partner with Fonograf this winter and help them raise $7,000 so they can continue publishing their incredible records and books
You can donate through Give!Guide until 12/31 for your chance to receive exciting opportunities such as a week-long artist residency, a manuscript consultation, book bundles, limited-edition records, and more. Check it all out here!
December 6th we are celebrating the release of Hell Yeah, Rachelle Toarmino’s highly anticipated second collection of poems. She will be joined by Aidan Ryan, Bair Banu, Christopher Diaz, and Jeff Alessandrelli
The poems in Hell Yeah are “an alternating rhythm of logic and lyric, doubt and doubling down…With curiosity, generosity, oddball intellect, and charm, Hell Yeah captures that gut impulse to feel yes, say so, and sing it.” - Third Man Books
Rachelle Toarmino is the author of the poetry collections Hell Yeah (Third Man Books, 2025) and That Ex (Big Lucks Books, 2020), as well as several chapbooks, most recently My Science (Sixth Finch Books, 2025), winner of the 2024 Sixth Finch Chapbook Contest
Aidan Ryan is the author of I Am Here You Are Not I Love You (University of Iowa Press, 2025), and the director and producer of a short documentary film of the same name
Bair Banu is a Bengali-American poet. He is the author of City of Rivers, published in the McSweeney’s Poetry Series, and a chapbook, Ashulia, published by Tavern Books
Christopher Diaz is an indigenous CHamoru from the Pacific Island of Guåhan (Guam). As a writer, performer, and photographer. He is a two-time grand slam champion of Houston’s slam poetry team, “Write About Now,” which ranked fifth in the nation in 2018, and he won first place at the 2023 Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam festival with his PNW team
Jeff Alessandrelli is the author of seven books, most recently the novel And Yet (Future Tense, 2024)