Arts & Entertainment
LeadingLadies THE
OF LITERATURE Meet the team behind Sarabande Books
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By MARIAH KLINE Photos by ANDREA HUTCHINSON
n a second-story office in Louisville’s NuLu neighborhood, four devotees of the written word spend their days at Sarabande Books. The local independent publishing house is run by the dynamic team made up of Editor in Chief Sarah Gorham, Managing Editor Kristen Miller, Production Manager Danika Isdahl and Director of Marketing and Publicity Joanna Englert. Together, this impressive group of women is influencing the national literary scene while running the local nonprofit with grace and savvy. Sarabande was founded in 1994 by Gorham and her husband Jeffrey Skinner, a poet, playwright and professor at the University of Louisville. Their mission from the beginning has been to advocate for the underdogs of the publishing world – books of short fiction, essays and poetry – that go mostly
overlooked by large publishing houses. Sarabande has a catalogue of more than 200 books and the house currently publishes 10 new books each year. “Because we were authors founding a press, we consider ourselves an author-oriented press,” says Gorham. “The authors get a lot more attention than they would at a commercial house.” “We publish 10 books a year because that’s what our capacity is,” says Isdahl. “You don’t want to ever compromise the quality and time you give each book.” In addition to genre, the team also focuses on the personal identity of writers and consistently publishes works from women, minority and LGBTQ writers. In an incredibly competitive industry, Sarabande is a beacon of hope for burgeoning authors, many of whom end up going on to work with commercial publishers.
Sarabande's Mission: "Sarabande Books is a nonprofit literary press founded in Louisville, Kentucky. Established in 1994 to champion poetry, fiction and essay, we are committed to creating lasting editions that honor exceptional writing." from sarabandebooks.org
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THE VOICE OF LOUISVILLE
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