Tis the season of giving, and what better to give than a good book. It’s also a great time to support small businesses like yours truly. To give back, all our books are 50% or more off during this holiday season. Just click here and do some giving, to a friend, loved one, or better yet yourself. Thanks for the support!
Hey our new book is out! Defying the Verdict — My Bipolar Life by Charita Cole Brown. Our goal has always been to shine a light on special and unique voices, and we’re proud of doing just that with this book. In this stunning memoir, a now retired Charita recounts in a strong clear voice her life-long battle with bipolar disorder, and journey to independence and connection aided by therapy, medicine, faith, and love, offering perspective as a woman of color. Congrats Charita! Glad we were able to get your story out.
“Defying the Verdict is a wonderful book: deeply human, full of life’s joys and suffering. Full of the author’s courage and faith. Charita Brown describes her bipolar illness in telling detail; her writing is powerful and eloquent. I highly recommend this book.” -Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind
“Charita Cole Brown writes with grace, vulnerability, and a fearless urgency about being a black woman with bipolar disorder. Her story is remarkable, full of insight and inspiration.” -Nana-Ama Danquah, author of Willow Weep For Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression
“In an artful and gripping account of life inside an over-imaginative brain, Charita’s fierce determination to ride the waves of her illness with unshakeable resolve inspires fortitude in the most challenging of personal circumstances. Grounded by her family’s love and her own undeniable intellect, this victorious story activates hope for those with and without a brain-based illness.”- Cassandra Joubert, author of Losing Control: Loving A Black Child With Bipolar Disorder
“Most people who buy a book about mental illness are seeking education. With style and grace Defying the Verdict does just that. But Charita Cole Brown’s narrative also gives the reader a positive dose of hope and encouragement – just what the reader needs. Brown’s account of her journey is straightforward, her symptoms carefully worded. Be open, don’t hide. Her life is not easy, but she finds a way to exist in a dignified and satisfying manner. As a member of a family where mental illness is well known, I recommend this exceptional book.” -Mimi Baird, author of He Wanted the Moon, The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird and His Daughter’s Quest to Know Him
It's here, finally, after ramping towards it all season long: we have our winner of the third annual Wild Onion Novella Contest. While you were out and about in your many mysterious layers this winter, we were rooted firmly in our chairs, peeling through this year's submission patch – double that of last year! Each was a pleasure to have re(a)d, which made picking a winner a tear-filled struggle; it was a sweet bunch to be sure, a solid stock that would make for a rich French soup, were we a restaurant and not a publishing house. There was even drama: a potential leak of the this announcement, but we managed to nip that in the bud.
So, without further ado we shall – ought – say it: we are pleased to announce Shannon McLeod's Whimsy as our finalist!
We would also like to extend our congratulations to our four runners-up:
Chase Griffin – What's on the Menu
Dave Drayton – The Poetranslator
Heather Martin – The Essential Nature of Water
Tyler Lacy – Carlsbad
Thank you to everyone who submitted, to Tim Kinsella over at featherproof books for being our guest judge (hi Tim), and to you for putting up with these awful onion puns (especially to everyone within earshot of us cackling to ourselves as we wrote this).
Keep your eyes wide open for more announcements! (You thought we were going to take a cheap shot and say "Keep your eyes peeled," didn't you?)
While we at Curbside are proud of all our authors, we would like to take the opportunity this month to celebrate the women whose writing we are incredibly lucky to help represent. They make up nearly half of our roster, and offer some of the strongest and most compelling work that we've been fortunate enough to read and publish.
From now until the end of March, we'll be offering 30% our catalog of work made by female writers. Each discount code can be found below. Enter the code – the writer's surname – in all caps at checkout (except for ACM #54; using ALLAN/AMOS/BURK/CLAMMER/GNALL/GOBBO/LANIER/LIAO/MATUK/NOGUES/
NOLL/WADE/WING/ZIMMER as a discount code maxed out the allotted amount of characters, so we went with WOMENOFACM).
Thank you, again, to the women of Curbside. We would be a very boring and uninspired press without you and your work.
MAZZA – Charlatan
WILKING – Mycology
MOORE – Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes
BLAKESLEE2 – Perfect Conditions
BROWN – Defying the Verdict: My Bipolar Life
JACKSON-OPOKU – Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writing of Gwendolyn Brooks
MARTIN – Mickey
ZOLBROD – The Telling
NEALIE – The Miles Between Me
WALTERS – Paper Tigers
BLAKESLEE1 – Juventud
LORIG – The Pulp Vs. The Throne
JONES-HOWE – Vile Men
KIRKWOOD – Little Boy Needs Ride
VARGAS – On The Way
KELLY – Almost Crimson
BUTLER – Jillian
TROYAN – Kill Manual
WURTH – Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend
LANIER – The Game We Play
TRENT – Echo Lake
STIELSTRA – Once I Was Cool
BECKER – If I Would Leave Myself Behind
WOODS – Wolf Doctors
ELLIOT2 – Kiss As Many Women As You Can
SPARKS2 – Desert Places
IRBY – Meaty
OLSZEWSKA – Citizen J
ELLIOT1 – Piano Rats
SPARKS1 – May We Shed These Human Bodies
WOMENOFACM – Another Chicago Magazine #54
Curbside Splendor is thrilled to announce that Body Horror has been nominated for a Lammy! Anne Elizabeth Moore’s book is a finalist for the LQBTQ Nonfiction Lambda Literary Award. You can check out the complete list of the finalists here.
Since this is the 30th year of the Lambda Literary Awards we are celebrating by offering 30% off Body Horror in our webstore! Head to our website to snag a copy today.
Come see Curbside Books & Records store manager, Joshua Bohnsack at the 2018 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference in Tampa, Florida on Saturday, March 10th. He will be at S263 Why Indie Presses Are Opening Bookstores from 4:30-5:45pm. This event will take place at the Marriott Waterside, Grand Salon A on the second floor.
