Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

Ibbetson Street Press will celebrate the release of issue 22 of its popular literary journal at McIntyre & Moore Booksellers  Dec. 9 at 5 p.m. There will be featured poetry by  Marc Goldfinger, Robert K. Johnson, Jade Sylvan, Thade Correa, Sarah Hannah, as well as Somerville poets Linda Haviland Conte, Eleanor Goodman, and others. And as always, an open mic will follow the featured readers.

This latest issue includes an interview with the late poet Sarah Hannah who took her own life this past spring. The lead poem by Marc Goldfinger and others in the issue pay tribute to this brilliant writer who died at the tender age of 40.

On the front cover of the new issue is featured a photo of McIntyre and Moore Booksellers taken by Ibbetson arts editor Richard Wilhelm. McIntyre and Moore, a well-respected used bookstore in the heart of Davis Square, has been the setting for the Ibbetson Street readings for many years. The back cover photo is by Kirk Etherton, an artist from Union Square.

Since 1998, when I founded it with Richard Wilhelm and Dianne Robitaille, the Ibbetson Street Press has published a literary journal  as well as over 40 collections of poetry by local and national authors. Its journal and books have won numerous ‚ÄúPick of the Month‚Äù awards in the Small Press Review. Recently Ibbetson Street has been included in the prestigious ‚ÄúIndex of American Periodical Verse,‚Äù along with many other top small press literary journals. Ibbetson Street has been reviewed favorably by any number of small press literary magazines, both in print and online. Its books are collected at Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Buffalo University libraries to name a few.