Fiction Collective: A Literary Alternative since 1974
Edgewords
news from FC2
Leslie Scalapino (1944-2010)
FC2 remembers writer and educator
who contributed so generously to to
Leslie Scalapino published her first book,
a collection of poetry entitled O and Other
Poems, in 1976. Since then, she has published
over thirty volumes of poetry, prose, inter-genre
fiction, plays, essays, and collaborations in her
lifetime. FC2 published her book Dahlia’s Iris:
Secret Autobiography and Fiction in 2003 and
has been enormously proud to have had the
privilege of working with her.
The variety, range, and artistic quality of
her work are only beginning points from which
to study her legacy. Leslie’s work was not
defined by a single style; Mrs. Scalapino often
collaborated with other artists and writers
to create a variety of work that straddled the
boundaries of contemporary fiction and genre,
and the constant evolution and innovation in her
Leslie Scalopino,
educator,
poet, playwrite,
novelist, and
independent
publisher
December 2010
the world of innovative fiction
work is a testament to the creative way in which
she approached publishing, poetry, and artistic
composition. Her most recent publications
include a collaboration with artist Kiki Smith,
The Animal is in the World like Water in Water
(Granary Books) and Floats Horse-Floats or
Horse-Flows (Starcherone Books).
Equally as inspiring is her work as an
independent publisher. In 1986, Leslie founded
O Books, a press that was meant to be a
publishing outlet for young and emerging poets.
In addition to the emerging poets featured, the
press also published work from a number of
renowned poets, including Fanny Howe, Alice
Notley, Tom Raworth, and the late Ted Berrigan.
John Ashberry wrote of her work:
“Leslie Scalapino’s language is often of the
disenfranchised kind that rubs elbows with us
every day—from graffiti, computer terminals,
and cereal boxes. Sometimes this language
corresponds with life. Most often it seems to be
standing in for life when it has to absent itself
for a few minutes, which happens so often.” FC2
is honored to have been able to work with Leslie
and to know her in her lifetime. While Leslie
will always be missed, her presence in the world
of contemporary innovative fiction and poetry
will not be forgotten; fiction’s contemporaries
are shaped by their predecessors, and writers,
established and emerging, are tremendously
fortunate to be able to learn from the work of
Leslie Scalapino.