donors

Sponsors: $2500 or More

AnonymousDavid Harvey

Patrons: $1000-$2499

AnonymousCelia GilbertAnne Marie MacariPeter Waldor

Benefactor: $500-$999

Matt hea HarveyGloria Robinson

Donors: $250-$499

Catherine Barnett Nina Nyhart Dorothy RobinsonMarc Waldor

Contributors: $149-$249

Robert EllisJoan and David Grubin

WE THANK THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS FOR THEIR GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR 2009-2010 FUNDRAISING APPEAL

Harriet FeinbergTheo KalikowAlice Matti son

Supporters: $75-$149

AnonymousHugh Coyle and Maynard YostBeverly DavisCarl Dennis Jeannine DobbsLaura EdwardsJoan Joff e Hall Hugh HennedyAlice JonesJames JoslinJames Longenbach Diane Macari Jane MeadIdra NoveyJean-Paul PecqueurJoyce Peseroff Donald Revell and Claudia KeelanBill RoorbachThomson-Shore, Inc.Rita Waldor

Readers: $1-$74

Elizabeth Ahl Lewis AshmanCliff ord BernierRaymond BerryGeorge Blecher Henry BraunLisa BregerRonald CohenJoanna Penn CooperAdam O. DavisAmy DryanskyDenise Duhamel Lynn EmanuelDobby GibsonRenee and Robert GibsonMimi GilpinMichael GlaserJim HabaRhonda HackerBeata Hayton Judy HendrenNancy Jean HillMaurice HirschMichele Anne Jaquays Ruth LepsonJulianna McCarthy

Margarett a Jill McKayKamilah Aisha MoonJudith PachtShelli-Jo Pelleti erCarol Pott erMike PuicanLia PurpuraRuth Ann QuickDavid RadavichJanet RobinsonKimberley Ann RogersBeth Ann Royer Sue StandingJody StewartAlice TaylorMona ToscanoEllen Doré Watson Dara Wier Mary-Sherman WillisEleanor WilnerKen and Lois WismanMarilyn Zuckerman

9

THE MISSION OF THE ALICE FUND is to ensure the long term fi nancial stability of Alice James Books. Goals include publishing more titles per year, more “anchor” authors, and publishing translations. We want to guarantee that AJB will continue to make a signifi cant contribution to literature and that the press continues to thrive!

...Alice James Books is proof of the adage ‘the older you are, the better you get.’ — Publishers Weekly

Alice Fund Donor Levels:

Alice$10,000 or more

Henryup to $10,000

Williamup to $5,000

Robertsonup to $1,000

Wilkyup to $500

“”

Make a Lasting Impression: Call us to discuss your opportunities to give the gift of preservation.

THE ALICE FUND...preserving the legacy of Alice James Books

from the cooperative board 10

Alice James Books: What changes have you seen in AJB throughout the years that you view as positive transformations?

ELLEN DORÉ WATSON: Oh, how we’ve grown!! When I fi rst came on the board, there was no full-time staff , no ad budget, no presence at AWP. � e press had published and was continuing to publish really wonderful writers—for twenty years running—and was deeply respected by those in the know, but it was a bit of a mysterious secret. Formed as a cooperative, in the early years the authors did everything: set type, stuff ed envelopes, they ran the whole show. By the time I came on in 1996, the poets acted as an editorial board and participated in their book design but did little else; the books were shepherded through production by a part-time director, who worked tirelessly (for peanuts), but did not have the budget to do much more than to get the books out into the world. Over the next decade, thanks to the generosity of individual donors and the University of Maine at Farmington, and to a series of skilled and enthusiastic directors and board members, Alice James Books grew to take its place among the premiere “small press” poetry publishers, with a full-time director, a small staff , and a big presence. Our poets, our ads, reviews of our books—demonstrations of AJB’s vitality are everywhere. And the poets on the cooperative board now function not only as advocates for their own books and as members of an editorial board, but are also members of a board of directors of a non-profi t corporation, participating in policy decisions, fundraising, shaping the course of a visible and valued entity in the world of letters.

AJB: Has your role as an AJB board member aff ected the way that you view and create poetry?

WATSON: Dipping into hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts at screenings provides an amazing snapshot of the huge range of poetry being written. Deep reading and discussion of the semifi nal-ists is a bracing sort of “continuing education.” It’s terrifi c to refi ne one’s own criteria for what makes great poetry and also to have one’s predilections challenged, to learn to see things by others’ lights. My enrichment as a reader can’t help but open new paths for me as a writer.

AJB: You are the longest standing board member! What is it about Alice James Books that has captured your attention and dedication?

WATSON: � e community of Alices! I’m extremely happy at Tupelo Press and value the friendships with fellow Tupelonians, but there are fewer and less intense opportunities for them to meet. Over several years of service at AJB, we buddy each other in the editing process, and gather as Alices fi ve times a year, over-nighting at each other’s houses, wrestling with aesthetic and institutional issues, feasting and sharing late-night wine and early-morning caff eine. We become a kind of family.

AJB: What has been most rewarding about being on the board of AJB?

WATSON: All that I described above, plus getting to see book after wonderful book go out into the world and knowing I’ve played a part in making that happen.

AJB: What advice could you give to new AJB board members?

WATSON: At the risk of sounding like an old fart: honor AJB’s history. Let this experience be about more than your own book. Work hard and listen hard. It’s a privilege and a responsibility to be asked to think not just as a poet with deeply-held preferences, but as an editor and caretaker of a national treasure.

AJB: You have certainly immersed yourself in the writing world, from translating poetry, to writing four books, to serving on the AJB cooperative board, to directing the Poetry Center at Smith College. What is it that compels you to continually be a part of such rich and diverse writing communities?

WATSON: I’m utterly fruitcake and also very, very fortunate.

AJB: Do you fi nd that translating poetry enhances your own craft as a poet?

WATSON: Yes: sharpens the tools and opens the eyes.

Ellen Doré Watson

”ur poets, our ads, reviews of our books—demonstrations of AJB’s vitality are everywhere.

“O

We sat down recently with the longest standing cooperative board member, Ellen Doré Watson, to glean

some valuable information about her experience with Alice James Books. Watson has served on the AJB

cooperative board for 12 years. In Watson’s career as a poet, she has published four books, two of which, We Live in Bodies (1997), and Ladder Music (2001), were published by

Alice James Books.