Press
Porkbelly Press is an independent (small) chapbook press based in Porkopolis (Cincinnati, Ohio), where pigs fly. We’re a queer-friendly, feminist press open to all, and encourage works from poets & writers all along the identity spectrum. Our chapbooks & zines are printed in small & open edition, and Sugared Water & anthologies in collectible limited edition. All of our titles are bound by hand.
shop: wickedlittleheart.com
We consider works ranging from literary to genre work, with a preference for speculative fiction and fabulism. Fairy tales make our little gold hearts go pitty-pat. (Hey, our logo is a flying pig!)
If you’re into things with attitude, with beauty, and a sense of humor, you’ve definitely come to the right place.
Welcome home.
If you’re looking for some email contact info, we’re gmail people: porkbellypress
No hate speech.
People
Nicci Mechler, Editor, Designer & Artist
Nicci splits her time between exploring, telling tales, and painting girls with inky tattoos. Her most recent work appears in mags such as Booth, Lines+Stars, & Arroyo Literary Review. Deep in Flesh, her chapbook, and in these cups, a collaborative chap (both poetry), are forthcoming (Dancing Girl Press, 2015). She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with a pack of roomies & rescue animals specializing in troublemaking and joy. Nicci’s been editing lit. mags for over 15 years and holds a BFA in Studio Art and MA in English. More on her publications and very recent works can be found on her blog.
Ashley Blake, Assistant Editor
Ashley is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University with a Bachelors degree in Creative Writing. While a fiction writer by nature and run-away imagination, she does have a soft spot for poetry. She adores works that are both surreal and playful in language, with just a hint of magic for taste. Ashley is also a poetry editor for Sugared Water.
Port
We make our home in Cincinnati, Ohio, not too far from the banks of a pretty fantastic river. Back in the days when the fathom was where it’s at, and people yelled stuff like, “by the mark twain!” (even Mark Twain himself), our architecturally-gorgeous (and besotted of beer) little burg ferried out a whole heap pork belly. We were big on pig. You can still see the evidence in 1) the city’s consumption of breakfast sausages (like goetta), and 2) the pig art and statuary all around town.
Naturally, we took that delicious callback to days gone by and smashed it into a press name; pork belly became Porkbelly and a press was born. In the words of one delightful Irishman, our “rather portly winged pig [is] a symbol of hope if I ever saw one.” Well, yes. Hope and bacon.
Brick & Mortar
You can find Porkbelly Press offerings at the following brick & mortar locations, along with loads of other treasures:
Arizona
Spork Press: 2229 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85719
Illinois
Quimby’s: 1854 W. North Ave Chicago, IL 60622
New York
Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop: 126A Front Street (next to Superfine) in D.U.M.B.O, Brooklyn
Washington
The Nearsighted Narwhal: 2610A 6th Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98406 (a magical-looking place with demos & workshops!)
Chatter
Poets/Writers talking about Porkbelly Press
On the Chapbook and the “Possibilities of Risk”: A Conversation with Chen Chen and Margaret Rhee – 29 April 2016
Interviews with the Editor(s)
12 or 20 (small press) questions – rob mclennan’s blog (Canada) – 22 MAR 2015
Wanna Hold Hands and Come Along? – Laura Madeline Wiseman’s blog – 7 JAN 2015
Porkbelly Press 
Greetings from a fellow Porkopolis writer in Mason! Love your concept. I have an idea for a chap book entitled, “Prime Cuts”, tales of Heroes, Villains, and Villainous Heroes. This would be a combination of speculative, noire, and literary pieces. Some of the pieces were previously published electronically and some in print. Some appeared on blogs that are no longer operative. Do you consider previously published work, and if so, what are your restrictions?
Thanks for your clarification,
Mary Ann Back
Yes, we’ll consider previously published works, so long as all of the pieces are out of contract with their original publishers, and they haven’t been published together as a chap or collection yet. Just make a note on the acknowledgements page as to which was published where. 🙂
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Hi,
What is the word count for the micro-fiction chapbook. Your webpage and an announcement I received says 150. Submittable says 75. And does the word count include the title?
Thanks!
Tina
We’re not actually going to count the words, but we do want multiple shorts instead of one long piece. We’re basically looking for no more than about a half page or less for each piece, and each piece should sit on its own page; no more than 10 total manuscript pages total. We try to be a bit flexible in the counts, just in case one or two pieces in a small selection is longer than others (we published a chap like this last year, and it was pretty excellent).
Thanks for getting back to me. I’ll submit soon. Thanks for keeping the printed word alive! Your chap books are gorgeous.
Best,
Tina
Hi there! I just submitted a kind of amorphous, hybrid-genre piece to the micro-chapbook section of submittable. I believe I clicked “prose poetry” as the genre but it is actually a multi-genre piece (which I addressed in my somewhat lengthy cover letter)–is this going to be a problem as far as getting it to the right editor? Should I send an email addressing this, or is there any other leg work I can do to assist? My apologies in advance, I always seem to find a way to over complicate things 🙂
-Nico
That shouldn’t be a problem. We both read everything, but like to know what genre something sits in for our own purposes. You let us know somewhere in your submission, so we can figure it out! 😀
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