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Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

1.1K followers 540 following 860 posts

Kjipuktuk|Halifax (formerly Tsalaguwetiyi|Nashville). Inventor #DSPBposts. Small press, murals, 🇺🇸 & 🇨🇦 poli. I turn tea into words: novel AETHER AND EGO (Inanna, fall 2026). Sign up for my newsletter at https://joannemerriam.com.

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Joanne Merriam @joannemerriam.bsky.social · May 23

Reminder: #bookish folks, starter packs for small press:
* Canadian: go.bsky.app/D4YKenp * USA: go.bsky.app/S4HKBuC * Rest of world: go.bsky.app/S5N1WAY * Academic: go.bsky.app/EoXRRgy * plus, #Writers' orgs: go.bsky.app/2uiSCde aaand I post #SmallPress #books under #DSPBposts. 📚🌍 🌈📚 #Booksky 💙📚 🪐📚

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: Bloom by @nicolebreit.bsky.social & Claire Sicherman (@caitlinpress.bsky.social): caitlinpress.com/Books/B/Bloom & I Make My Own Fun by Hannah Beer (@houseofanansi.bsky.social): houseofanansi.com/products/i-m... See alt-text. #DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky #booktok #bookish

Book cover for Bloom: Letters on Girlhood by authors Nicole Breit & Claire Sicherman (Caitlin Press), a timely memoir exploring how societal expectations shape identity, and how we can continue, at any age, to release the past. https://caitlinpress.com/Books/B/Bloom

Book cover for I Make My Own Fun, a novel by Hannah Beer (which The Daily Mail called "a dark, crazed reversal of Notting Hill") (House of Anansi). The sinister side of celebrity fandom is inverted in this razor-sharp debut following the descent of the world’s most beloved movie star into a dark and disastrous obsession—perfect for readers of You and My Sister, the Serial Killer. https://houseofanansi.com/products/i-make-my-own-fun

November 13, 2025 at 12:31 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: two from yesterday's #Metafilter post: www.metafilter.com/211014/Books...: All-Negro Comics (@imagecomics.com) imagecomics.com/comics/relea... & Feasts of Good Fortune (Sasquatch Books): sasquatchbooks.com/books/feasts...
#DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky #bookish See alt-text.

Book cover for Feasts of Good Fortune: 75 Recipes for a Year of Chinese American Celebrations, from Lunar New Year to Mid-Autumn Festival and Beyond by Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Chou Riddle (Sasquatch Books): https://sasquatchbooks.com/books/feasts-of-good-fortune/

Book cover for All-Negro Comics: America's First Black Comic Book by Chris Robinson and Orrin C. Evans (Image Comics): Winner of the Eisner Award. The first comic ever created by African Americans, for African Americans. https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/all-negro-comics-americas-first-black-comic-book-tp-book-1

November 12, 2025 at 12:07 PM

Reposted by Joanne Merriam

TriCon

@tricon-hfx.bsky.social

Fixed! It was there all along. 👀

tricon-halifax.com/vendors/

Vendor Applications - TriCon Halifax

Now open! The TriCon vendor hall will be located at the NSCAD Port Campus at 1107 Marginal Rd. The vendor hall will be open every day of the conference – from 3pm on Friday, May 15th 2026 to 1pm on Su...

tricon-halifax.com

October 29, 2025 at 5:37 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: Jackal, Jackal by @tobiogundiran.com ‬(@undertow.bsky.social): undertowpublications.com/shop/jackal-... & Tongueless by Lau Yee-Wa, trans. Jennifer Feeley (@feministpress.bsky.social): feministpress.org/products/978... Alt-text=details. #DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky #bookish

Book cover for Jackal, Jackal by Tobi Ogundiran (Undertow Publications). From Shirley Jackson award-nominated author Tobi Ogundiran, comes a highly anticipated debut collection of stories full of magic and wonder and breathtaking imagination! https://undertowpublications.com/shop/jackal-jackal

Book cover for Tongueless by Lau Yee-Wa, trans. Jennifer Feeley (Feminist Press). Tongueless follows two rival teachers at a secondary school in Hong Kong who are instructed to switch from teaching in Cantonese to Mandarin—or lose their jobs. Apolitical and focusing on surviving and thriving in their professional environment, Wai and Ling each approach the challenge differently. Wai, awkward and unpopular, becomes obsessed with Mandarin learning; Ling, knowing how to please her superiors and colleagues, thinks she can tactfully dodge the Mandarin challenge by deploying her social savviness. Wai eventually crumples under the pressure and dies by suicide, leaving her colleague Ling to face seismic political and cultural change alone as she considers how far she will go to survive such a ruthlessly competitive work environment. Winner of the 2024 PEN Translates Award. https://feministpress.org/products/9781558613188-tongueless

November 10, 2025 at 12:26 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: Miles In Time & Time Fixers (MIT2) by @leematthewgoldberg.bsky.social (Wise Wolf Books): wisewolfbooks.com/2025/03/mile... & wisewolfbooks.com/2025/04/time... See alt-text for descriptions.

#DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books

Book cover for Time Fixers (Miles In Time Book 2) by Lee Matthew Goldberg @leematthewgoldberg.bsky.social (Wise Wolf Books). From the Author of Miles in Time comes the sequel, Time Fixers, where the past holds the key to saving the future.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
Fix the past, save your mom…and don’t fall for the enemy. 15-year-old sleuth Miles Hardy returns to quiet Frontier, Iowa—where cases are scarce and boredom runs deep. But when their mom’s mental health rapidly declines and she’s placed in a care facility, Miles and Simon make an impossible choice to travel back to 1999 to rewrite her fate. But the mission takes a dangerous twist when they discover their grandfather is working for the same ruthless corporation that once hunted the time machine—and he’s still after it. https://wisewolfbooks.com/2025/04/time-fixers-miles-in-time-book-2-by-lee-matthew-goldberg

Book cover for Miles In Time by Lee Matthew Goldberg @leematthewgoldberg.bsky.social (Wise Wolf Books). Solve the mystery, save the future… 14-year-old Miles Hardy spends most of his time as an amateur Sherlock Holmes and running his detective agency with his good friend and loyal assistant, Kevin. However, in sleepy Frontier, Iowa, it’s been hard to snag a case bigger than finding some old lady’s missing cat—until Miles’ genius older brother, Simon the inventor, winds up dead. Using his knack for uncovering hidden truths, Miles stumbles upon a secret lab where his late brother created a groundbreaking time machine. Among the discoveries is a chilling video Simon recorded before his death, revealing his fear of being followed and a dire warning: if anything happens to him, Miles must use the time machine to uncover who is after the invention and stop them. The stakes couldn’t be higher—if the device falls into the wrong hands, the future itself could be at risk. https://wisewolfbooks.com/2025/03/miles-in-time-miles-in-time-book-1-by-lee-matthew-goldberg‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

November 7, 2025 at 2:23 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

#samegirlsame

Jon Olfert 🌾🍁 @jonolfert.bsky.social · 11d

Getting in gear to become just insufferable about Halifax food and used bookstores leading up to @tricon-hfx.bsky.social

November 7, 2025 at 2:14 PM

Reposted by Joanne Merriam

TriCon

@tricon-hfx.bsky.social

What kind of programming will you find at TriCon? All kinds of stuff, like the Blue Pencil Cafe!

Sign up for a 1-on-1 session with an editor! Spaces are limited, & sign-ups open December 22nd!

Featuring @englelaird.bsky.social, @mythaxis.bsky.social, and @heartlines-spec.com, with more to come!

November 4, 2025 at 5:10 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

Late in the day daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: two CBC Massey Lectures through @houseofanansi.bsky.social: @astra.bsky.social’s The Age of Insecurity & @alexneve.bsky.social’s Universal: houseofanansi.com/collections/...

#DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books

Book covers for two CBC Massey Lectures through House of Anansi: Astra Taylor’s The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart (https://houseofanansi.com/collections/the-massey-lectures/products/the-age-of-insecurity) and Alex Neve’s Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World (https://houseofanansi.com/collections/the-massey-lectures/products/universal). In the former, author and activist Astra Taylor exposes how seemingly disparate crises—rising inequality and declining mental health, the ecological emergency, and the threat of authoritarianism—originate from a social order built on insecurity; in the latter, human rights activist and former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada Alex Neve investigates where we went wrong, how we have progressed, and what we can do to fulfill the promise that human rights are inherent, inalienable, and applicable to all people. Massey Lectures series: https://houseofanansi.com/collections/the-massey-lectures

November 7, 2025 at 2:27 AM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

Just received in the post: my poem “Signal Flares” is in this issue. #BlueUnicorn #poetry #poetrycommunity

The cover of Blue Unicorn's Fall 2025 issue, with the figure of a person made out of land watching the figure of a unicorn made out of clouds and stars.

November 6, 2025 at 2:17 PM

Reposted by Joanne Merriam

Common Deer Press

@commondeerpress.bsky.social

Thank you for including Fierce Voice by @suecurrie24.bsky.social 👏

Joanne Merriam @joannemerriam.bsky.social · 8d

and 6/6... Fierce Voice by @suecurrie24.bsky.social (@commondeerpress.bsky.social): www.commondeerpress.com/books-1/fier... & Songs of No Provenance by @lydiconklin.bsky.social (@catapultbooks.bsky.social): books.catapult.co/books/songs-...

Alt-text for details. #SmallPress #DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky

Book cover for Songs of No Provenance by Lydi Conklin (Catapult). Joan Vole, an indie folk singer forever teetering on the edge of fame, flees New York after committing a shocking sexual act onstage that she fears will doom her career. Joan seeks refuge at a writing camp for teenagers in rural Virginia, where she’s forced to question her own toxic relationship to artmaking—and her complicated history with a friend and mentee—while finding new hope in her students and a deepening intimacy with a nonbinary artist and fellow camp staff member. https://books.catapult.co/books/songs-of-no-provenance/

Book cover for Fierce Voice by Susan Currie (Common Deer Press). Iz has everything she's ever wanted: she’s found the foster home of her dreams and is attending the prestigious music school she moved heaven and earth to get into. But secrets from her past keep threatening to spill into the present, and Iz is sure that her newfound loved ones will abandon her if they learn of her terrible history. Fierce Voice is the sequel to the White Pine Award nominee Iz the Apocaylpse. https://www.commondeerpress.com/books-1/fierce-voice

November 5, 2025 at 2:08 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

This is a bop!

Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 8d

I knew it would take less than a day for a tiktok dj to make something.

November 5, 2025 at 8:41 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

1/6... I've fallen behind on the #DSPBposts books I planned to feature, as I've been moving and spackling and painting and unpacking and such. (Also finishing edits for Aether and Ego!) So here's a bunch of #SmallPress #books to check out.

💙📚 #BookSky #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish

November 5, 2025 at 12:37 PM

Reposted by Joanne Merriam

Bookshelfie

@bookshelfie.bsky.social

#booksky

November 1, 2025 at 10:55 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: What’s the Point? by @stevenlaffoley.bsky.social (@pottersfieldpress.bsky.social) nimbus.ca/store/whats-... & Yonderites by @kevingrauke.bsky.social (@bullshitlit.bsky.social) www.bullshitlit.com/shop/p/yonde... #DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky

Book cover for What’s the Point? An Irreverent History of Point Pleasant Park by Steven Laffoley @stevenlaffoley.bsky.social‬ (Pottersfield Press @pottersfieldpress.bsky.social‬)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬: Here is a book of history in its most entertaining form: the story of Point Pleasant Park, a unique 190-acre collection of paths, ponds, and port-o-potties; flora, fauna, and fungi; battlements, monuments, and burial mounds all situated at the far south end of Halifax, Nova Scotia. https://nimbus.ca/store/whats-the-point.html

Book cover for Yonderites by Kevin Grauke @kevingrauke.bsky.social‬ (Bullshit Lit @bullshitlit.bsky.social‬): Kevin Grauke’s collection of short stories set in the made-up town of Yonder, Texas. “What if Sherwood Anderson had been born a century later, in small-town Texas instead of Ohio, raised on Lone Star beer and The Last Picture Show?”-Chris Haven, author of Nesting Habits of Flightless Birds https://www.bullshitlit.com/shop/p/yonderites

November 3, 2025 at 11:32 AM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

1/2... A few spooky daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: The Book Witch... by @lanashupeauthor.bsky.social, ill. @teganthomas.bsky.social (@nimbuspub.bsky.social) & The Last Band on Earth by @elainemwill.bsky.social (@renegadeartsent.bsky.social).

#DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky

Book cover for The Book Witch, the Wee White Dog, and the Little Free Library by Lana Shupe, ill. by Tegan Thomas (Nimbus). After travelling the world and collecting books from every country, the Book Witch is now settled at home with her wee white dog. She spends her days reading, surrounded by piles and piles of books. Life is good. Until one stormy day when a massive gust of wind blows a pile of heavy books over, landing on the Wee White Dog’s tail! Something must be done before tragedy strikes again. What can the Book Witch do with all these books? https://nimbus.ca/store/the-book-witch-the-wee-white-dog-and-the-little-free-library.html

Book cover for The Last Band on Earth by author and illustrator Elaine M. Will (Renegade Arts). A dystopian horror story about music and mental illness. Nat and her bandmates in The Dead Layaways want to go on tour, but the demonic entities who run their city have other idea, not to mention the dark cloud that hangs over everything stifles their creativity. This ruined place is not their home, and they have no idea how they ended up here, or where “home” even is. Is there really nothing but endless wasteland beyond the city limits, as the demons claim? https://renegadeartsentertainment.com/product/the-last-band-on-earth/#

October 31, 2025 at 2:21 PM

Reposted by Joanne Merriam

TriCon

@tricon-hfx.bsky.social

Vendor applications are now open for TriCon 2026!

We are looking for vendors showcasing anything that writers might love!Applications will be open until February 1st.

PLEASE READ our policies before applying. We have separate opportunities for Indie Authors!

tricon-halifax.com/vendors/

October 29, 2025 at 5:02 PM

Reposted by Joanne Merriam

Ariel Gordon

@ariel-gordon.bsky.social

I’m grateful for this re-anthologizing, even if the poem Joanne selected for me is ANCIENT.

Joanne Merriam @joannemerriam.bsky.social · 14d

1/27... Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: Best Canadian Stories 2026 (selected by Zsuzsi Gartner) and Poetry (Mary Dalton), both @biblioasis.bsky.social - and a thread of writing online by some of the folks in these anthologies (although mostly not the pieces in the anthologies). #DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky

Book covers for Best Canadian Stories 2026, selected by Zsuzsi Gartner, and Best Canadian Poetry 2026, selected by Mary Dalton (both Biblioasis), which showcase the best Canadian short stories and poetry (respectively) published in the past year.
Stories by Shashi Bhat • Julie Bouchard, translated by Arielle Aaronson • Randy Boyagoda • Grant Buday • Petra Chambers • Sophie Crocker • Bill Gaston • Evan J • Aaron Kreuter • Alex Leslie • Erin MacNair • D.F. McCourt • Rishi Midha • Kaitlin Ruether • Margaret Sweatman: https://www.biblioasis.com/shop/fiction/short-fiction/best-canadian-stories-2026/
Poetry by John Wall Barger • Ronna Bloom • Nicholas Bradley • Petra Chambers • Carolina Corcoran • Kayla Czaga • Danielle Devereaux • Irina Dumitrescu • Puneet Dutt • Darrell Epp • Susan Glickman • Ariel Gordon • Jennifer Gossoo • Sue Goyette • Richard Greene • Glenn Hayes • Henry Heavyshield • Dave Hickey • Nancy Huggett • Kevin Irie • Emily Kedar • Conor Kerr • Evelyn Lau • Sylvia Legris • Steve McOrmond • Estlin McPhee • M.W. Miller • Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi • George Moore • Paul Moorehead • A.F. Moritz • Megan Morrison • Erín Moure • Cassandra Myers • Shane Neilson • Nofel • David O’Meara • John O’Neill • Michael Ondaatje • Craig Francis Power • John Reibetanz • Ozayr Saloojee • Vivek Sharma • Sue Sinclair • Karen Solie • Misha Solomon • Susan White • Erin Wilson • Jaeyun Yoo • Patricia Young: https://www.biblioasis.com/shop/forthcoming/best-canadian-poetry-2026/

October 30, 2025 at 1:51 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

October 30, 2025 at 11:43 AM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: Arctic Play by @mitamahato.bsky.social (@the3rdthing.press) the3rdthing.press/product/arct... & Documentary Poetry by Heimrad Bäcker, ed/trans @patrickgreaney.bsky.social (Winter Editions) www.wintereditions.net/product/docu... #DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky

Book cover for Arctic Play by Mita Mahato @mitamahato.bsky.social‬ (3rd Thing @the3rdthing.press‬): A drama, a dirge, an expedition log, a series of poetic experiments, a comic book. Mapping an Arctic imaginary of beings and landforms onto a shifting stage of woven and layered papers, Mita Mahato conjures geographic and creative uncertainty as the necessary condition for navigating the climate crisis and its sorrows. https://the3rdthing.press/product/arctic-play/

Book cover for Documentary Poetry by Heimrad Bäcker, edited and translated by Patrick Greaney @patrickgreaney.bsky.social‬ (Winter Editions): Austrian poet and photographer Heimrad Bäcker's essays, collected here along with a selection of his photographs and two of his documentary poems, explore the poetic, philosophical, and political stakes of his investigation into the memory of the Holocaust. https://www.wintereditions.net/product/documentary-poetry/

October 29, 2025 at 1:28 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

I voted! (U.S. House District 7 special election: ballotpedia.org/Tennessee%27...) Go @aftynbehn.bsky.social #Hopium #vote #voting

October 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM

Joanne Merriam

@joannemerriam.bsky.social

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: A Watch of Nightingales by Catherine Walker (Inanna) inanna.ca/product/a-wa... & We Are Dreams in the Eternal Machine by @denibechard.bsky.social (@houseofanansi.bsky.social)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ houseofanansi.com/products/we-... #DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky

Book cover for A Watch of Nightingales by Catherine Walker (Inanna): When Emily Carr leaves her restrictive home in Canada to study art in London, England, she longs to prove herself as an artist, trying to carve a path for herself towards financial security. But her dreams don’t receive a warm welcome, as her disapproving English relatives believe that the only respectable path for a woman is marriage. Before Emily can prove the worth of her artistic career, she falls ill and finds herself trapped in a sanatorium, forming an unlikely friendship with Beth, a Florence Nightingale nurse assigned to her care. As a web of intrigue and poisonings tightens around them, Beth and Emily find themselves in a race against time to prevent an attempted murder. https://inanna.ca/product/a-watch-of-nightingales/

Book cover for We Are Dreams in the Eternal Machine by Deni Ellis Béchard (House of Anansi)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬: A haunting novel exploring AI and the meaning of human existence from the award-winning author of Cures for Hunger and Into the Sun. A Millions Most Anticipated Book of 2025. https://houseofanansi.com/products/we-are-dreams-in-the-eternal-machine

October 28, 2025 at 3:16 PM

Reposted by Joanne Merriam

K.V. Johansen

@kvjohansen.bsky.social

CanCon is a lovely literary conference in Ottawa (or Kanata, greater Ottawa), very friendly, and TriCon in Halifax is going to be similar with the added bonus of being in my part of the country. Why not come?

October 26, 2025 at 12:37 PM