#radicalpublishing

We got to speak to our friends at Microcosm Publishing, a Portland, OR based publisher and distributor putting out titles on consent, anticapitalist politics, and Black Lives Matter. Joe Biel, the co-owner and publisher gives us his take on subversive books and punk rock publishing.

 1. What first drew you to radical publishing? What keeps you there today?

​ I grew up in Cleveland in the 70s and 80s and discovered punk rock in the early 90s, thereby learning of radical politics. My upbringing was abusive, my education was absent, and my young mentors in the punk scene quickly led to Harvey Pekar, the Dead Boys, The Pagans, Dennis Kucinich, and a long union history of corporate hegemony versus public power. Soon thereafter, I began creating the kind of resources that I needed as a child about gender, mental health, grassroots organizing, history, political power, race and class, and analytical skills. And 21 years later, not much has changed. The issues are shockingly just as relevant as they were in the 90s and my heart gets more invested as my developmental senses improve. I am autistic, which leads me to be plenty stubborn and to really enjoy the challenge of the changing landscape of publishing. I now understand the role of my own meaning and purpose and see suffering as opportunity instead of pain. We made a comic about this tale, with the publishing industry portrayed as dinosaurs and ourselves as rats.

2. What’s an average day like at Microcosm?

​We now have a staff of 11, an office, a warehouse, and a book store. We are a diversified publisher, wholesaler, and distributor so we sell books from a wide variety of publishers to better explain the messaging of our mission and values. We strive to make all of our offerings made the reader feel good about themselves while offering them tools and perspective to create the life that they want for themselves while changing the world around them. We offer sliding scale pricing on our website so that everyone can afford our books. All of this results in many heartwarming phone calls, emails, and pieces of fan mail. I start working at 5 AM every day to balance the bank account and correspond with our European distributor. I arrive in the office around 9, by which time we have normally received a book pitch or two. I manage the staff, which normally involves a two-hour meeting where we talk about what's working and what's not as well as any ideas that they have for other people's duties. I really enjoy doing book design and development as I feel that's where my brain can really communicate our identity and values uniquely. Our authors are so supportive and positive and are always asking about what else they can do to make their books successful. We really strive to have the most fun and to keep meetings collaborative and with everyone contributing ideas instead of being lectured at. I really still love what I do 21 years later and I'm tremendously honored about how supportive so many people have been.

3. What are your personal favorite books from the Microcosm backlist? Any favorites you’ve recently read from other publishers?

​Wild Fermentation is the first book by world fermentation expert Sandor Katz that he sent to us with a very modest letter in 2001. It's now one of our top ten sellers.

​Henry & Glenn Forever depicts Rollins & Danzig in the ultimate idol killing environment: a bare, romantic relationship where egos are visible and emotions are raw. ​

Sick compiles stories of people living with illness in the most compelling way that evokes sorrow and sometimes hope in the way great literature should.

Xtra Tuf is the story of one woman fishing in Alaska during labor stand downs ​while dissent brew​s.

White Elephants is​ a story of dealing with recovery and loss through picking through yard sales.​

Cambodian Grrrl provides ​​ a new perspective on what it's like to be a student at Cambodia's first college for women and how history and social mores continue to play a part on a generation that wasn't even aware of their own past.

F​irebrands collects heartwarming, powerful stories about radical visionaries who left indelible marks on their societies and our world with a portrait for each from the Just Seeds collective.

Jon Ronson is my favorite author and his newest book, So You've Been Publicly Shamed is his greatest work to date. His combination of raw reporting, dry humor, and telling anecdotes forms a sharp and biting narrative and slays me every time.

Laura Jane Grace was someone that I knew best during her darkest timeline. She's since become a world famous rocker in her band, Against Me!, and is doing awesome work for the transgender community. Her new book Tranny details all of this extensively in a way that I could unfortunately relate to quite a bit, especially in the way that the punk community is predatory against success. 

​Accounting for Ourselves does not what zines do best: ​stare deeply into the abyss and criticize inside baseball too myopic for the public to understand while offering a detailed analysis of something deeply meaningful to several hundred people in the world.

​ I met Jacqueline Freeman at the Northwest book show PNBA and was impressed by her depictions and thoughtful meditations about something that I would never do, beekeeping.​

Song of Increase is a cool sociological look at bees.

​Charles Manson is a subject that I avoided for many, many years because as a Gen Xer it was just a bit too...boring and stereotypical but ​Jeff Guinn relates this story into a set of histories that I was interested in like The Diggers, COINTELPRO, race riots, and counterculture and makes the story read like a very compelling novel that is deeply fact-checked.

​I've been enjoying Subversives so much that I've been reading it slowly across years and can't believe that we don't sell it yet! Going to add it to our MacMillan order now! ​

4. Any exciting forthcoming projects?

​We are currently planned into 2021 ​and I must admit that I still find every book completely fascinating 21 years later.

​​Soviet Daughter looks at the history of Soviet Ukraine and growing up Jewish there before emigrating to the U.S. and becoming a radical occupier! It's the first-ever graphic novel to be published in the Ukraine!

​Things That Help is your guide to self-care in a Trump presidency.​

​The Prodigal Rogerson is the first look at the life of the songwriter, bass player, and forgotten member of The Circle Jerks.

Unfuck Your Brain gets to the nerve of how we can unravel neuroscience and be happy!

Chocolotology is a critical and deep taste into how imperialism made chocolate so bittersweet and delicious.

What's changed?

Looking Out From The CCCS : FILM / FEMINISM / IDENTITY / ACTIVISM