August may be le mois des vacances here in Quebec, but here we are in the last week, with September right around the corner and Phoenicia is getting busy to sail off into an exciting fall season!

Chapbook Winner! On September 1, the winner of the annual qarrtsiluni chapbook contest will be announced, with the winning chapbook to be published by Phoenicia. That book is already in preparation, and we can hardly wait to let you know about it!

Photography! In mid- to late October, we'll be publishing our first photography book: a stunning and thought-provoking collection of black-and-white photographs from the late 1960s and early 1970s by Jonathan Sa'adah. These images document the protests against the Vietnam war; the changes to a formerly rural New England landscape that were wrought by militarization, emerging corporatization on a national scale, and the expansion of interstate roads; and the response: the back-to-the-land movement by rural hippies. The book will include essays by Steve Tozer and Hoyt Alverson, and by the photographer.

Epic Poetry! And then, before the holidays, we'll be bringing out Marly Youmans' book-length, post-apocalyptic narrative poem, Thaliad -- a poem I fell in love with when we published an excerpt at qarrtsiluni, and hope many of you will feel the same way.

And a Late Summer Sale! More news and plans are already in the works for 2012, but you'll have to wait for those! In the meantime, please browse the current catalog, where all our book titles are on late summer sale of 15% off, now through September 9th (online e-store orders only, not through Amazon.) Please use code#B87AYYZU when ordering.

We're proud to unveil our new website today, and hope you'll find it, as we do, a definite upgrade in both looks and usability.

CATALOG: Click on any book in the home page catalog to go to its full description, and ordering information.

BLOG: There's a blog where we'll be posting news, reviews, awards, and commentary, as well as the occasional essay, interview, or guest article about publishing and its future; writing and editing; and books in general.

GUIDELINES AND SUBMISSIONS: Please take a look at the Pages listed in the navigation bar at the top, and note that there is a Submissions page now and a revised "About Us"; together these two pages should give prospective authors a sense of what Phoenicia is looking for, and how to approach us if you're interested in sending a manuscript.

And please let us know what you think. Your suggestions and comments are always welcome!