vintage metal moveable type from Tiger Lily Press' collection
mission
Porkbelly Press strives to make books that are a delight to read & to hold, bound by hand using traditional bookbinding methods. We work in small & open edition, favor quality materials, lightfast inks, & heavy papers. All of our titles are collated, trimmed, & sewn by our editor.
PRESS
Porkbelly Press (est. 2014) is an independent (micro) chapbook press based in Porkopolis (Cincinnati, Ohio), where pigs fly. We’re a queer-friendly, feminist press open to all; we encourage works from poets & writers all along the identity spectrum. In addition to chapbooks (& micros), we edit Sugared Water lit mag, the body image zine Love Me, Love My Belly, and several themed anthologies printed in collectible limited edition. Our catalog is curated; we have open calls for submission in January (chapbooks), July (micro chapbooks), and various times of the year for other projects such as broadsides & anthologies & zines & lit.
port of call
We make our home in Cincinnati, not too far from the banks of the winding Ohio 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.”
MASTHEAD
NICCI MECHLER, EDITOR
Nicci splits her time between exploring, spinning tales, bookbinding, & printmaking. Her work appears in several mags, and her chapbooks include Deep in Flesh, & collaborative chapbooks in these cups & how wild & soft you are. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with a pack of rescue animals including two dogs and five cats. She’s the designer & in-house cover artist at Porkbelly. You can find her on IG: @wickedlittleheart & at thicketheart.com.