RADICAL GENEROSITY: Thomas Lux & Jeanne Duval Editions

What is a Chapbook? 

Chapbooks are brief poetry collections, containing between ten and thirty poems. These collections vary from DIY examples printed in copy shops to elaborate book-art volumes. Poetry chapbooks serve as stepping-stones for many poets, helping develop reputations and opportunity for future publications. 

"Most of the books that he published ... were little chapbooks that were quite small, and with the staple binding and all of that. He mostly published poets who did not yet have ... a book of their own to hold."

                                                                                                   -Jenny Lux

''Lux was ever the writer and teacher who opened students' eyes to poetry, whether in the university classroom, a community workshop, a high-school library, a writers' conference, or at any of his readings."

                                                  - Stuart Dischell, "The Greatness of Thomas Lux, A Look 2 Essay" Ploughshare

The Master of Fine Arts Program in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and Poetry @Tech are two of Lux's educational legacies. Entwined with this work are the two publishing imprints he led. In the 1970s, Barn Dream Press was Lux's initial foray into publishing. By the early 2000s, Lux created a new imprint: Jeanne Duval Editions. 

As a publisher, Lux focused on poetry and poets, urging writers to hone their talents. Lux's objective for the Jeanne Duval Editions was to expand the community of poets rather than seek personal financial success. 

Jeanne Duval was a Haitian-French woman romantically involved with the 19-centuury poet, Charles Baudelaire. According to Travis Denton, co-producer of Jeanne Duval Editions, Thomas Lux loved the work of Baudelaire, and Denton and Lux were intrigued by the relationship between the poet and his muse. Their relationship was reportedly tumultuous. The only confirmed image of Duval is an 1862 painting by Eduoard Manet. Duval reportedly had mobility issues, and the pose in the painting is a hint to let the viewer know who they are viewing. Learning more about Duval spoke  to Lux's interest in researching a wide variety of topics and sparked naming the press after her.

"He had money-he sunk it into a press to publish other poets, and especially younger, less known poets. What a tremendous act of kindness, generosity, and care. That's that deep compassion again. He believed in others: he believed in being meaningful, that we communicate through poetry and for people who really practice that with reckless self-abandon."                                                                                       

                                                                                               - Seth Michelson on Thomas Lux

Seth Michelson is a poet and translator. Currently a Spanish professor at Washington and Lee University, Michelson is the founding director of the Center for Poetic Research. He also volunteers with undocumented youth in a maximum security detention facility, where he organized the publication of Dreaming of Freedom, the proceeds of which go to a fund for legal support of these youths. Michelson translates poetry, primarily female poets from Latin America. 

Like Thomas Lux, Michelson uses poetry as a tool for anyone to find a connection with others and express who they are. "I try to do that [provide support and opportunity] with younger poets. I'll go out of my way to pay forward the generosity that I received."

"What Tom really liked about poetry was poetry that really makes you feel something."

                                                                                            - Robert Perry Ivey on Thomas Lux

A native Georgian, Robert Perry Ivey got to know Thomas Lux as a graduate student at Sarah Lawrence College. Lux served as his thesis advisor. During that process, the chapbook Southbound was formed. Lux "always encouraged that authenticity and that Southern voice." As advisor, Lux encouraged Ivey to think about the order of poems and how to create a story and characters through each work. Lux also influenced lvey's teaching methods: taking time and giving attention to students can help them grow and achieve success in academic areas previously unconsidered by them. By encouraging students to participate in the Georgia poetry community, many change their perception of poetry : "I can't tell you how many times I've heard students say "I didn't know poetry could be like that.' Then next thing you know, I've got three or four more English majors." 

"Tom was the most democratic person I've ever known. He loved everybody. He gave everybody the same attention. He valued everybody. If you just walked in his office, and had a poem, and said, "You know, I want to know if this is a poem," he would have given you the same attention that he would have given a student in his class, or somebody in a private poetry workshop, or anybody else, anybody."

                                                                                    - Ginger Murchison on Thomas Lux

Ginger Murchison came to poetry after a 30-year career in the classroom. She met Thomas Lux at a poetry workshop in Michigan, where he offered her the opportunity to work with him to produce 
a series of readings for the Atlanta community. These readings became the basis for Poetry @TECH, and Murchison served as its associate director for five years, and another five years as a McEver Chair for Poetry. Lux offered to publish a chapbook for Murchison as an acknowledgement of the work and practice she put into her own poetry. "I knew the amount it cost him and Jeanne Duval was significant. But it also meant, that's the way he was. It was a gift. He would have meant it as a gift."

"I would imagine anybody who he wanted to publish, he probably had at least some level of trust that they had a voice."

                                                                                                     - Mike Soto on Thomas Lux 

Mike Soto is a first generation Mexican-American who grew up between East Dallas and Michoacan, Mexico. Soto met Lux while earning a Master's of Fine Arts at Sarah Lawrence College, and Lux served as Soto's thesis advisor. In the summer of 2020, Soto's poetry collection A Grave Is Given Supper was adapted into a stage production with Teatro Dallas and New Ohio Theater's ICE Factory in New York. The communal, community experience of the production echoes Soto's experiences with Lux. "We created this place where people could come and sit and not be worried about the pandemic, at least for a time. And it was very immersive, so it had a very community vibe to it. I was really happy with that, because I felt like there's something about writing something and it's everybody's, as opposed to this document of the poet ... I don't want this to be 'this is me, this is who I am; No, this is just a story that we all get to share."

 
"When you receive feedback, you learn how to how to create an object that says what you wanted to say, but it also says it's other [people's thoughts]. And I think Tom was brilliant at that."