The history of chapbooks can be traced back to 16th-century Britain when itinerant peddlers called chapmen began selling inexpensive printed booklets to rural working-class readers who could not afford regular books. These booklets came to be known as chapbooks, and they helped democratize literacy in an age when reading was generally associated with the upper classes. Chapbooks often featured ballads, folk tales, and popular works of poetry. In the 18th and 19th centuries, chapbooks took root in America where they helped popularize reading as a pastime. Chapbooks gradually evolved into dime novels and other types of inexpensive publications. The term chapbook fell out of use around the end of the 19th century. In the mid-20th century, however, the term chapbook came back into circulation, and it is now generally applied to short collections of poetry published by small presses.
Charlotte Lit Press is establishing itself as an important publisher of poetry chapbooks. It has brought out ten poetry chapbooks since 2023. Its two most recent poetry chapbooks are Snakeberry Mamas by Mary Alice Dixon and 174 Edgewood by Barbara (Bobbie) Campbell. Both Mary Alice and Bobbie are Charlotte poets.
Snakeberry Mamas features a collection of poems set in the Appalachian Mountains. Mary Alice spent much of her childhood in and around her grandmother’s farmhouse outside of Fairmont, West Virginia. The poems in Snakeberry Mamas grew out of her childhood experiences with her grandmother and her other West Virginia relatives. In many ways, these poems celebrate the traditions and stories that Mary Alice absorbed during her interactions with these relatives. The Appalachian landscape also figures prominently in these poems. Mary Alice has a M.A. in art history from Yale University, and her art background comes into play when she is writing about the visual elements associated with this landscape.
Like Snakeberry Mamas, Bobbie’s 174 Edgewood is tied to family history, but the poems in 174 Edgewood are not all based on happy childhood memories. The cover of 174 Edgewood depicts the front of a house. In these poems, however, Bobbie takes the reader through the front door and into the chaotic interior space of her childhood home. Her parents were both alcoholics, and their self-destructive behavior shaped her childhood experiences. In these poems, Bobbie explores the complexities of dysfunctional family dynamics and the power of family secrets. Many of these poems are heartbreaking, but they also have touches of humor. Despite their destructive behavior patterns, the family members portrayed in these poems are not devoid of love or moments of happiness.
For more information about Mary Alice’s and Bobbie’s poetry chapbooks, please click on the following link: https://charlottelit.org/press/chapbooks/
I congratulate Mary Alice and Bobbie on the publication of their poetry chapbooks. I also commend Charlote Lit Press for publishing such poetry chapbooks. Charlotte Lit Press is but one of many ways in which Charlotte Lit contributes to the vitality of Storied Charlotte.
