I recently reached out to Ken Harmon, the founder and editor of the Charlotte-based literary journal West Trade Review. I had heard something about Ken launching a new press called Iron Oak Editions, and I asked him for more information about this press. Ken told me that what I had heard was true. Iron Oak Editions, he informed me, officially launched in 2024. A few months ago it released its first book, Ecobloomspaces: Poetry at the Intersection of Social Identity and Nature, Environment, and Place, which Ken edited. Ken offered to send me a copy of the collection, and of course I took him up on his offer.
When my copy of Ecobloomspaces arrived, I read Ken’s thoughtful introduction and many of the poems. I also read the acknowledgments page, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ken mentioned the late Jim McGavran, a dearly missed friend of mine and a longtime professor who taught in the English Department at UNC Charlotte until his death in December 2014. Ken wrote, “This anthology would not have been possible without the guidance of the late Dr. Jim McGavran. Our conversations about queer literature during my early days of grad school led me to notice patterns within many texts that situated queer love in natural settings as a statement about the beautiful and powerful possibilities of queer love.”
Well, as so often happens when I start doing the research for my blog posts, I became even more curious. I sent Ken another email message, requesting that he share the story of how he came to found Iron Oak Editions and edit Ecobloomspaces. Here is what he sent to me:
There were so many things that led to the development of the Ecobloomspaces term: growing up in the South and the history of the land and people, my experiences with my maternal grandfather and the deep connection with nature he instilled within me, conversations with Dr. Jim McGavran in the independent study at UNC Charlotte about the texts we read together, my identity as a gay man (I came out in the late ‘80s), and my coursework and research related to a dissertation in a Ph.D. program that I was unable to complete because my partner, Tony, passed away. I completed all requirements for the degree with the exception of writing the dissertation. All the coursework, research for the dissertation, proposal, etc., were completed, but when Tony passed away it just broke me in ways that I didn’t think were possible, and although I tried, I just couldn’t focus and the time to degree expired. Honestly, the degree or the dissertation just didn’t seem all that important anymore, and I had to walk away from both to just survive and keep my life together.
After a few years of reflection after Tony’s death, I revamped West Trade Review, found a new group of people to work with, and that work gave me something to care about again. The journal revamp began during the pandemic.
When we decided to make the move to become a press, that’s when I mentioned the theoretical term that I coined, Ecobloomspace, during my dissertation work. So, in a way, the anthology was a way for me to continue to explore that idea.
What I really need to do is to fully develop an academic book explaining what an Ecobloomspace is, but I have two other creative books that I want to do (one poetry, one memoir). That writing is very difficult, though. Grief and loss and what I’ve learned about that are at the center of each. Focusing so much on everyone else’s writing also makes it more difficult for me to find the time to work on my own. I’m very passionate about the press’ work, though, and it brings me a great deal of joy and personal satisfaction.
For more information about Iron Oak Editions, please click on the following link: https://www.ironoakeditions.com/about-us
For more information about Ecobloomspaces: Poetry at the Intersection of Social Identity and Nature, Environment, and Place, please click on the following link: https://www.ironoakeditions.com/ecobloomspaces-preview-2025
I know that Jim would be proud of Ken for editing this collection. Jim had a deep interest in nature writing and poetry about the natural world. This interest was also reflected in his love of growing plants. In fact, on the day that he suffered the stroke that brought his life to an end, he had just purchased pansies to plant by the front door of his home.
I was the chair of the English Department at the time, and I helped organize a celebration of Jim’s life. At this event, two departmental colleagues performed “Turn, Turn, Turn,” which is also known as “To Everything There Is a Season.” As one of the lines in this song goes, there is “a time to plant.” In a sense, founding Iron Oak Editions and editing Ecobloomspaces is like planting seeds. Storied Charlotte is a better place because Ken took the time to plant these seeds.